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NEW RESULTS HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL OF NEAR-PLANT TARGETS IN COOLGARDIE
– New Mineral Resource of 48,000oz established at CNX – High-grade assays returned from targets along Three Mile Hill sill including:
– Focus continuing to develop near-plant targets to bolster mid-term production schedule |
Focus Minerals Ltd. (ASX: FML) , a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, is pleased to announce some exciting results from its latest round of exploration drilling in Coolgardie, Western Australia, testing the potential of a number of gold targets that are close to its Three Mile Hill processing plant.
Focus is on track to produce 175,000oz of gold from its mining operations in Laverton and Coolgardie in FY 2012. In Coolgardie, Focus is currently in production from two underground mines and one open pit operation, processing ore through its 100% owned 1.2Mtpa Three Mile Hill gold plant. It is due to commence production from another open pit operation – Greenfields — through the September Quarter.
This latest drilling program has focused on a series of targets that run along a key historic production corridor in Focus’ Greater Coolgardie northern tenements (Figure 1) where a dolerite rock package hosts a number of different deposits including the historic mines of Three Mile Hill, Greenfields, Mystery Mint and Patricia Jean (total historic production of 458,000oz).
Following the drilling program, Focus has now outlined a new 48,000oz Mineral Resource at CNX and confirmed a highly prospective target to the south of the Patricia Jean pit. All of the targeted deposits are less than 10km trucking distance from Focus’ processing plant.
The goal of the exploration program has been to test and develop identified targets close to the existing Three Mile Hill plant for inclusion into Focus’ mid-term production schedule.
“We have a significant portfolio of assets at varying stages of development across 450sq km in the Coolgardie region which enable us to deliver a stable and reliable ore feed to our Three Mile Hill plant that is sustainable over a very long period of time,” said Focus Minerals Chief Executive Campbell Baird.
“This latest drill program has been all about identifying projects that will sit in our mid-term life of mine plan with a specific emphasis on securing deposits that are within a close trucking distance to our Three Mile Hill plant.”
Consistent with this near-plant development strategy, Focus will move the historic Greenfields pit (1.0Mt @ 1.7g/t) back into production in the September quarter following a 12 month program of exploration and economic review. Furthermore, significant deposits at Lindsays, Brilliant, and Patricia Jean are the subject of ongoing exploration and assessment.
The latest drilling program saw a combination of diamond and RC holes focused around three key targets along the Three Mile Hill dolerite sill. This has delivered the following results:
CNX: New 48,000oz Mineral Resource
A new 48,000oz Mineral Resource (930,000t @ 1.6g/t) has been established at CNX (Table 1 & Figures 2 & 3). CNX sits just 1.5km to the north-west of Focus’ Three Mile Hill plant.
Drilling was undertaken to validate historic data from the early 90’s and the latest diamond drill results have confirmed the sub-horizontal dip of the quartz veins, including a hole of 6m @ 6.2g/t from 106m (Table 1 & Figure 2 & 3). CNX was last mined in 1991 and produced 196,000 tonnes at 1.9g/t. The project is undergoing evaluation for its potential inclusion into the future mining schedule.
High-Grade Results Between Patricia Jean & Jolly Britons
RC drilling over a 500m strike between the Jolly Britons prospect and Patricia Jean pit (Table 2 & Figures 2, 4 & 5) has delivered a series of high-grade intercepts near a hinge zone of the Three Mile Hill Dolerite sill.
These results are important as they are interpreted to be associated with a significant mineralised fault structure extending from two major pits along a 6km strike to the south (Brilliant and Lindsays – total production 374,000oz) (Figure 6). The geological complexities created by a known gold producing regional structural fault intersecting with a hinge zone in the dolerite rock are advantageous for gold discovery elevating this area in Focus’ regional exploration plans. Open pit mining at Patricia Jean in 1990’s produced 175,000 tonnes at 2.8g/t, while historical mining at Jolly Britons is limited to shallow old timer workings.