Arc Exploration reports Indonesian mining ops

The following is an edited excerpt from Australian mining firm Arc Exploration Limited (ARX)?s quarterly report released on Friday.

Java

Trenggalek Project, East Java (ARX ? 95%)
The Company operates a joint venture with P.T. Sumber Mineral Nusantara, which holds the Trenggalek Exploration IUP license covering an area of 30,044 ha (?300 km2) in the Southern Mountains of East Java.

The Southern Mountains lie within the Sunda-Banda magmatic arc and is highly prospective for epithermal gold-silver and porphyry-related copper-gold deposits; highlighted by the results of our own work and by Intrepid?s success in making a potentially major copper-gold porphyry discovery at Tujuh Bukit, located about 250 km east of Trenggalek.

A low level of field activity was undertaken at Trenggalek during the quarter, due to the Company?s focus on rapidly advancing the Bima Project.

The Company completed an initial 5,000 metre/45 hole scout diamond drilling program at Trenggalek in the previous quarter. The objectives of the program were to test for potentially economic gold intercepts and rank prospects for further surface work and infill exploration drilling. These objectives were achieved and the results of this program demonstrated the following:
? Trenggalek represents a substantial epithermal vein field hosting multiple gold targets;br>? Drilling intersected significant gold mineralization in the principal vein targets (Sentul, Buluroto and Kojan), including locally high-grade gold intercepts (e.g. 2.0m at 17.2 g/t Au & 13 g/t Ag within 9.6m ?4.5 g/t in TRDD04);
? Gold mineralisation is open in all directions and at depth, and less than 20% of each vein system has been drill tested so far;
? The results demonstrate potential to delineate high-grade ore shoots within these vein systems and the prospectivity is further enhanced by the fact that they lie on structural lineaments that extend for several kilometres outside the immediate prospect areas.

Several other prospects and geochemical anomalies within the Trenggalek IUP are yet to be tested by detailed surface exploration and scout drilling. These targets include silica cappings, jasperoids and hydrothermal eruption breccias, with coherent and coincident gold-arsenic-antimony-mercury surface geochemical anomalies, which represent an extensive (?50 krn2) partly eroded geothermal palaeosurface with exploration potential at depth for gold-bearing epithermal veins, stockworks and breccias.

Further surface work is underway in preparation for more drilling planned for 2011 and with the objective of moving the project towards resource estimation.

Exploration expenditure at Trenggalek during the quarter totalled A$216,610.

Sumbawa

Bima Project (ARX ? 95%)
The Company operates a joint venture with P.T. Sumber Mineral Nusantara, which holds the Bima Exploration IUP license covering an area of 24,980 hectares (nearly 250 km2) in East Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara Province.

The Bima Project is located about 230 km east of Newmont?s giant Batu Hijau and Elang porphyry copper-gold deposits and lies on the same segment of the Sunda-Banda magmatic arc. This highly prospective terrane is underlain by Early Miocene to Pliocene intermediate-felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, fossiliferous limestone and high-level intrusions. Targets identified at Bima are gold and base metal-rich intermediatesulphidation epithermal veins, high-level silicification in calcareous rocks, and gold-rich high-sulphidation lithocaps, all of which may be related to buried porphyry copper-gold targets.

Activities undertaken during the quarter included detailed geological mapping, soil and trench geochemical sampling.

BAKU
Baku Prospect, located at the southern end of the IUP, is represented by a 500m by 200m silica-clay alteration lithocap containing gold-mineralised stockworks hosted in andesitic-dacitic volcanic rocks and quartz-feldspar porphyry.

Additional ridge-and-spur soil sampling completed during the quarter outlined a new 15Gm x 35Gm gold anomaly, Baku East. The anomaly was defined by eleven elevated gold results ranging from 0.042 to 0.217 ppm Au and it occurs about 300m northeast of the gold zone discovered on Baku Hill.

A total of 14 trenches were completed at Baku during the quarter. These test soil and rockchip gold anomalies reported in the previous quarter, and two of the trenches test the new soil anomaly.

The trench results on Baku Hill indicate a coherent gold mineralized stockwork zone that is at least 300m long and approximately l00m wide. The mineralized stockwork is open to the east. The results also demonstrate locally high-grade intercepts and these are associated with gold-bearing quartz veins up to 3-4m wide within more extensive lower grade stockwork.

Trenching will continue in the next quarter. Magnetics and IP geophysical surveys commenced late in the quarter.

KOWO
Kowo Prospect, located in the northern part of the IUP, is represented by a 2km by 1.5km exposure of altered volcaniclastic rocks hosting quartz-baryte-sulphide stockwork and surrounded by younger volcanic cover.

Previous soil sampling over the stockworked volcaniclastic rocks highlighted a large elongated lead-barium anomaly that includes a 200m by 300m zone of elevated gold surrounded by younger cover at the northern end of the anomaly.

A total of 7 trenches were completed at Kowo during the quarter. These test the gold soil anomaly on the northern side of the prospect.

SORO
Soro Prospect is located about 6 km south of Kowo and is represented by extensively silicified limestone and calcareous volcaniclastic rocks.

Assay results were received from soil sampling completed in the previous quarter. These highlight a 1km by 0.5km arcuate-shaped gold-arsenic-antimony-molybdenum anomaly underlain by boulders of gossanous silicified calcareous rocks and fresh limestone outcrops. Fifteen soil samples within the gold anomaly returned highly elevated results ranging from 0.14 to 0.75 ppm Au, 291 to 613 ppm As, 8 to 32 ppm Sb, and 5 to 20 ppm Mo.

Trenching at Soro commenced late in the quarter. Magnetics and IP geophysical surveys will commence in the next quarter.

Exploration expenditure at Bima during the quarter totalled A$212,856.

Papua

Aisasjur Project - Anglo Strategic Alliance (ARX ? 20%)
The Company holds a 20% interest in a Strategic Alliance with Anglo American PLC (Anglo) to explore for copper-gold deposits in Papua and West Papua provinces. The first project in this alliance is an Exploration IUP license covering an area of 99,410 hectares (nearly 1,000 km2) located in remote, heavily forested and mountainous terrain at the centre of the Bird?s Head peninsula in West Papua Province.

The project lies in the same belt of rocks that host the giant Grasberg mineral district. At Aisasjur, the first prospect identified, previous drilling has demonstrated that gold mineralisation persists from surface to 700 meters depth. Indications of porphyry copper-gold mineralization were also intersected beneath the shallow gold zone.

The project is highly prospective for both epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold deposits and Anglo is preparing to continue further detailed exploration in the first quarter of 2011. (end of edited excerpt)