Anglesey Mining plc
6th February 2007 LSE: AYM
New Resource Estimate for White Rock
Updated Drilling Results
Anglesey Mining plc (Anglesey) is pleased to announce that it has received an
independent JORC resource estimate on the White Rock zone at its Parys Mountain
mine in Anglesey UK from Micon International Co Limited.
This confirms the company's opinion that White Rock, which is now estimated at a
total of 2.15 million tonnes at a zinc equivalent grade of 6.7%, is amenable to
early stage development.
In addition all outstanding assays have now been received from the 2006 drill
programme.
Highlights
· Indicated Resource of 1.75 million tonnes at a grade of 6.9% zinc
equivalent.
· Inferred Resource of 0.40 million tonnes at a grade of 5.8% zinc
equivalent.
· A major portion of this resource is located close to surface at a higher
average grade
· White Rock is amenable to extraction through a decline that is planned for
this year.
The White Rock zone is separate although in close proximity to the larger Engine
zone which was previously estimated to contain an indicated and inferred
resource of 4.2 million tonnes.
Bill Hooley, Executive Director of Anglesey commented "The results from the 2006
drilling programme on the White Rock zone have now been brought together in this
increased resource estimate. It is particularly encouraging that the zone shows
good continuity along and across strike and down dip and this should lead to
relatively simple low cost mining methods.
It is also pleasing to note that a significant portion of this resource is
identified close to surface which will ensure that a minimum amount of initial
development from surface will be required to develop and exploit this resource.
We now look forward to rapidly securing the necessary finance to commencing
underground development in the next few months."
Resource estimate
Micon International Co Limited (Micon) which is an internationally recognised
geological and mining consultant with offices in Canada, the UK and South
Africa, carried out a resource review based on all the available White Rock
drill data. This included 51 surface holes drilled prior to 1988, 47 underground
holes drilled in 1990, underground channel sample data from 1990 and a further 9
surface holes drilled in 2006. All of these data were incorporated into a block
model which was created using Datamine.
The resource was categorised based on the internationally recognised
Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and
Ore Reserves 2004 Edition (JORC Code), using a zinc equivalent cut off across a
representative range of metal values. The data has been defined into two
vertical levels above and below the 280 metre level in the shaft.
Details of these Micon resource estimates to the JORC Code are shown below.
White Rock Resources at 3.3% Zinc equivalent cut-off
Million Cu Pb Zn Ag Au Zn Equ
Tonnes % % % g/t g/t %
Above 280 metre level
Indicated 1.18 0.38 2.47 4.68 41 0.38 7.43
Inferred 0.23 0.30 1.55 3.54 45 0.30 5.67
Total 1.41 0.37 2.32 4.49 42 0.37 7.14
Below 280 metre level
Indicated 0.57 0.33 1.71 3.42 35 0.54 5.74
Inferred 0.17 0.34 1.74 3.53 44 0.49 5.96
Total 0.74 0.33 1.72 3.45 37 0.53 5.79
Total White Rock
Indicated 1.75 0.36 2.22 4.27 39 0.43 6.88
Inferred 0.40 0.32 1.63 3.54 45 0.38 5.79
Total 2.15 0.36 2.11 4.13 40 0.42 6.67
The methodology used to make these estimates commenced with a geological
interpretation carried out jointly by Anglesey and Micon which identified two
separate lenses within the zone. Typically these are separated by around 10
metres with mineralised material commonly occurring between the lenses. This
resulted in a series of sections being constructed through the zones. All the
sections were joined to form a 3-D wireframe shape of two lenses. A three
dimensional view with the Main lens in red and the Upper lens in green is shown
on the company's website at www.angleseymining.co.uk.
The data used for estimation of the grade and tonnes for the two zones were
extracted within the wireframe. The data extracted from each zone was composited
for Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag, and Au. The composite length used was 1.5 metres.
Based on the general drill spacing and orientation of the mineralised zones, the
search ellipse of estimation was oriented in direction and dip of the
mineralised zone. A set of ranges were used as a first search. A greater
search range was used to fill the rest of the blocks in the model.
The block size used for the model was 3 metres in the X direction, 3 metres in
the Y direction and 10 metres in the Z Direction. Sub blocking was allowed to
minimise the volume variance. Inverse distance method was used with a power of
5.
The estimation resulted in categorising the resource. The White Rock Zone had
dense drilling with underground channel samples. It was possible to assign a
portion of the mineralisation to the indicated category. The block which was
assigned values on the first search was defined as indicated resource. The
remaining portion of the mineralised zone which was estimated using the greater
search range was assigned to the inferred category.
Earlier Resource estimate
These White Rock resources are separate from the Engine Zone and Carreg-y-Doll
resources which have been detailed previously. These were reported as follows:
Parys Mountain Resources other than White Rock
Million Cu Pb Zn Ag Au Zn %
Tonnes % % % g/t g/t Equ
Engine Zone
Indicated 1.41 1.99 3.42 6.65 99 0.79 13.93
Inferred 2.83 3.21 1.93 4.54 22 0.12 11.88
Total 4.24 2.80 2.42 5.24 47 0.34 12.56
Carreg-y-Doll
Inferred 1.37 2.07 2.64 4.79 12 0.15 10.25
These resources were estimated in 1990 by the Robertson Group. The estimate was
not made using the JORC Code
Development Plan
The White Rock resource estimate shows that approximately 67% of the Indicated
resource is located above the 280 metre level. Of this more than 550,000 tonnes
is located within 100 metres of the surface and will be amenable to early
mining. This upper portion of the resource is also higher in grade with a zinc
equivalent of approximately 8.12%.
The company is currently preparing an underground development plan to access the
White Rock zone. This will be based around a decline to be driven from a site
close to the planned processing plant. It is expected that the first major
intersections into the zone will be made at around 50 metres depth involving
around 250 metres of decline development. This intersection in ore would then
be set up as the extraction level for the first stoping block above that level.
The decline will commence as soon as financing is complete. The first step will
be the construction of the portal and the 250 metres of development to ore would
then be expected to be carried out within a further three months. Production
from the White Rock zone is planned at a rate of 500 tonnes per day
During the White Rock production period, access will be gained to the partially
developed Engine zone indicated resource area including the Morris Shaft, and
this will be developed for production to follow White Rock. In this second
phase, production will increase to 1,000 tonnes per day. In the third
development phase, the inferred resources plus the Garth Daniel area that was
identified in 2005 and 2006 will be accessed for further production.
Drilling Update
The company has now received all assay results from its 2006 drilling programme.
Holes not previously reported are WD9 in the White Rock zone and CZ12 and CZ13
in the upper Engine Zone. CZ12 did not intersect mineralisation and was not
assayed. The results from WD9 have been included in this current resource
estimate.
The results from these holes are:
Width Cu Pb Zn Ag Au
(m) (%) (%) (%) (ppm) (ppm)
White Rock Zone
WD9 79.4 0.20 1.47 2.32 20 0.40
including 41.3 0.23 2.07 3.18 21 0.43
including 6.8 0.56 4.09 5.67 28 0.21
and 8.2 0.33 3.54 6.44 30 1.11
Engine Zone and Penymynydd Fault Zone
CZ13 3.2 2.53 5.27 9.20 46 1.04
Engine zone
The recent 2006 Engine zone drilling confirms the continuing up-dip continuity
of this zone. A short programme of overburden geochemical sampling at depths of
1.5 to 3 metres was completed over the assumed surface outcrop of the Engine
Zone. The results from this programme have returned strongly anomalous values
for base metals and are believed to indicate base metal mineralisation within
the Engine Zone at surface. These results provide considerable encouragement to
continue drilling the Engine zone in the previously unexplored area up-dip of
CZ13. Any additional near surface Engine zone resources so identified will be
accessible through the White Rock decline and will add significantly to the
economics of the first phase of the mine.
Qualified Persons
The information in this release that relates to the White Rock Resource is based
on information complied by D K Mukhopadhyay, a geologist with Micon who is a
Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient
experience which is relevant to the style and type of deposit under
consideration and is qualified as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code
and who consents to the inclusion of the matters based on his information in the
form and context in which it appears.
The above information has been reviewed and verified by Bill Hooley, Executive
Director of Anglesey. Mr Hooley has 38 years of mining engineering, management
and consulting experience, graduated as a mining engineer from the Royal School
of Mines London, and is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy.
About Anglesey Mining
Anglesey Mining plc is a UK based company established in 1984, listed on the
London Stock Exchange with two major projects under active development towards
mining production.
In addition to the Parys Mountain property, the company holds an 80% direct
interest in the Labrador Iron Ore Project in Canada. Anglesey has completed an
initial Feasibility Study on this project and has elected to continue with its
development by putting a mine into production at a rate of 2 million tonnes per
annum. The project is based on a resource of 100 million tonnes of direct
shipping hematite iron ore previously developed by the Iron Ore Company of
Canada.
For further details:
Ian Cuthbertson, Finance Director +(44) 1248 361333
Bill Hooley, Executive Director +(44) 1492 541981
John F. Kearney, Chairman +(1) 416 362 6686
Cathy Malins / Annabel Leather,
Parkgreen Communications +(44) 20 7851 7480
ends
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