Arc announces anomalous gold, base metal surface results from Bima project

Australian mining firm Arc Exploration Limited announced on Monday the results of initial surface sampling from its Kowo Prospect the Bima copper-gold project in East Sumbawa.

Grid-based soil sampling at Kowo in the northern part of the project has outlined anomalous gold, base metal and barium in a 2 km2 window of mineralised volcanic rock that forms a series of low hills surrounded by younger cover, the company said in statement.

Results from a 50 m x 100 m soil sample grid on the northwest side of Kowo have so far defined a coherent gold soil anomaly over an area of 250 m x 500 m underlain by gossanous volcaniclastic rocks containing a stockwork of quartz-chalcedony-sulphide veins.

Fifteen of the 33 soil samples collected in this area returned anomalous gold results ranging from 0.048 to 0.511 ppm Au, and averaging 0.154 ppm Au. Selective rock chip samples taken from the stockwork exposed within the soil anomaly returned 0.2 to 1.84 ppm Au in eleven of 31 samples. Silver, copper, lead and barium are also highly anomalous in the soils and rock, returning maximum results of 24 ppm Ag, 138 ppm Cu, 1550 ppm Pb and 1.68% Ba in soil, and 210 ppm Ag, 1580 ppm Cu, 1310 ppm Pb and 13.6% Ba in rock.

These early results are encouraging as they confirm the potential for bulk tonnage gold-silver-base metal sulphide deposits in the project area, it said.

Soil sampling is continuing over the larger southern portion of the Kowo Prospect where the multi-element soil anomaly is open. The soil anomaly is also open to the north and northwest where its source is most likely to be covered by younger volcanic deposits and alluvium.

The project is a 24,980 ha General Survey KP license pending conversion to an Exploration IUP tenement under the new mining law. (denny)