Arc resumes W. Papua copper-gold exploration activity

Australian mining firm Arc Exploration Limited (ARX) announced on Monday that exploration activity has recommenced on the IUP tenement held under the strategic alliance between Anglo American and ARX, in West Papua.

The program, currently underway, will build on existing information and includes regional reconnaissance at a number of locations designed to identify further targets for more detailed follow up during 2011. The objective is to move prospects towards drilling planned to commence in the second half of 2011, the company said.

Under the terms of the strategic alliance, Anglo American is responsible for managing and fully funding the project up to the point when a decision to mine is made, it said.

Managing Director John Carlile said: ?Our strategic alliance with Anglo American is an important part of our strategy. It allows us to participate in exploration in Papua where Indonesia?s largest copper-gold porphyry deposit, Grasberg, occurs. As Anglo American manages and funds our 20% interest we can participate in the huge exploration upside of Papua without diverting our funding and (management focus away from our 95% owned projects at Bima and Trenggalek. Now that the Papua IUP tenement is in place, Anglo American and ourselves are delighted we can move forward to explore this highly prospective area where mineralization has already been confirmed.?

The alliance currently holds an exploration IUP tenement covering approximately 1000 km2 of highly prospective ground in the same belt of rocks that host the giant Grasberg mineral district. Previous results demonstrate that the area is highly prospective for both epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold deposits. At Aisasjur, the first prospect identified, gold mineralization persists from surface to 700 meters and is underlain by porphyry copper-gold mineralization. (denny)