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02.03.2011
Bass Metals Ltd.: New Fossey East Resource estimate adds 40kt of contained Pb+Zn, 1Moz Ag and 29koz Au to Bass’ metal inventory
Bass Metals Ltd.: New Fossey East Resource estimate adds 40kt of contained Pb+Zn, 1Moz Ag and 29koz Au to Bass’ metal inventory
Australian base and precious metals miner, Bass Metals Ltd (ASX:BSM), is pleased to report further positive developments on increased mine life at its Hellyer Mine project (HMP) through the release of the first Mineral Resource estimate for the new Fossey East discovery.
The resource summaries at varying “lead plus zinc” (Pb+Zn) minimum grade cut-offs are presented in Table 1, with a Competent Persons Statement below and details of the estimation technique provided in Attachment 1.
Table 1: Fossey East Mineral Resource Estimate Summaries: http://www.irw-press.com/dokumente/BSM_Tables_280211.pdf
The Fossey East Mineral Resource is immediately adjacent to the Fossey deposit and in proximity to the Fossey Mine development as shown in Figure 1.
This initial Fossey East Resource estimate has been undertaken to get a feel for the potential scale of this lens to assist in mine access planning given its close proximity to existing and planned Fossey mine infrastructure. Drilling to date has identified limits to the Fossey East resource based on barite alteration or massive sulphide contacts, which currently define the limits of the resource to the south. To the north, Fossey East either terminates or is off-set by the Easy Street Fault structure; more mapping and drilling is required to determine which applies.
Utilising these geological boundaries a Combined Mineral Resource estimate of 650,000 tonnes has been reported. However the internal higher grade zones are defined by just 6 diamond drill holes and comparing the estimates at varying (Pb+Zn) cut-offs indicates several important features:
1. The resource areas classified as Indicated - i.e. based on better drill density - have significantly higher grade than the lower confidence, Inferred Resource areas. For example in the resource defined by the geological boundary – the Indicated material has a (Pb+Zn) grade of 13.8% compared to the Inferred material combined grade of 3.3% (Refer Table 1 and Figure 2).
2. There is an important high-grade domain in the area of drill holes FUD016 and FUD019 which has potential to extend further with depth and potentially across the Easy Street Fault.
3. Further drilling is required to improve data density and enable an overall Resource classification upgrade on which to base detailed mine plan studies.
Further drilling is planned from underground as soon as a drill position becomes available with a priority being to test for extensions and offsets across the Easy Street Fault.
This resource estimate has been reported in accordance with the JORC (2004) Code by Bass employees. Grade was interpolated using 3D inverse distance interpolation (power 2) as the small dataset was not suitable for variography and kriging (refer Competent Persons Statements and Attachment 1).
Commentary
The Company is pleased to provide this initial resource estimate within just 5 months of the Fossey East discovery. It is optimistic about the considerable scope to increase the grades within the Inferred component of the 650,000 tonne combined resource with further infill drilling and potentially to extend the resource outline in the area of the Easy Street fault.
Bass Metals has recently started ore production and processing from the adjacent Fossey Mine. Therefore it is interesting to note that the 650,000 tonne combined resource has estimated grades which generate a gross value per tonne of c. A$290 at current metal prices,1 that is, the gross value without consideration of any modifying factors such as mining or metallurgical recovery. At higher (Pb+Zn) cut-off’s that value increases to $540/t. To provide a benchmark against other zinc deposits, given that zinc generates approximately 45% of revenue from Fossey, a zinc equivalent2 grade of 12% has been estimated for the resource based on the geological boundary, increasing to 22% Zn at the higher, 5% (Pb+Zn) grade cut-off boundary – supporting Bass’ view of the high grade nature of these deposits. These numbers indicate that all of the resource scenarios reported in Table 1 are potentially economic and provides Bass with flexibility on tailoring the mining method to optimise selectivity and costs, subject to completion of a feasibility study.
Figure 1:Fossey East Long Section
Figure 2: Fossey East Oblique view with -Grade contours- (mod. From Datamine).
Contact
Mike Rosenstreich
Managing Director – Bass Metals Ltd
Tel: (+61-8) 6315 1300
Media
David Brook
Professional Public Relations
Mob: (+61) (0) 415 096 804
About Bass Metals Ltd (ASX: BSM)
Bass Metals Ltd is a growth focussed and profitable Australian base and precious metal producer with a portfolio of high quality zinc, lead, copper and gold assets in the rich Mount Read Volcanic mineral belt in northwest Tasmania.
Listing in 2005, Bass has delivered operating profits for the past three years since 2008 based on its profitable base metals production hub at Que River in Tasmania.
The Company’s larger transformational Hellyer Mine Project is on track to commence production toward the end of 2010. With an initial through-put rate of 400,000 tonnes per annum (tpa), the 1.5 million tpa capacity Hellyer Mill will produce 55,000 tpa of zinc concentrate, 27,000 tpa of lead concentrates and 5,000 tpa of copper-silver-gold concentrates. In January 2010 the Bass signed a committed off-take contract with leading global multi-metals business, Nyrstar, for all zinc and lead concentrates produced from the Fossey mine.
The Company also has an active and successful exploration programme which has yielded new discoveries such as Fossey and new exploration targets through the use of new exploration techniques not applied in the district before. The Company’s has significant gold and polymetallic resources and is currently undertaking a feasibility study following on from positive scoping study outcomes indicating the potential to become a long-term, significant scale gold producer.
Bass has differentiated itself through successfully finding high grade polymetallic resources, strategically and incrementally building up its assets and production profile to now become an emerging mid-tier diversified mining business.
To view the entire news including figures and tables, please follow the link to Bass Metals´ original English news on their website:
http://www.bassmetals.com.au/aurora/assets/user_content/File/ASX_28%20Feb%20-%20New%20Fossey%20East%20Resource.pdf
Yours Sincerely
Mike Rosenstreich
Managing Director
Notes on Metal Prices and Zinc Equivalence
1. Metal prices as at 23 Feb 2011 are: Zn-A$2,495/t, Pb-A$2,539/t, Cu – A$9,425/t, Ag – A$33.6/oz and Au – A$1,410/oz.
2. The grades for the calculation of a Zn equivalent grade are from the respective combined resource estimates for Zn, Pb, Cu, Ag and Au in Table 1 above. The assumed metal prices are those quoted above (1) being current as at 23 February 2011. No recoveries of other modifying factors have been applied in the calculation. Zn is the chosen metal for reporting equivalence as it generates 45% of the revenue from the adjacent Fossey deposit.
COMPETENT PERSONS STATEMENTS
EXPLORATION RESULTS
The information within this report that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr Kim Denwer and Mr Michael Rosenstreich who are both full time employees of the Company. Mr Rosenstreich is a Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Mr Denwer is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. They both, individually have sufficient experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activities currently being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person(s) as defined in the 2004 edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code)” and they consent to the inclusion of this information in the form and context in which it appears in this report.
MINERAL RESOURCES
The information in this report that relates to the Fossey East Mineral Resource estimate is based on information compiled by Mr Steve Richardson who is a fulltime employee of the company and a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Richardson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code)”. Mr Richardson consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
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Australian base and precious metals miner, Bass Metals Ltd (ASX:BSM), is pleased to report further positive developments on increased mine life at its Hellyer Mine project (HMP) through the release of the first Mineral Resource estimate for the new Fossey East discovery.
The resource summaries at varying “lead plus zinc” (Pb+Zn) minimum grade cut-offs are presented in Table 1, with a Competent Persons Statement below and details of the estimation technique provided in Attachment 1.
Table 1: Fossey East Mineral Resource Estimate Summaries: http://www.irw-press.com/dokumente/BSM_Tables_280211.pdf
The Fossey East Mineral Resource is immediately adjacent to the Fossey deposit and in proximity to the Fossey Mine development as shown in Figure 1.
This initial Fossey East Resource estimate has been undertaken to get a feel for the potential scale of this lens to assist in mine access planning given its close proximity to existing and planned Fossey mine infrastructure. Drilling to date has identified limits to the Fossey East resource based on barite alteration or massive sulphide contacts, which currently define the limits of the resource to the south. To the north, Fossey East either terminates or is off-set by the Easy Street Fault structure; more mapping and drilling is required to determine which applies.
Utilising these geological boundaries a Combined Mineral Resource estimate of 650,000 tonnes has been reported. However the internal higher grade zones are defined by just 6 diamond drill holes and comparing the estimates at varying (Pb+Zn) cut-offs indicates several important features:
1. The resource areas classified as Indicated - i.e. based on better drill density - have significantly higher grade than the lower confidence, Inferred Resource areas. For example in the resource defined by the geological boundary – the Indicated material has a (Pb+Zn) grade of 13.8% compared to the Inferred material combined grade of 3.3% (Refer Table 1 and Figure 2).
2. There is an important high-grade domain in the area of drill holes FUD016 and FUD019 which has potential to extend further with depth and potentially across the Easy Street Fault.
3. Further drilling is required to improve data density and enable an overall Resource classification upgrade on which to base detailed mine plan studies.
Further drilling is planned from underground as soon as a drill position becomes available with a priority being to test for extensions and offsets across the Easy Street Fault.
This resource estimate has been reported in accordance with the JORC (2004) Code by Bass employees. Grade was interpolated using 3D inverse distance interpolation (power 2) as the small dataset was not suitable for variography and kriging (refer Competent Persons Statements and Attachment 1).
Commentary
The Company is pleased to provide this initial resource estimate within just 5 months of the Fossey East discovery. It is optimistic about the considerable scope to increase the grades within the Inferred component of the 650,000 tonne combined resource with further infill drilling and potentially to extend the resource outline in the area of the Easy Street fault.
