High Grade Iron Mineralisation Intersected at Mt Padbury
Montezuma mining has today released results from a drill program targeting DSO grade iron at Mount Padbury. The drill program was conducted by Sinosteel who purchased the rights to the iron ore from Montezuma for a capped payment and royalty agreement (see this link for details http://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/displayAnnouncement.do?display=pdf&idsId=01020615)
The 76 hole RC program for 6958m has defined high grade iron mineralisation over approximatly 1000m.
In my opinion the Jabiru target area was most likely chosen as much for its easy access as for its prospectivity. There are likely to be better targets that are harder to access. The Jabiru target does appear to be in a magnetic low. The cutoff grade used was 50% leaving plenty scope for a large scale mid-grade resource. The results leave no doubt that there is major potential for the Robinson Ranges to host both DSO and BFO mineralisation types. The 50% cutoff indicates Sinosteels intention to delineate a DSO resource and I believe these results will be viewed as highly encouraging and will lead to much more aggressive exploration over the range. In the mean time, Sinosteel are working on a JORC resource due for release in early 2010.
In regards to the upcoming JORC I think these results indicate a deposit size up to 4MT @ 57% Fe which is quite conservative IMO as it leaves very little room for any infill estimations. A typical “back of the evelope” estimation for these results would likely be approx 10Mt DSO and 80Mt BFO. I have guestimated these figures from the results listed in the table as per the announcement made by MZM. The announcement stated 76 holes were drilled but the table lists only 49. One hole missing from the table is listed as a highlight at the start of the announcement. Either way my calculations are based losely on the 49 holes only. (Keep in mind I am in no way qualified to make these types of estimations)
These results are as close as 2.5km along strike to the Padbury Mining JV borders in which there is a similar sized target area to that just drilled by Sinosteel. You can refer to these maps I have put together.
It will be interesting to see who makes the next move, and what that move will be.
Posted @ http://vautexhc.wordpress.com
PDY Price at posting:
2.8¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
