Focus Minerals Ltd Stock Market Press Releases and Company Profile

Perth, Feb 12, 2009 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian-based gold producer Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX:FML) is pleased to announce a substantial increase in Indicated and Inferred Resources at the Company's Brilliant Gold Project, located 1.5km south-east of Coolgardie in Western Australia.

The updated JORC compliant resource for the Brilliant Project totals 3.1Mt @ 2.4g/t Au for 240,100 contained ounces, comprising:

- an estimated Indicated Resource of 1.93Mt @ 2.2g/t for 134,400 contained ounces; and
- an approximate Inferred Resource of 1.15Mt @ 2.9g/t for 105,700 contained ounces.

This represents an 80% increase on the previously announced Inferred Resource of an estimated 1.93Mt @ 2.2g/t for 130,800 contained ounces.

Coolgardie Project - Sustainability

The revised Brilliant resource, in combination with other deposits within the Coolgardie Gold Project has increased Focus' resource base in the Coolgardie Region to 1.8M ounces at an average grade of 2.5g/t. This adds further weight to Focus' plans to increase the life of the Coolgardie Gold Project.

Ore is currently being treated through a third party mill, the nearby Greenfields gold plant, however Focus' broader development strategy has always been to re-commission Three Mile Hill as a centrally located gold treatment facility to provide long-term cost effective processing capability.

Brilliant Resource Model

The revised Brilliant Resource model (Table 1) is based on validation of historic Brilliant data and recent Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling. This has had a significant impact on the new geological model with the Resource comprising 29 lodes that are broken up in to 3 groups. The main lodes (11 in total) strike 340 and dip 80degE, the East Lodes (13 in total) strike 330 and dip 80degNE and the NE Lodes (5 in total) strike 340 and dip 30degE. The deposit remains open at depth and along strike to the north-northeast.
----------------------------------------------------        Table 1 Brilliant Resources----------------------------------------------------              Category      Tonnes    Au g/t  Ounces----------------------------------------------------               Oxide        315,000   2.2     22,600Indicated   Transitional    149,000   2.3     10,800               Fresh      1,463,000   2.1    101,100                Total      1,927,000   2.2    134,400----------------------------------------------------               Oxide         48,000   1.8      2,700Inferred    Transitional     31,000   2.0      1,900               Fresh      1,067,000   3.0    101,000               Total      1,146,000   2.9    105,700----------------------------------------------------
Notes to accompany the Mineralised Resource Statement

Brilliant is hosted predominantly in a suite of porphyry dykes that intruded a basalt and ultramafic sequence. The porphyries host the bulk of the mineralisation, occurring in two orientations; steeply dipping (80degE) with an average width of 3-5m, or flatter dipping (30degE) with widths up to 50m. Mineralisation consists of a stockwork of quartz/sulphide micro-veinlets and albitic alteration of the porphyry. In mid 2008 validation of all historical data was undertaken. Once complete a revised geological interpretation was completed.

From the revised interpretation a drill program was designed and implemented to test the interpretation. It also provided QAQC data to test the validity of the historical assay data, as very little QAQC data was found during validation. 40 Reverse Circulation (RC) holes for a total of 2141m were drilled and assayed during the December 2008 Quarter. The interpretation was updated and a new resource model created based on this additional drilling. The February 2009 resource is much larger than the historical resource inherited from Herald (1996) as a result of an increase in confidence and additional mineralisation discovered in the Eastern and NE Lodes.

Drilling Information

The resource was calculated from a total of 568 RC holes and 8 Diamond holes for a total of 51,284m. A drill spacing of 25m x 25m (or less) was determined to be sufficient to classify indicated resources, while a drill spacing up to 60m x 60m was deemed to be sufficient to classify inferred resources. All historical drill collars have been surveyed in local grid co-ordinates, while all Company drilling was surveyed using surveying contractors in GDA94 co-ordinates. The majority of drill holes have either been surveyed by Eastman single-shot camera or electronic multi-shot (EMS), while those holes that had not been surveyed were assumed to be based on hole set out orientations. All Focus Minerals Ltd drilling was surveyed by either EMS or gyroscopic down hole surveying equipment.. All drilling has been logged (lithology, alteration, structure, veining and mineralisation) in detail and stored in electronic databases after been validated.

RC samples were generally sampled on one metre intervals, although some historic holes showed composite sampling that has not been re-sampled on a one metre basis. It has been assumed that historic one metre sampling has been undertaken via a riffle splitter, as is still the case now. It is unsure how the composite sampling for historic drilling was done, but it was assumed that it was most likely by a PVC 'spear' method such as Focus Minerals Ltd use now (and which was common practice in many drilling programs in the past). Focus Minerals Ltd QAQC samples included standards, blanks and field duplicates, which were submitted with each drill hole. For the historic diamond core, the majority of sample intervals were one metre, with some intervals sampled to geological boundaries. The core was cut in half, with only half been submitted for assaying.

The majority of the historical drilling was assayed using the Fire Assay method at the Australian Assay Laboratories (AAL) with some inter lab checks completed at Minelabs. Focus Minerals Ltd use 40g Aqua Regia Digest with ICP-MS finish method for the composites (4m), with all 1m resplits for composites above 0.2g/t assayed using 40g Fire Assay with ICP-MS finish method at the Kalgoorlie Assay Laboratories (KalAssay).

Geological Model

The geological interpretation (geology, mineralisation, base of complete oxidation and top of fresh rock) and the resource estimation were conducted internally. The mineralised interpretation was based on a nominal 0.5g/t cut off. Internal dilution was generally restricted to a maximum of two consecutive metres, although some lower grade zones were included to allow continuity of the mineralised interpretation with geology. Samples within individual wireframes were composited to 2m intervals. The composites were used to determine the necessary top cuts. The main and eastern lodes were estimated with a 20g/t top cut, while the NE lodes were estimated using a top cut of 12g/t. Variography was conducted for all zones that had a sufficient number of samples to determine likely ranges and preferred search directions. The variography indicated low to moderate nugget values with a shallow plunge to the north.

The model was generated using the Ordinary Kriging (OK) estimation method as a first pass for the lodes that produced suitable variograms (the main and eastern lodes). The Inverse Squared (ID2) estimation technique was used for the first pass estimation of the shallow dipping NE lodes due to the structural complexity in this area and the low number of samples within the wireframes. The Inverse Squared (ID2) estimation technique was also used as a second pass, with increased search parameters and reduced sample numbers, to ensure all blocks within the wireframes were filled (these blocks were classified as Inferred Resources). Bulk densities of 1.8, 2.4 and 2.7 t/m3 were applied to the oxide, transitional and fresh ore types respectively. These values were assumed based on values used from similar deposits throughout the Goldfields. No historical density measurements were found.

The reported grades, tonnages and contained ounces are rounded to appropriate levels of precision in accordance with the recommendations of the JORC code. Reported Resource has taken into account existing open pit and topography. The resource has been reported at a 1g/t lower cut-off grade.

About Focus Minerals Ltd

Focus MineralsWith over 3.8Moz of Mineral Resource, Focus Minerals Limited (ASX:FML) has a highly strategic portfolio of assets across Australia's two leading gold producing districts – the Kalgoorlie/Coolgardie belt and Laverton – and the financial muscle to continue to unlock further potential for growth.

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Contact

Peter Williams
Managing Director
Focus Minerals Ltd
Telephone: +61-8-9215-7888
Web: www.focusminerals.com.au



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