Arc reports encouraging trench results in E. Java gold project

Australia-listed mining firm Arc Exploration Limited announced Tuesday the first results of trenching and the commencement of a ground geophysical survey at the Suruh Prospect in Trenggalek gold project, East Java.

Suruh is one of several targets in the north-eastern part of the Trenggalek IUP tenement comprising silica cappings, hydrothermal eruption breccias and sinters that may be the surface expression of underlying gold-bearing veins and stockworks, the company said,

The first trenches at Suruh focussed on a 400m x 200m zone of silicified hydrothermal breccia and silica sinter boulders surrounded by quartz stockworked volcanic rocks.

Trenches in the stockworked volcanics returned a number of broad low-grade gold intercepts including 14m at 0.l6g/t gold (SHT04), 26m at 0.16g/t gold (SHT07), and 20m at 0.3g/t gold (SHT09). Trenches in the hydrothermal breccia returned strongly elevated gold-pathfinder elements including 44m at 806ppm arsenic, 86ppm antimony & 0.46ppm mercury (SHT01) and 41m 995ppm arsenic, 39ppm antimony & 0.20ppm mercury (SHT02).

Managing Director John Carlile commented: ?These first trench results from Suruh are encouraging as we feel that they indicate potential for a significant gold deposit at depth.

A good analogy is the 750,000-oz Toka Tindung gold deposit in North Sulawesi, which is currently under development by Archipelago Resources PLC. Some of our geologists were involved in the discovery and exploration of Toka Tindung and, based on their first hand experience, they feel that Suruh is similar in character to Toka Tindung. Toka Tindung, a gold stockwork deposit averaging 3-4 g/t, is partly overlain by a package of breccias and silica sinters up to 75m thick that contain only low-levels of gold (<0.1 g/t) but elevated arsenic (100?s ppm), antimony (10?s ppm) and mercury.

The work in progress at Suruh will rapidly advance this target towards first drill testing in the next few weeks.?

Geophysical surveys now in progress at Suruh will help plan the first phase of scout drilling to test the underlying gold targets. Surface work on other shallow epithermal targets is also in progress, it said. (romel)