xstrata

Xstrata (LSE: XTA) has revised its Mineral Resource estimate for the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai (HIT) deposit at the Frieda River copper-gold project, Papua New Guinea. The new resource estimate includes a 26% increase in resource tonnage, and significantly increases both inventory and confidence levels.

According to Xstrata, the latest results confirm Frieda Rivers potential as a very significant copper-gold producer in the Asia-Pacific region.

The new HIT resource estimate indicates a Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of over 1 billion tonnes at 0.53% copper, 0.29 grams per tonne gold and 0.8 grams per tonne silver. HIT resources in the Measured category were reported for the first time, Measured and Indicated tonnes now total 40% of the increased resource inventory.

"Since assuming management control of the Frieda River Project in January 2007, Xstrata Copper has conducted an aggressive evaluation programme, completing 65,000 metres of drilling as part of scoping and pre-feasibility studies, said Xstrata Copper's general manager project evaluation, Peter Forrestal, The increased scale of and confidence in the resource indicated by this revised estimate for the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai deposit underlines the success of this approach.

Xstrata said its current focus at Frieda River is the progression of a pre-feasibility study which is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2010.