Avocet receives significant drilling results from Doup gold project
Tuesday, December 18 2007 - 08:34 AM WIB
Avocet Mining PLC announces positive results from recent confirmation drilling at Doup located 25 kilometres northeast of the Company?s mine at North Lanut in Indonesia. The Doup project is held under the Kotabunan KP, which was acquired as part of the Banda portfolio announced on 29 June 2007. Avocet holds a beneficial 60 per cent interest in the Doup project with the Banda minority shareholders owning 25 per cent and the Company?s partners at North Lanut holding a 15 per cent back in right.
The Doup project consists of two main prospects, Panang and Benteng, which were drilled by Placer Dome (?Placer?) in the 1980s as part of a joint venture with BHP and Aneka Tambang. Placer defined a resource of 17Mt @ 2.15 g/t Au containing 1.2 million ounces of gold based on this drilling. This resource is classified by the Company as ?non-JORC? compliant as the original drillcore is no longer available and the underlying data cannot be substantiated.
Initial metallurgical test work by Placer suggested that the deeper mineralisation contains sulphides and is refractory to direct cyanidation techniques, although comprehensive test work was not carried out. Mineralisation in the upper 40 metres of the prospects is oxidised and gold is recoverable using conventional carbon-in-leach technology. This was a target for small-scale artisanal mining in the 1980s and 1990s. Local mining activity has diminished over the last decade and does not appear to have depleted the resource significantly. Pacific Wildcat conducted further drilling in the 1990s, but this data is not available.
Avocet has completed two holes to validate Placer?s drilling results and collect sample for preliminary metallurgical test work. Both holes intersected mineralisation over significant lengths and confirmed the previous drilling results
DPD001, drilled at Panang, returned a significant intersection of 88m @ 1.99 g/t Au from surface, including 2m @ 20.4 g/t Au and 2m @ 7.67 g/t Au, and several other scattered mineralised intercepts at depth. Gold mineralisation is hosted in quartz-carbonate-base metal sulphide veins that form a pipe-like body that extends to at least 200 metres depth and is 100-250 metres in diameter and elongated in a NW-SE direction. DPD001 intersected four underground workings near the top of the hole that correlate with four higher grade intercepts (> 10 g/t Au) in the original Placer drill hole (KD02). The KD02 intercept is 88m @ 5.53 g/t Au from surface, which recalculates to 88m @ 2.16 g/t Au without the narrow high grade zones.
The second twin hole at Benteng (DPD002) returned an intercept of 114m @ 2.16 g/t Au from 138 metres depth, including 10m @ 6.46 g/t Au and 2m @ 8.12 g/t Au. Gold mineralisation is hosted in silica-pyrite replaced calcareous mudstone that extends from surface to a depth of 300 metres in an EW-oriented zone that is 50-100 metres wide and 300-metre long. These results compare well with the Placer drill hole (BD113), which intersected a similar length of mineralisation (116m @ 3.44 g/t Au from 124m). The higher grade intercept is consistent with the grade variability seen in the drillhole data at Benteng.
Doup is located in low rolling hills approximately 2.5 kilometres from the coastal town of Kotabunan. A small port services the local community and provides ready access for heavy equipment and supplies to site.
The Company is now conducting preliminary metallurgical test work at its laboratory at Penjom in Malaysia. This will address the character of the sulphide-hosted mineralisation and evaluate an economic process for recovering gold. Avocet?s experience with similar sulphide mineralisation has yielded positive results. Results from this test work are due in the first quarter of 2008 and, if favourable, will justify an infill drilling programme designed to produce JORC compliant resources and reserves by the end of 2008.
Since acquiring the Banda portfolio, Avocet has implemented a focused drilling programme designed to evaluate the resource potential of the main projects. Scout drilling is currently in progress on the oxidised vein systems at Totopo and Tanoyan, also in North Sulawesi. Assays are expected by the end of the financial year. The results of these programmes will enable Avocet to focus its drilling resources on defining JORC-compliant resources on the most prospective reserve target in 2008 with a goal of entering pre-feasibility on a new mine project in 2009.
Jonathan Henry, Chief Executive Officer, commented: ?The receipt of positive drilling results from Doup soon after the resource expansion at North Lanut highlights the potential for continuing resource growth at our North Sulawesi projects. We anticipate further positive news from our existing pipeline of exploration projects over the coming months?. (end of excerpt)