Mineral Hill Development and Construction Update
Sydney, June 17, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - KBL Mining Limited (
ASX:KBL) is pleased to advise that development activities of the Pearse Open Cut has commenced and is advancing in line with the planned schedule. The construction of the CIL plant is underway and exploration drilling activities for both underground and surface targets are in progress.
- Pearse Open Cut underway - first blast to be fired this week
- CIL construction well advanced - first concrete poured
- Surface drilling at Jacks Hut
Pearse Open Cut
Development of the Pearse high grade gold and silver deposit has commenced, with the footprint cleared and the majority of top soil removed to stockpiles (Photo 1, in link below). Mine haul roads and waste dump infrastructure has been delineated, cleared and stripped in readiness for the extraction of waste material as early as next week. The first blast pattern is being drilled (Photo 2, in link below), with a firing expected this week. The first ore from the deposit is expected in July with a sustainable ore supply from mid-August onwards.
The current Pearse Au-Ag Resource (located 800m from the Mineral Hill processing plant; Figure 1, in link below) of 298,000 tonnes at 6.5 g/t Au and 80 g/t Ag(1) has a strike length of 170m and extends from surface to less than 100m depth. The Pearse deposit has a current Proven and Probable Ore Reserve of 235kt at 6.9g/t Au and 71.7g/t Ag(2).
From August onwards, the pit is planned to supply approximately 30,000 tonnes of ore per month for 9 to 10 months, based on a 1.5g/t Au cut off. Production forecasts are for 35koz to 40koz of gold and 280koz to 290koz of silver, in a combination of concentrate and gold bullion.
Initial operations will target the sulphide ore supply, allowing for the early production of a gold /silver concentrate through the existing flotation plant, while the construction of the CIL plant is completed (scheduled for November). The tailings during this period will be stored separately for later processing. Metallurgical testwork to date has shown the flotation recoveries should be approximately 70% for gold, which will increase to approximately 85% once the CIL plant is on line.
Underground operations will continue production through to July/August 2015, after which focus will be on access development and exploration drilling for the supply of underground ore on completion of the Pearse ore processing.
CIL Plant Construction
Construction of the CIL plant for Mineral Hill is well underway with the foundation excavations completed and concrete works commenced (Photos 3, 4 & 5, in link below). To date approximately $6.2m has been committed for both service contracts and equipment purchases. Westech has engineered/designed the plant and is managing the construction works. The plant is expected to be commissioned in October 2015.
Mineral Hill Exploration
Jacks Hut
The Jacks Hut deposit at Mineral Hill was mined underground by Triako Resources Ltd in the mid to late 1990's, producing 11.9kt of copper and a little over 80,000oz of gold at an average head grade of 1.8% Cu and 4.8g/t Au. Development and stoping was strongly focused on the main mineralised fault zone, but a halo of Cu-Au stockwork veining and breccia is interpreted to remain.
A 1000m RC drilling program has commenced at the Jacks Hut Deposit following a review of near-surface sulfide and oxide Cu-Au mineralisation within the Mineral Hill mining leases.
The Jacks Hut target zone occurs predominantly in the hanging wall of the previously mined Jacks Hut deposit (between 1360-1480mN) which was tested by approximately 8,843 metres of historical surface drilling (diamond, RC, and percussion). A review of historical drill results and preliminary block model, suggests a conceptual sulphide exploration target of 380-500kt @ 1.2-1.3% Cu & 0.20-0.25g/t Au(3).
The current drilling is designed to infill in the vicinity of the best historical drilling intercepts to support a future Mineral Resource estimate in line with the JORC 2012 guidelines.
Significant intersections from the historical drilling within the unmined Jacks Hut hanging wall target include:
- 10m at 5.7% Cu & 0.5 g/t Au from 48m (D1)
- 11m at 1.2% Cu & 7.4 g/t Au from 47m (4150)
- 12m at 3.7% Cu & 0.3 g/t Au from 51m (GMH37)
- 6m at 2.3% Cu & 1.1 g/t Au from 39m (4078)
- 15.4m at 2.2% Cu & 0.1 g/t Au from 91.6m (D13)
- 3.6m at 3.9% Cu & 0.8 g/t Au from 32m (D12)
- 6m at 2% Cu & 0.2 g/t Au from 70m (D11)
- 9m at 2.1% Cu & 0.4 g/t Au from 85m (GMH22)
The first four drill holes of the current program, KMHRC149-152, have shown a similar tenor of mineralisation to nearby historical drill holes which intersected vein-style and disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite mineralisation hosted by chloritic zones, typically with a strongly silica-altered halo. Assay results are pending.
See the Appendix in the link below for a full list of relevant historical drill hole intercepts.
To view figures, table and appendix, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-KBL-723608.pdf
(1) Released 19 November 2011. Cut-off Grade 1g/t Au Oxide-Transitional & 2g/t Au Fresh
(2) Released 20 October 2011. Cut-off Grade 1g/t Au Oxide-Transitional & 2g/t Au Fresh
(3) The potential quantity and grade of these targets is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in determination of a Mineral Resource.
About KBL Mining Ltd
KBL Mining Ltd (ASX:KBL) is an Australian resource Company listed on the ASX with a focus on producing precious and base metals. KBL's main assets include the Mineral Hill copper-gold-silver-lead-zinc mine near Condobolin in New South Wales and Sorby Hills lead-silver-zinc project in Western Australia. The Company has been operating the refurbished processing plant at Mineral Hill since October 2011 to produce copper-gold concentrates and in 2013 commenced producing a separate lead-silver concentrate. Sorby Hills (KBL holds 75% with Henan Yuguang Gold & Lead Co. Ltd (HYG&L) holding 25%) is a large near surface undeveloped silver-lead deposit close to port infrastructure and a short distance from Asian markets.
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