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TINDALS DRILL RESULTS HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER EXPANSION AROUND PERSEVERANCE
– Focus Pours 200,000th Ounce of Gold at Coolgardie –
Potential For Further Expansion
Australian gold producer Focus Minerals (ASX: FML) is pleased to announce that drilling at its flagship Tindals Mining Centre underground operation has produced a series of high-grade gold intercepts, highlighting the potential for further expansion around the prolific Perseverance deposit (Figure 1)
Exploration drilling at Perseverance has targeted previously identified mineralisation to the north of the existing reserve (Table 1), the Perseverance North deposit, where it has outlined a 150m strike length of high-grade mineralisation.
Recent drilling of the main lode at Perseverance (4.5m @ 21.6g/t, 2.3m @ 12.3g/t, and 2m @ 7.8g/t) has also confirmed the existence of a mineralised diorite lode west of, and running parallel to, the current Perseverance Ore Reserve.
High-Grade Drill Results
High grade intercepts at the Perseverance North deposit include (Table 1):
- 6m @ 20.2g/t
- 2.4m @ 16.3g/t
- 2.8m@ 10.8g/t; and
- 2.7m @ 10.0g/t
High-grade intercepts in the diorites include (Table 1):
- 16.9m @ 16.0g/t;
- 6.1m @ 7.0g/t;
- 3m @ 12.4g/t; and
- 9m @ 3.5g/t
“These results point to the potential for further expansion around the Perseverance ore body and, when you put them together with other work we’ve been doing across the wider underground operation, we are clearly in a very strong position to continue to deliver solid production from the Tindals underground month after month,” said Focus Minerals Chief Executive Campbell Baird.
200,00th Ounce Poured
Mr Baird said Focus has just poured its 200,000th ounce of gold since it started production from the Tindals Underground operation in April 2008, significantly with approximately 125,000oz of that production having been mined from Perseverance.
“Perseverance has been an important ore body for Focus over the years and its production has been exceptional when you consider we only started there with a 76,000 ounces reserve,” he said.
Drill Program Detail
The Perseverance North discovery (see ASX release 16/09/10) was targeted to assess the southern strike potential as well as infill around previous high-grade results. This drilling has also delivered extremely encouraging intersections including: 6m @ 20.2g/t, 2.4m @ 16.3g/t, 2.8m @ 10.8g/t; (Figure 2) and 2.7m @ 10.0g/t and has now identified a 150m strike length of high-grade mineralisation which remains open to the north and down dip. In addition, the drilling result appears to indicate that the Perseverance North deposit has a moderate-steep southerly plunge, similar to the main quartz-sulphide ore body at Perseverance.
Drill holes that targeted the Main Lode within the Ore Reserve at Perseverance were extended to the west to test the position where mineralised diorites were known to exist, and had previously being successfully mined, at higher levels in the mine. The mineralised diorites intersected in the drilling are located 20-50m west of the Ore Reserve, which is currently being mined. The mineralisation exhibits similar characteristics (alteration, veining and mineralisation) as that mined previously within diorites higher in the mine. The drilling intersected excellent widths and grades including: 16.9m @ 16.0g/t, 6.1m @ 7.0/g/t, 3.0m @ 12.4g/t, 7m @ 3.5g/t; and 6.3m @ 4.1g/t. Further drilling is being planned to determine the extent of the diorite mineralisation at this depth