Kingsrose unveils resource upgrade for Talang Santo mine

By Romel S. Gurky

ASX-listed Kingsrose Mining Limited unveiled Wednesday resource upgrade of the Talang Santo gold and silver mine in South Sumatra with a 27 percent increase in contained gold, and claims significant potential for further upgrade.

?Total Mineral Resource of 1.4 million tons @ 8 g/t Au and 22 g/t Ag for 360,000 ounces of gold and 1,012,000 ounces of silver at the Talang Santo deposit as at 30 June 2015,? Kingsrose said in a statement.

?A 27 percent increase in contained gold, with an additional 77,000 ounces of gold over the 2012 Talang Santo Mineral Resource after allowing for depletion by mining,? the company added.

Kingsrose said there remains opportunity to upgrade Inferred Resource of 739,000 tons at a grade of 5.23 g/t Au through further diamond drilling from the 5 level.

?Significant potential for additional grade upside with further drilling and mine development ? orebody remains open at depth and along strike,? it said.

The company reports total Mineral Resource for the Way Linggo Project of 1.9 million tons @ 8.9 g/t Au and 52 g/t Ag for 546,000 ounces of gold and 3,168,000 ounces of silver.

Kingsrose Managing Director Scott Huffadine commented: ?This is an excellent result, especially in light of the fact that Talang Santo is a new operation within its first 12 months of production. This Resource upgrade clearly demonstrates the increasing size and scale of the Talang Santo Resource base. Furthermore, these results support the grade uplift we have been realizing from the 2012 Resource as we get more clarity on the grade distribution throughout the orebody and increase the informing data density.?

He added that the fact that such a large proportion of the Resource remains in the Inferred category at a grade of 5.23 g/t Au bodes well for the work we have scheduled to infill and subsequently upgrade this Resource category. This infill work will also support the extension of the current mine plan below the 6 level. Importantly, the deepest drill intersection still shows strong structure and mineralization 150 meters below the 6 level, 400 meters below surface. ?Talang Santo remains open both at depth and along strike?.

2015 Talang Santo Mineral Resource

Category	Tonnes (Kt)	Gold (Au) g/t	Au Ounces (Koz)	Silver (Ag) g/t	Ag Ounces (Koz)
Measured	197	10.8	68	25	155
Indicated	468	11.1	167	22	326
Inferred	739	5.2	124	22	531
Total	1,403	8.0	360	22	1,012

The 2015 Talang Santo Mineral Resource upgrade represents the first significant update to the resource since production at Talang Santo commenced in July 2014, Kingsrose said. The pre-production Resource was based upon 83 diamond drill holes, whereas the updated Mineral Resource adds another 39 diamond drill holes and over 3,200 development face samples to the informing data package.

The most significant variance between the 2012 and 2015 Talang Santo Mineral Resource is the significant uplift in grade, and subsequent contained ounces. Whilst a component of this update is a function of the increased data density, and better definition of the higher-grade extensions to the mineralized zone via further drilling, the key driver to this upgrade is the ability to more completely sample gold bearing clay during underground development. This clay is partially washed out during diamond drilling by drilling fluids, and consequently areas that are significantly or totally informed by diamond drilling have a tendency to under-report the contained gold within the system.

?This Resource upgrade is well supported by mill head grade and gold production recorded to date at Talang Santo, and is similar to the uplift seen during production at the Way Linggo mine where gold bearing clay loss during drilling was also observed,? the Kingsrose statement said.

Kingsrose further said it continues to work on quantifying the uplift between drilling and development grades, however, for reporting purposes, a conservative approach was adopted and thus no factorisation of the resource dominated by drill hole data was undertaken.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak