zdx n/rZedex Minerals Ltd (ASX:ZDX) BAU GLOBAL JORC RESOURCE NOW 1.612 M oz Au
Wednesday November 5 2:41 PM
Auckland, New Zealand, Nov 5, 2008 - (ABN Newswire) - Zedex Minerals Ltd (ASX:
ZDX.AX) is pleased to announce a further significant increase in JORC status gold resources at the Bau Gold Project in Sarawak, Malaysia. This increase (308,000 oz up from 05 August 2008 estimate) derives from ongoing geological assessment and resource modelling, which is progressively improving the definition of established gold deposits within central sectors of the Bau Goldfield.
As part of this ongoing programme, Ashby Consultants Ltd (ACL) of New Zealand has now completed a new independent review and update of the Jugan gold deposit and determined the grade and volume of historic mine tailings at the BYG Gold Mine site, near Bau township. This latest estimate increases the overall Bau resource to 1,612,000 oz of gold (refer to table 3 below).
JUGAN DEPOSIT
The Jugan gold deposit comprises a compact body of sediment-hosted, carbonate-replacement style mineralization within Mining Lease 119 and Mining Certificate 1D/1/87, approximately 7 km northeast of Bau township. The mineralization extends over a strike length of 300 metres (NE-SW), with 75m width (NW-SE), extending at least 200 metres down dip (60 degrees NW).
The deposit is considered to be amenable to open pit mining.
Recent diamond drilling (310m in 5 twinned holes) has been conducted to improve the geological definition and validate historic assay results. In conjunction with results from an extensive check assay programme, these new drilling results were integrated into the Jugan database, which now comprises 14,663.65 metres of drilling (8,853.65m diamond and 5,810m RC) in 144 drill holes.
Incorporating these new drilling results and check assay programme results, new 10x10x5m block resource models were then run (using ordinary kriging) to compute the resource figures, as shown in Table 1 below:
TABLE 1
Jugan Deposit @ 1g/t Au Cutoff
-----------------------------------STATUS TONNES GRADE CONTAINED (Mt) (g/t Au) GOLD (oz)-----------------------------------Indicated 9.226 1.66 492,000Inferred 2.514 2.202 178,000-----------------------------------Total: 10.091 2.066 670,000-----------------------------------
Relative to the prior resource estimate (10 June 2008), the above estimate represents a 28% increase in the Jugan JORC compliant gold resource. This study has also highlighted the potential for further increasing the resource and improving the resource classification through additional drilling.
HISTORIC MINE TAILINGS
At the historic Bukit Young Gold Mine site, auriferous tailings contained within a tailings dam in ML109 were recently auger drilled on a 25 x 25m grid pattern (505m) and sampled in one metre splits to check and extend the results of an historic survey (405m). These samples, which were assayed at an internationally accredited laboratory, revealed that the gold grade varies systematically throughout the tailings storage facility. The gold resource was then estimated (by ACL) using ordinary kriging of a 10m x 10m x 1m block model. The modelled resource is shown classified as indicated in Table 2 below:
TABLE 2
BYG Mine Tailings
---------------------------------------STATUS Cutoff TONNES GRADE CONTAINED (g.t AU) (Mt) (g/t Au) GOLD (oz)---------------------------------------Indicated 0.62 1.291 1.332 55,000Inferred 0.62 1.878 1.332 80,000---------------------------------------Total: 3.169 1.332 135,000---------------------------------------
The additional inferred resource shown in Table 2 is the difference between the modelled resource and the historic tonnage, as recorded in historic mine records. The 0.62 Au g/t cutoff off grade represents the minimum modelled block grade.
BAU PROJECT GLOBAL RESOURCE
The latest Jugan revision and BYG mine tailings resource estimate lifts the current Bau JORC 2004 compliant global gold resource to 1,612,000 oz. Resource estimates (by sector) are now as shown in the following table:
TABLE 3
BAU GOLD PROJECT JORC STATUS RESOURCES
---------------------------------------------------SECTOR Tonnes Grade Cutoff Category Contained (Mt) (g/t Au)(g/t Au) Gold (oz)---------------------------------------------------Sirenggok 7.185 1.23 0.75 Inferred 284,000Pejiru 8.576 2.24 1.00 Inferred 497,000Jugan 9.226 1.66 1.00 Indicated 492,000Jugan 2.514 2.202 1.00 Inferred 178,000BYG Mine Tailings 1.291 1.332 0.62 Indicated 55,000BYG Mine Tailings 1.878 1.332 0.62 Inferred 80,000---------------------------------------------------Total: 1,612,000---------------------------------------------------
FORWARD PROGRAMME
The above results are part of an ongoing programme designed to progressively improve the definition and delineate the extent of known gold deposits within the Bau Goldfield. The 28% JORC resource improvement resulting from the twin drilling and check assay programmes at Jugan is encouraging, in that commensurate improvements may be surmised at Sirenggok deposit. Accordingly, check sampling of historic drill core from Sirenggok deposit is currently underway.
As previously announced (on 23 October 2008), a recent independent consultant report has identified a geological target of 4.6 - 5.8 M oz gold (which includes the above JORC resource of 1.612M oz gold) within a number of adjacent mineralization zones. Accordingly, a prime objective of the 2009 drilling programme will be to test these zones and convert this identified geological potential to JORC resource status. The 2009 drilling programme will also include provision for large diameter (PQ) diamond drilling, to extract representative mineralization samples for metallurgical test-work. Bulk sampling of the tailings resource is also planned, together with density determination, geodetic survey and gravimetric analysis and metallurgical analysis of the tailings.
During 2009, Zedex also aims to examine the feasibility of generating early cash flow from certain zones that are considered amenable to low-capex development.
BACKGROUND
The Bau Gold Project in Sarawak, East Malaysia comprises consolidated Mining and Exploration tenements that collectively cover 828 km2 of the most highly-prospective ground within the Bau Goldfield. Operating intermittently since 1864, the Bau goldfield has recorded 1.5 million oz gold production, estimated historic production of more than 3.0 million oz. Zedex holds majority interest and is operator of the Bau Gold Project Joint Venture.
Beyond the Bau Gold Project, the Joint Venture also holds a number of regional exploration tenements, covering 1,236.38 km2 of highly prospective, but relatively unexplored terrain in Sarawak. Exploration of these regional tenements is currently in progress.
JORC Statement
Scientific or technical information in this news release has been prepared under the supervision of Rod Murfitt, Chief Geologist of the Company and a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). Mr Murfitt has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person, as defined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" (the JORC Code). Mr Murfitt consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.
The information in this report relating to the Bau JORC resource is based on information compiled by John Ashby who is a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and who is employed by Ashby Consultants Ltd. John Ashby has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to resource estimation to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves." John Ashby consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on His information in the form and context in which it appears.
Reference to geological resource potential is based on information announced on October 15. Geological resources are conceptual in nature and insufficient exploration has to date been completed to allow estimation of a mineral resource, as defined in the JORC code. It is uncertain whether further exploration will result in the determination of a mineral resource.
About ZEDEX MINERALS LIMITED:
Zedex is an active gold development company focused on being a leading player in the South East Asian and Pacific region.