Bass Metals has recently started ore production and processing from the adjacent Fossey Mine. Therefore it is interesting to note that the 650,000 tonne combined resource has estimated grades which generate a gross value per tonne of c. A$290 at current metal prices,1 that is, the gross value without consideration of any modifying factors such as mining or metallurgical recovery. At higher (Pb+Zn) cut-off’s that value increases to $540/t. To provide a benchmark against other zinc deposits, given that zinc generates approximately 45% of revenue from Fossey, a zinc equivalent2 grade of 12% has been estimated for the resource based on the geological boundary, increasing to 22% Zn at the higher, 5% (Pb+Zn) grade cut-off boundary – supporting Bass’ view of the high grade nature of these deposits. These numbers indicate that all of the resource scenarios reported in Table 1 are potentially economic and provides Bass with flexibility on tailoring the mining method to optimise selectivity and costs, subject to completion of a feasibility study.
Figure 1:Fossey East Long Section
Figure 2: Fossey East Oblique view with -Grade contours- (mod. From Datamine).
Contact
Mike Rosenstreich
Managing Director – Bass Metals Ltd
Tel: (+61-8) 6315 1300
Media
David Brook
Professional Public Relations
Mob: (+61) (0) 415 096 804
About Bass Metals Ltd (ASX: BSM)
Bass Metals Ltd is a growth focussed and profitable Australian base and precious metal producer with a portfolio of high quality zinc, lead, copper and gold assets in the rich Mount Read Volcanic mineral belt in northwest Tasmania.
Listing in 2005, Bass has delivered operating profits for the past three years since 2008 based on its profitable base metals production hub at Que River in Tasmania.
The Company’s larger transformational Hellyer Mine Project is on track to commence production toward the end of 2010. With an initial through-put rate of 400,000 tonnes per annum (tpa), the 1.5 million tpa capacity Hellyer Mill will produce 55,000 tpa of zinc concentrate, 27,000 tpa of lead concentrates and 5,000 tpa of copper-silver-gold concentrates. In January 2010 the Bass signed a committed off-take contract with leading global multi-metals business, Nyrstar, for all zinc and lead concentrates produced from the Fossey mine.
The Company also has an active and successful exploration programme which has yielded new discoveries such as Fossey and new exploration targets through the use of new exploration techniques not applied in the district before. The Company’s has significant gold and polymetallic resources and is currently undertaking a feasibility study following on from positive scoping study outcomes indicating the potential to become a long-term, significant scale gold producer.
Bass has differentiated itself through successfully finding high grade polymetallic resources, strategically and incrementally building up its assets and production profile to now become an emerging mid-tier diversified mining business.
To view the entire news including figures and tables, please follow the link to Bass Metals´ original English news on their website:
http://www.bassmetals.com.au/aurora/assets/user_content/File/ASX_28%20Feb%20-%20New%20Fossey%20East%20Resource.pdf
Yours Sincerely
Mike Rosenstreich
Managing Director
Notes on Metal Prices and Zinc Equivalence
1. Metal prices as at 23 Feb 2011 are: Zn-A$2,495/t, Pb-A$2,539/t, Cu – A$9,425/t, Ag – A$33.6/oz and Au – A$1,410/oz.
2. The grades for the calculation of a Zn equivalent grade are from the respective combined resource estimates for Zn, Pb, Cu, Ag and Au in Table 1 above. The assumed metal prices are those quoted above (1) being current as at 23 February 2011. No recoveries of other modifying factors have been applied in the calculation. Zn is the chosen metal for reporting equivalence as it generates 45% of the revenue from the adjacent Fossey deposit.
COMPETENT PERSONS STATEMENTS
EXPLORATION RESULTS
The information within this report that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr Kim Denwer and Mr Michael Rosenstreich who are both full time employees of the Company. Mr Rosenstreich is a Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Mr Denwer is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. They both, individually have sufficient experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activities currently being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person(s) as defined in the 2004 edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code)” and they consent to the inclusion of this information in the form and context in which it appears in this report.
MINERAL RESOURCES
The information in this report that relates to the Fossey East Mineral Resource estimate is based on information compiled by Mr Steve Richardson who is a fulltime employee of the company and a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Richardson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code)”. Mr Richardson consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
NEWSLETTER REGISTRIERUNG:
Aktuelle Pressemeldungen dieses Unternehmens direkt in Ihr Postfach:
<a href="http://www.irw-press.com/alert_subscription.php?lang=en&isin=AU000000BSM8">http://www.irw-press.com/alert_subscription.php?lang=en&isin=AU000000BSM8</a>
Mitteilung übermittelt durch IRW-Press.com. Für den Inhalt ist der Aussender
verantwortlich.
Kostenloser Abdruck mit Quellenangabe erlaubt.