Sumatra Copper & Gold updates Indonesian projects
Friday, October 29 2010 - 02:07 AM WIB
OPERATIONS
1. Tembang
The Tembang project is located approximately 120 kilometres north-northeast of Bengkulu in South Sumatra province. Tembang is a large intermediate-sulphidation epithermal deposit comprising gold-silver bearing quartz veins hosted by Tertiary volcanics. The property was previously mined from late 1997 until March 2000 when production ceased due to a declining gold price. The Company has rights to an IUP with an area of 100 km2 over and around the old mine-site.
Mapping
Field mapping of the halo quartz veins has now been completed around the main vein systems and integrated into the geological model.
Drilling
10,000 metre Phase II Resource Drilling Program
A total of 2,554 metres of drilling have been completed in the 10,000 metre follow-up program to the 5,000 metre program recently completed with many encouraging results.
Belinau
Belinau continues to return excellent results from the southern shoot including 4.05 metres @ 15.53 g/t Au and 260.6 g/t Ag from Hole RDD1 0091. This extends the southern high grade shoot a further 50 metres a?ong strike to the south. Hole RDDI 0086 also confirmed depth continuity of this shoot and returned 2.00 metres @ 41.16 g1t Au and 41.0 g/t Ag. This intercept is 75 metres below the extent of the Snowden 2009 resource.
A 100 metre step out along strike at the north end of Belinau, hole RDD1 0096 returned 0.51 g/t Au and 6.0 g/t Ag from 135.0 to 135.8 metres which included a narrow quartz vein. Although the grade is disappointing the structure is still there and carrying mineralisation. IP is planned in this area to better target mineralisation prior to drilling.
Nuri/Berenai
Berenai, together with Nun, contributed approximately 70% of the ore mined previously by Barisan Tropical Mining (?BTM?) and constitutes some 30% of the existing JORC resource. A review of the old BIM drill data has indicated the presence of two high grade shoots (>15 mg/t Au) open at depth.
Drilling this quarter at Nuri/Berenai has been targeted at the southern shoot and southern vein extensions which are at reasonably shallow depth. Results have been encouraging in particular further success has been returned from hole RDD10095, targeted to intersect the high grade shoot at Nuri. The hole intersected both the Berenai and Nuri veins. The Nun vein is wide in this area with interstitial lower grade. The upper zone zone, from 105.2 to 114.0 metres, returned 8.8 metres @ 5.46 g/t Au and 1722 g/t Ag, including a high grade core of 2.6 metres @ 13.99 g/t Au and 476.0 g/t Ag. The lower zone, from 120.9 to 124.0 metres, returned 3.1 metres @ 1.91 g/t Au and 166.0 g/t Ag. The Berenai vein returned 5.6 metres @0.44 g/t Au, 1.0 g/t Ag from 196.9 to 202.5 metres downhole.
RDD10093 at Nuri/Berenai targeted the southern strike extension of the Nuri and Berenai veins. A wide zone of hydrothermal breccias with quartz veining was encountered but no significant intercepts were returned.
RDD1 0094 at Berenai was designed to further test the southern high grade shoot at Berenai and successfully intersected the Berenai zone comprising of hydrothermal breccia with two zones of quartz veining associated with a fault zone between the depths of 76.0 and 111.0 metres. The quartz veins were intersected from 89.1 to 92.5 metres. Both zones were partially oxidised and assay results are awaited.
A larger drill rig, capable of drilling up to 600 metres, is currently being mobilised to accelerate the drilling program and to enable deep holes to be drilled to intercept the high grade feeder zones at Berenai/Nuri and to test the Belinau high grade shoots at depth.
Exploration Drilling
A 1,500 metre ?near mine? exploration program is largely complete and has met with success at Merin and Bujang Extended.
