Asiamet: BKM resource update shows very robust copper tonnages
Thursday, June 29 2017 - 03:16 AM WIB
TSX-listed Asiamet Resources Limited (ARS) reported on Wednesday an updated Mineral Resource estimate for the Beruang Kanan Main (BKM) copper project in Indonesia?s Central Kalimantan Province, showing ?very robust? of copper grades and tonnages.
?The outcomes from the Resource evaluation work completed on the BKM deposit over the past year have been outstanding. Copper grades and tonnages have proven to be very robust with a 207 percent increase in the higher confidence level Measured and Indicated Resources and approximately 30,000 tons of copper added to the overall copper inventory,? said Asiamet Resources CEO Peter Bird in a statement Wednesday.
?Most importantly 75 percent of the contained copper is now in high confidence Resources and 73 percent sits inside the PEA pit design. As such the conversion to Mineral Reserves is anticipated to be strong when mining and metallurgical studies are completed in coming months. We are very pleased with the outcome of Resource work and expect it will provide a solid base to build upon an already very robust Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA),? he added.
The Resource has been independently estimated by Duncan Hackman of Hackman & Associates Pty Ltd (Australia) and a Technical Report compliant with NI 43-101 will be published and available on the company?s website within 45 days of publication of this news release. As required under NI 43-101 Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources are reported separately below.
The 2017 updated Mineral Resource estimate will be the subject of ongoing mining engineering and metallurgical studies as part of a BKM Feasibility Study and further optimization of the BKM PEA open pit design is expected.
A leachable copper model for the BKM deposit will be constructed using sequential copper analysis data from all post 2013 drill core samples and an initial Mineral Reserve will in turn be generated from the Measured and Indicated component of this leachable copper Resource model. Asiamet said it expects to complete the feasibility study in early 2018 and make a development decision at that time.
The BKM Mineral Resource estimate is based on assays from 269 diamond drill core holes that were drilled from 1998 to 2007, from 2012 to 2013 and by ARS from 2015 to 2017. Mineralization is contained within a near-surface, shallow-dipping and strongly mineralized system, that extends over an area of 1300m (N-S) and 800m (E-W) with depth extents ranging from surface to between 100m and 400m below surface (top to bottom). The 2015 Resource drilling program undertaken by ARS was designed to delineate the extent and continuity of the BKM mineralization and the 2016-2017 Resource drilling program designed to test for geological and grade continuity of the BKM mineralization. Both programs were completed successfully, meeting their objectives of both expanding and increasing the robustness and integrity of the Mineral Resource estimate.
Mineral Resource Estimate - Beruang Kanan Main Deposit - June 2017
Table - Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource (NI 43-101)
| Measured Mineral Resources | ||||
| Reporting cut (Cu %) | Tons (?000) | Cu Grade (Cu %) | Contained Cu (?000 tons) | Contained Cu (?000,000 lbs) |
| 0.2 | 20.5 | 0.7 | 147.7 | 325.7 |
| 0.5 | 15.4 | 0.8 | 126.8 | 279.6 |
| 0.7? | 8.5 | 1.0? | 85.8 | 189.2 |
?
| Indicated Mineral Resources | ||||
| Reporting cut (Cu %) | Tons (?000) | Cu Grade (Cu %) | Contained Cu (?000 tons) | Contained Cu (?000,000 lbs) |
| 0.2 | 28.7 | 0.6 | 174.9 | 385.6 |
| 0.5 | 16.9? | 0.8 | 127.7 | 281.6 |
| 0.7 | 7.7 | 1.0 | 73.8 | 162.7 |
?
| Inferred Mineral Resources | ||||
| Reporting cut (Cu %) | Tons (?000) | Cu Grade (Cu %) | Contained Cu (?000 tons) | Contained Cu (?000,000 lbs) |
| 0.2? | 17.7 | 0.6 | 109.3 | 241.0 |
| 0.5??? | 12.1 | 0.7 | 86.2 | 190.1 |
| 0.7 | 4.7 | 0.9 | 41.9 | 92.4 |
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak