Aussie?s Winchester to acquire manganese, coal projects in Indonesia
Tuesday, December 21 2010 - 12:43 AM WIB
The announcement was made on Tuesday by Australian firm Winchester Resources Limited which has agreed to acquire 100 percent of the issued capital of Killara Resources.
The PT AT concession (IUP) is located approximately 2.0 km north of the previously announced Belu manganese project, which consisted of two contiguous concessions (IUP?s) covering a combined area of 3,234 hectares. PT AT covers an area of 2,200 hectares, expanding the area covered by the Belu manganese project to 5,434 hectares, a 68% increase in area, the company said.
The company did not give the detail and the complete name of PT AT.
The PT AT concession is predominantly underlain by rocks of the tertiary aged Bobonaro Complex, a unit consisting of a clay matrix and blocks derived from older sequences, which hosts the known manganese mineralisation in the region. The concession has been subjected to negligible modern exploration, with no drilling or modern geophysics completed, although artisanal miners have in recent times been extracting high grade manganese ore from near surface deposits within the PT AT concession.
Field based exploration on the Belu manganese project is expected to commence as soon as practicable following the completion of the acquisition of Killara. The initial phases of work will involve detailed geological mapping and sampling, combined with the collection of geophysical data, to identify drill targets. Drilling of identified targets would be expected to commence in the third quarter of calendar 2011.
Killara is continuing discussions with other concession holders in the vicinity of the Belu manganese project with the aim of securing additional concessions overlying the prospective Bobonaro Complex. These discussions are ongoing and there is no certainty as to their outcome, however they offer significant scope to further increase the size of the Belu manganese project.
Killara has also held discussions with regard to the potential acquisition of, or joint venture over a number of coal concessions in East and South Kalimantan. Negotiations are ongoing and there is no certainty as to their outcome, however in the event that the discussions are successful, the rights and obligations of any agreements will be assumed by Winchester, it said.
Through its very well developed network of business contacts in Indonesia, Killara has been offered a range of resource projects for potential acquisition and / or joint venture. This process is expected to continue and the evaluation of these opportunities is ongoing. (denny)