Hole RDD10090, drilled at Jenih also returned a promising result of 365 metres @ 4.12 g/t Au and 7.6 g/t Ag from 152 metres downhole with several other zones of mineralisation higher up the hole. Mineralisation was intercepted on the margin of a dyke as similarly found at Belinau and Berenai. This is a new discovery which was targeted based on our geological exploration model. It will be followed up with further drilling along strike.
2. Sontang
The Sontang project lies within the Pasaman IUP in the province of West Sumatra, some 160 kilometres north of Padang. Sontang comprises the virgin discovery of a high-grade polymetallic manto, made by the Company?s geologists in ground previously explored by other companies. The Company?s geologists followed up a float train discovered in drainage and located outcrops of massive base-metal sulphides.
Promising assay results continue to be returned from North Sontang which shows a large gold-copper-soil soil anomaly hosted by limestone. At West Sontang a strong coherent copper-arsenic anomaly has been recognised on the margin of a high magnetic feature which may be intrusive in origin. Drill hole locations have now been finalised based on an integration of the geology, geochemistry and geophysics.
Logistics are now well advanced for the drilling program after completion of the forestry survey. Key drill pads, helicopter drop points and a staging area have been established. The camp is being upgraded and the core shed is under construction. A man portable drilling rig has now been mobilised to site by helicopter. The first hole will be sited on the best surface outcrops at the Company?s Sontang East manto discovery which returned channel samples of 20.2 metres @ 2.59 g/t Au, 56.9 g/t Ag, 0.16% Pb and 8.4% Zn.
3. Tandai
The Tandai project is located within the northern part of the Bengkulu Utara IUP, in the Kabupaten of Bengkulu Utara, approximately 100 kilometres north of Bengkulu. Tandai has a long history of formal mining from the early part of the 20th Century until post World War II. The Company?s tenements control a district in which at least three Dutch companies worked portions of the system. The old Dutch mining town at Tandai still remains, and was re-furbished by PT Lusang Mining Ltd (in a joint venture with CSR, then Billiton) when the mine was redeveloped and worked between 1985 and 1995.
During the quarter the Company?s activities have been both in the field and in Holland where the archives were researched by a team of post graduate students supervised by a consulting geologist who has worked in the field at Tandai. Both of these activities have upgraded the project?s potential, and the Company expects new drill targets to be identified during the remainder of 2010.
Field work activities have focused on the Glumbuk and Toko Rotan areas and include geological reconnaissance mapping, rock chip sampling and ridge and spur soil geochemistry. The source of the high grade float (21.00 g/t Au) in the Sungai Landai is most Ukely from quartz boulders within a conglomeratic breccia developed at the base of the andesite host rocks. The breccia boulders are interpreted to be close to outcropping source. Promising outcrops have been located approximately 600 metres northwest of the float and are being investigated. Spot high Au (up to 0.65 ppm) and widespread As in-soil anomalies have been returned and these will be trenched in the upcoming quarter.
4. Musi Rawas/Jambi IUP
Exploration activities have been focused on following up previous vein-style prospects outlined by BTM?s prospective areas at Manggus/Landai and the Upper Minak.
Landai
At Landai, a narrow (0.2 metre wide) high grade vein has been located assaying up to 77.00 g/t Au hosted by metasediments. Assay results from the soils have defined a +100 metre NW-SE striking anomaly up to 0.69ppm Au. Follow up pitting and trenching is now planned to ascertain the strike and width of the veining.
Upper Minak
At Upper Minak, a grab sample taken from a quartz vein returned high grade gold of 14.30 g/t Au. Further high grade mck samp?es have been returned up to 112.00 g/t Au. These vein samples have been interpreted as deep level quartz textures. Exploration work is concentrating in the western part of the Minak area called Fossil Minak which is stratigraphically younger and the veins are more likely to be preserved.
5. Jambi
Results from the rock chip samples from an initial field trip to the Upper Limun drainage were of low tenor but more work is needed to determine the source of the stream sediment anomalies.
In the upcoming quarter more regional work will be carried out on the best gold-basemetal geochemical anomalies outlined from previous sampling. (end of edited release)