Winchester acquires additional Belu manganese project area

Australian firm Winchester Resources Limited announced Friday that, through its wholly owned subsidiary Killara Resources Pty Ltd, it has acquired an 80% interest in an additional concession at its Belu Manganese Project in the Belu Regency, Nusa Tenggara Timur province.

The CV SA Block A concession (IUP) is contiguous with the southern block of the Belu Manganese Project and consolidates ownership of the complete CV SA concession (Block A and Block B), which covers an area of 2,080 hectares. This acquisition expands the total area covered by the Belu Manganese Project to 5,934 hectares, the company said in statement.

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, are widespread throughout the CV SA Block A concession.

The concession has been subjected to negligible modern exploration, with no drilling or modern geophysics completed. A rock chip sampling program has been completed in the area in the past year by the local concession holder, it said.

Results from this rock chip sampling program, which consisted of 17 sample points, highlight the distribution of high grade manganese mineralisation, with values ranging up to 52.3% Mn and 8 of the samples recording greater than 40% Manganese.

Artisanal miners have in recent times been extracting high grade manganese ore from near surface deposits within the CV SA Block A concession, which combined with the results of the rock chip sampling program, highlights the prospectivity of the area.

Winchester is in the process of engaging consultant geologists with relevant manganese experience with the aim of commencing field based exploration on the Belu Manganese Project by the end of March 2011. This initial exploration will consist of geological mapping and surface sampling designed to identify zones of manganese mineralisation and define drill targets. Drilling of identified targets would be expected to commence in the third quarter of calendar 2011.

In addition, the company has agreed to place 2.35 million fully paid ordinary shares in the capital of Winchester at a price of $0.15 each to raise $352,500, to sophisticated investors and clients of Chess Capital Partners Pty Ltd. Funds raised will be applied to exploration and additional working capital. (kanti)