keep holding boys and girls..., page-61

im only new to this stock again and surely this has already been posted when it first came out- for the newies like me a rehash perhaps

http://www.australianbusinessjournal.com.au/axiom-mining-the-emerging-pacific-rim-miner/

The emerging Pacific Rim miner

The world-class Isabel nickel-cobalt laterite deposit in the Solomon Islands has been a great subject of interest for many years. Plenty of major mining houses have done their level best to secure ground there, but none have been successful like Axiom Mining (ASX: AVQ)which, with the granting of two tenements over the world-class deposit, plans to establish one of the largest nickel-cobalt mining operations in the southern hemisphere and hit production and initial ore shipment in 2012.

Axiom managing director and CEO Ryan Mount says that failed attempts to secure the asset are down to local customary landowners who have essentially stopped development for two reasons.

“One, they understandably want a slice of the project and secondly, because they do retain a constitutional right for any activities that take place on their lands,” he explains.

“It is potentially a very large deposit with an extended mine life in excess of 40 years. As such we have become part of this vibrant community because we believe this can be one of the Pacific’s biggest assets and can transform the Solomon Islands in particular the Isabel province.”

Plans to carry out first shipment by August next year are on track, as is exploration at the team’s gold-copper-zinc ground in Queensland and more exploration commencing August this year at its landholding in Viet Nam. Mount stresses that Axiom’s story as the next Pacific Rim miner begins with its work at, and commitment to, the Solomon Islands. It is in the company’s experienced, fair and responsible approach that it becomes clear why this is the mining team that this highly prospective region needs.

Investing in projects and people

Axiom’s prospecting licence at the Isabel deposit was acquired earlier this year, Mount says. Previous work was undertaken by INCO in the 1960s and 1970s and Kaiser Engineering (now Hatch Engineering) in the 1990s. INCO conducted more than 6,000 drill holes and pits, an extensive feasibility study and bulk sampling.

Before putting spade to soil Axiom sat down with local landowners to commence discussion on what would represent a fair deal for all concerned. A firm structure was agreed which properly encapsulates native concerns and requirements.

“We have strengthened our relationship with the customary landowners of the Isabel deposit. This has resulted in the incorporation of Axiom KB Limited in the Solomon Islands, of which Axiom owns 80 percent and the Kolosori and Bungusule landowners jointly own 20 per cent. ‘K’ and ‘B’ stand for Kolosori [Axiom’s 49 square kilometre tenement] and Bungusule [Axiom’s 36 square kilometre tenement] which are the two main tribes. They also have representatives sitting on the board of directors of Axiom KB,” Mount says.

“We’ve completed some prefeasibility exploration and some environmental impact studies, and we just recently mobilised three rigs onsite. From there we are currently launching into an initial Resource definition drilling of 7,000 metres to be followed up with a much larger resource definition program.”

Largely uninhabited, Axiom’s ground offers known deposits with attractive development characteristics for nickel-cobalt laterite, shallow and surface mineralisation and a well-located deepwater harbour. This is all held under a 50-year lease, and the team also holds the nearby Bungusule land tenement on San Jorge Island. In line with its rapid mine development programme towards first shipment next year, the company has drafted in the ideal exploration team to complete the work ahead. Most of them have worked in the Pacific Islands and the majority speak Melanesian and Pijin, great skills given the company’s efforts to firm up local relations at every turn. These employees will come into play shortly once the drill rigs are ready for action.

“Once operational, we will run an aggressive drill program. It’s going to be a case of proving up a particular part of the area and then progressing onto another part and then another,” Mount says.

“What we want to do is ship a parcel of the ore next year and generate some cashflow. In doing that we’ll look to define a JORC compliant resource then mine it while at the same time move on to prove up the rest of the area. The first tenement is 49 square kilometres and we’ll be drilling down to approximately 20 to 30 metres.”

