Pan Australian has received encouraging drill assays and metallurgical test results from the scoping study being conducted on the Ban Houayxai gold-silver deposit (Figure 1) that provide further support for a potential stand alone operation to mine and process oxide and primary ore. The aim of the scoping study is to assess the relative merits of the development options for Ban Houayxai following the intersection of high-grade mineralisation in step-out drilling during an oxide resource delineation program conducted earlier in 2006 (Figure 2).
The first two drill holes (Table 1 and Section 1) – of a six-hole program aimed at testing the depth potential for mineralisation below the existing oxide mineral resource at Ban Houayxai – demonstrate that high-grade mineralisation extends into the primary zone, with best intercepts being:
• Hole HDD006; 22 metres at 2.1g/t gold and 23.7 g/t silver (gold equivalent grade of 2.6 g/t) from a depth of 56 metres, including − 12 metres at 4.0 g/t gold and 28.9 g/t silver (gold equivalent grade of 4.6 g/t) from a depth of 66 metres
• Hole HDD007; 6 metres at 27.0g/t gold and 22.2 g/t silver (gold equivalent grade of 27.4 g/t) from a depth of 122 metres
Furthermore, recent test-work as part of the scoping study indicates that metallurgical recoveries for gold of more than 90% in oxide and over 85% in primary mineralisation should be attainable by a carbon-in-leach (CIL) process.
Following the success of earlier resource drilling in 2006 a revised mineral resource estimate for Ban Houayxai – which is limited by the depth of drilling, which in most instances is to a maximum of 60 metres from surface – is in the final stages of compilation and should be available early in 2007.
Assay results for the remaining four holes of the deep-hole diamond core program are pending and should also be available early in the new year.
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