Exploration Drill Results 19m averaging 5.82g/t Gold
Perth, July 10, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - ABM Resources NL (
ASX:ABU) ("ABM" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an update on extensional exploration on the wider Twin Bonanza Gold Project (surrounding the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Mine).
First Assay Results received from near-mine 15,000 metre drill program Buccaneer Porphyry:
- Targeting near surface higher grade zones for potential incremental expansion and additional tonnes to complement mining at Old Pirate.
- Hole BCAC100007 intersected:
* 19 metres averaging 5.82g/t gold from 48 metres down hole.
- Hole BCAC100003 intersected:
* 2 metres averaging 33.36g/t gold from 46 metres down hole.
Other results pending:
- Drilling is on-going with pending results from the Buccaneer Porphyry, the Casa Prospect and the Black Cat Prospect.
- The Vampire Prospect is scheduled to be drilled over the coming weeks.
Darren Holden, Managing Director of ABM said, "These are excellent results from the Buccaneer Porphyry Project. The targeting of near-surface mineralisation returning wide high and medium grade zones clearly demonstrates our expansion potential at the wider Twin Bonanza Gold Project. We look forward to bringing you further results shortly."
2015 Exploration Program
ABM is currently in the process of completing a 15,000 metre drill program targeting near-surface mineral resources capable of adding to the Company's production from the Old Pirate mine. With the exception of the Buccaneer Prospect, these targets have not been adequately tested. Targets were selected based on the presence of high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins at surface, soil samples anomalous in gold and arsenic and prospective geological structure.
Buccaneer Porphyry Drilling
The Buccaneer Porphyry Project contains a total resource estimate of 15.3 million tonnes averaging 2.23g/t gold for 1.1 million ounces of gold (indicated and inferred resource categories - refer Appendix 2). The resource estimation was based on several drilling campaigns undertaken by ABM and previous explorers and consists of widespread drilling focussing on large scale low-grade mineralisation. There are, however, several near-surface targets within the mineralised envelope that have the potential to yield smaller tonnage and higher grade mineralised zones. These zones are being targeted to potentially add production to that from the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold mine, which the Company is currently mining and processing at the Coyote Gold Plant.
The 2015 program at Buccaneer has involved drilling 48 shallow aircore drill holes for a total of 3,305 metres. To date results have been received for 22 holes and the significant assay results are tabulated in Appendix 1, with 14 out of 22 holes intersecting near-surface mineralisation greater than 1g/t gold.
Of particular significance is a wide zone of mineralisation intersected in hole BCAC100007 which returned 19 metres averaging 5.82g/t gold and hole BCAC100003 returning 2 metres averaging 33.36g/t gold. In both holes the drill direction was northeast to southwest targeting a structural zone dipping to the northeast and hence the intersection width is thought to be 70 to 90% of true width.
Hole BCAC100007 with the wide intersection of 19 metres averaging 5.82g/t gold is drilled approximately 20 metres up dip from hole BCRC100058 drilled in a previous campaign which returned 18 metres averaging 4.05g/t gold (see Quarterly report 31 December 2011) and thus confirms the presence of a high grade mineralised zone. Hole BCAC100006 returned 4 metres averaging 2.67g/t gold and is interpreted to be the same zone as intersected by BCAC100007. This zone is within 20 metres of the surface.
Further results are pending from high-grade targeted drilling at the Buccaneer Porphyry.
Other Results
The Company has also received drill results for the Bandit and Bandit South targets. The best intersection at Bandit was 1 metre grading 23.5g/t gold from 33 metres down hole. This intersection is interpreted to link with a surface outcropping zone of mineralisation. Refer Appendix 1 in link below for further details.
On-Going Exploration Program
The exploration program is on-going with drill results pending from the Buccaneer Porphyry Prospect, the Casa Prospect (located 12 kilometres south east of Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit), and the Black Cat Prospect (located 26 kilometres south west of the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit). Several other targets are pending testing in the current program including the Vampire Prospect where visible gold is observed in quartz veins at surface.
Twin Bonanza Gold Project - Extensional Exploration Potential
The Twin Bonanza Gold Project includes ABM's Old Pirate High Grade Gold Deposit, the Buccaneer Porphyry Gold Project and more than 50 individual targets and prospects (Figure 3 in link below).
About the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit
The Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Project, which is part of the wider Twin Bonanza Gold Camp, consists of a series of gold-bearing quartz veins with an overall strike-length of ~1.8 kilometres. Veins range from a few centimetres to zones greater than 6 metres in width with individual veins varying in grade and width along strike. Quartz veins are both parallel with stratigraphy, preferentially following shale horizons in an overall anticline structure, and also cross-cut stratigraphy following shear-zones and other structures.
Gold is characterised as both fine and coarse, and along with the variable width, the project has a high statistical nugget effect whereby low-grade drill-hole intercepts can often be located within known high-grade structures which increases uncertainty in modelling. Multiple samples from the same location or re-assaying of duplicate samples can produce highly variable results. Hence drilling alone cannot generally provide statistical and geometric information required to define a long term and detailed mine plan. As a result of the geological factors, the project is classified as high-risk and ABM applies a risk managed staged approach to development at Old Pirate whereby capital expenditure is deployed sequentially and each stage of development informs the next stage. The first stage was trial mining completed in early 2014. ABM is now developing the second stage with full scale open pit mining. These stages are based on mineral resource estimates (rather than reserves) with regular revisions to near-term mine planning modelling (refer releases 30/9/2014).
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ABU-725997.pdf
About ABM Resources NL
ABM Resources (ASX:ABU) is developing several gold discoveries in the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Company has a multi-tiered approach to exploration and development with a combination of high-grade production scenarios such as the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Project, large scale discoveries such as Buccaneer, and regional exploration discoveries such as the Hyperion Gold Project. In addition, ABM is committed to regional exploration programs throughout its extensive holdings including the alliance with Independence Group NL at the regional Lake Mackay Project.
| ||
|