INCO and Kaiser’s previous drilling hit depths of around 5.2 metres, really only intersecting the limonite zone, however it still enabled Kaiser to put forward a contained nickel content of a non-JORC resource of 1.59 million tonnes at 1.05 per cent Ni and 0.07 per cent Co (1995) with confidence. All tropical laterite deposits also bear a saprolite zone which is often much higher grade than the limonite, and for Isabel this remains undefined.

“From our point of view, it is a very exciting prospect which represents a realistic commercial opportunity,” Mount explains.

The saprolite zone will be tested in Axiom’s current round of drilling, further cementing potential for a large scale future play, boosting the team’s rapid exploration work by proving up the Resource estimation and sending the project full steam ahead towards production and first shipping next year.

Multiple projects on offer

While its work in the Solomon Islands is Axiom’s core focus, the team has also moved cleverly to pick up prime ground further afield. In July, the company was granted its Quang Tri copper-gold prospective licence in Viet Nam, just 35 kilometres east of Minmetals Resources Limited’s Sepon copper-gold mine in Laos. The characteristics of the mineralization are very similar to Sepon—it sits in the same structural basin and geological setting—and in August exploration work commenced.

“There has only been preliminary work done by the government but there are some quite exciting rock chip samples and drilling indicates very good potential there. We’re going to do a whole range of sampling and mapping as well as some drilling that will kick off this month,” Mount says (in August).

“It’s an epithermal /mesothermal gold system and the interesting thing is that there has been a lot of illegal artisan mining. There is definitely gold there, and they’ve done a lot of work for us in identifying the areas of focus, so really what we are going to be doing is looking to prove that up, then taking it on from where the local artisanal miners have been operating and taking it deeper to see how large the deposit is.”

Axiom will begin with reconnaissance drilling targeting three main areas, but already there are early indications in its preliminary work that the ground has a lot more undiscovered potential. Sepon’s range of different deposits in different areas certainly gives the company cause for excitement about what it might come across in the coming year.

Meanwhile in Queensland’s historic Chillagoe mining region, Axiom has a large strategic tenement holding with nine exploration permits and eight mining leases. Here there are more interesting potentially large gold and copper tonnage deposits which warrant following up.

“At Mountain Maid we’ve got a low grade resource, and we’re drilling some deeper holes and testing the higher grades down dip, so it’ll be interesting with what the exploration team come back with,” Mount says.

“At this stage, we’ve done some leach testing previously and the ore is definitely leachable, and we’re considering a heap leach operation.”

Axiom will complete its drilling, compile the data and report from Queensland by December. In Vietnam the company will pursue a local stock exchange listing, work on securing another mining license just north in Quang Binh province, then co-develop both the Quang Binh and Quang Tri gold-copper-silver projects. In the Solomon Islands, Mount stresses, any work that Axiom carries out will begin by becoming part of the local community, ensuring mutual benefits once production and shipping commences next year.

Community and company participation

With a sizable office setup, ever-growing team and a large camp currently under construction, it is fair to say that Axiom has well and truly taken up residence at the Isabel deposit. Both the project’s potential size and scale, coupled with the 50-year leasehold the company has secured, indicate that it will be active in the region for decades to come.

“We want to prove the Isabel deposit, then start shipping the ore, and we’ll be doing that for quite some years,” Mount says.

“After a few years of shipping ore and generating cashflow, we’ll be looking to bring value adding mechanisms into the project such as processing plants or other technologies.”

Axiom has secured world renowned ground in the most responsible way. It has formulated future plans for large scale production—as of 2012—while remaining flexible in terms of island community needs and retaining their involvement. It is an admirable and a difficult balance to strike, and one nigh-on impossible for a major confined by red tape without the immediacy of an in-country operator. The Isabel deposit’s overwhelming potential has been bandied about for many years, and Axiom is the company that the community and project has been waiting for. Plans to become a Pacific Rim miner are mere months away and many fruitful years for all involved are still to come.