2006 copper-zinc exploration
anyone with any thoughts on FXR? It looks extremely promising to me?
Suite 1 & 2, 614 Newcastle St, Leederville, WA 6007 Telephone 61 8 9318 5600 Facsimile 61 8 9318 5666 Website: www.foxresources.com.au Email: [email protected] Australian Stock Exchange Code: FXR
10 January 2006 ABN 44 079 902 499
FOX RESOURCES 2006 COPPER-ZINC EXPLORATION HIGHLIGHTS
West Whundo high grade copper zone open to the north confirmed by WHRC147 13m @ 9.1% copper, 0.6% zinc and 2.6 g/t silver from 39m below surface including 4m @ 20% copper from 40m below surface. New high grade shallow copper-zinc supergene targets identified east and below the old Whundo pit. Priority exploration copper-zinc shallow targets at West Whundo, Whundo Pit Supergene, Yannery and Ayshia Anomalies. Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rig capable of drilling to a maximum depth of 150m will commence drilling next week. The deeper and larger Whundo and Shelby anomalies due to be tested as soon as a drill rig capable of drilling to a depth of 450m is secured. Figure 1 - Exploration Targets - 2 - COPPER-ZINC EXPLORATION PHASE 1 (SHALLOW TARGETS) Phase one of the copper-zinc exploration strategy, will focus on targeting shallow areas of mineralisation where the opportunity exists for the discovery of additional high grade supergene copper ore that can be readily mined without the need for high capital expenditure. To this end, a RC drill rig with the capability of drilling holes to a maximum depth of 150m has been secured, to focus on the shallow priority targets. PRIORITY TARGETS 1. WEST WHUNDO NORTH EXTENSION Fox Resources Limited (“Fox”) (ASX code FXR) is pleased to announce assay results received from planned extension drilling, announced previously on 9 November 2005, north of the West Whundo copper-zinc deposit where a JORC resource of 894,000 tonnes @ 2.0% copper , 1.4% zinc and 3.3 g/t silver has been delineated (Figure 2). Two holes WHRC146 and WHRC147 were drilled to test for possible extensions of high grade copper supergene mineralisation to the north west of the known deposit. WHRC147 intersected; 13m @ 9.1% copper, 0.6% zinc and 2.6 g/t silver including 4m @ 20% copper and 0.05% zinc. WHRC146 returned no significant assays, suggesting that the north eastern side of the deposit is cut off by a fault (Figure 2). Two holes (Figure 2) have been planned to test for the continued extension of the high grade supergene copper zone to the north west of West Whundo. The aim is to determine the northerly extent of the high grade copper supergene ore at West Whundo. Figure 2 -– Drillholes planned to test north west extension of supergene ore - 3 - 2. WHUNDO PIT SUPERGENE A total of 9 holes will test the supergene zone to the south of the old Whundo Pit (Figure 1) and three holes will test for the extension of the supergene zone immediately east of the pit where a previously announced JORC resource of 32,000 tonnes @ 5.3% copper, 8% zinc and 45 g/t silver has been delineated below the old pit. Copper was mined from the old Whundo Pit (Figure 3) 300m east of West Whundo intermittently from 1911, with the most recent operations ceasing in 1976. Total production from this deposit was 12,000 tonnes of direct shipping supergene ore grading 22.3% copper. The largest mining operation was by Whim Creek Consolidated NL in 1976 when 6,746 tonnes of 27.4% direct shipping copper ore was produced from a supergene ore shoot at Whundo. Figure 3 - Whundo Pit 3. YANNERY ANOMALY A total of 580m of RC drilling has been planned for the Yannery copper deposit (“Yannery”). Four holes will test the deeper Yannery anomaly (Figure 1) and two holes will target the down plunge extents of the old Yannery workings (Figure 4) to test for high grade copper supergene below. Yannery is located on mining lease M47/9, only 900m north east of the West Whundo copper deposit and was first mined in 1913. A total of 477 tonnes of copper ore grading at 42.5 % copper was produced until 1920 from the mine and stockpiles. In the 1950s, a further 1,912 tonnes of copper ore was extracted. Yannery is under explored and has only been drilled to a limited extent to test the extensions at depth of the gossanous (mineralised) zones. Figure 4 – Yannery old mine workings - 4 - 4. AYSHIA ANOMALY Eight holes are planned for this area for a total of 180m. Above the Ayshia conductor plate is a gossan which is similar to the surface expression seen at the West Whundo deposit. Four holes will test for supergene copper mineralisation along the strike of the gossan. A further four holes will test the Ayshia Anomaly about 120m deep (Figure 1) for mineralisation. COPPER-ZINC EXPLORATION PHASE 2 Phase 2 will test the large deeper conductor anomalies, namely, Whundo (200m deep) and Shelby (325m deep) (Figure 1) as soon as an RC drill rig capable of drilling to a depth of 450m is secured. As previously announced on 5 December 2005, the Whundo conductor is eight times the size of the known West Whundo conductor where a JORC resource of 894,000 tonnes @ 2.0% copper, 1.4% zinc and 3.3 g/t silver has been delineated. 1. WHUNDO ANOMALY As previously announced the Whundo anomaly (Figure 1) is untested by historical drilling which stopped short of the conductor plate (Figure 5). WHRC005 drilled in 2004 intersected 5m @ 2.3% copper, 8.8% zinc and 17 g/t silver, 94m from surface and is the nearest hole offset to the south east of the Whundo conductor plate (Figure 5). Geophysical consultants have suggested WHRC005 may have intersected a less conductive source above the main Whundo conductor. WEST WHUNDO CONDUCTOR JORC Resource 894,000tonnes surface Figure 5 - Sectional view showing the strong conductive signatures associated with the Whundo and West Whundo conductor plates. WHRC005 is thought to have been drilled short and has intersected mineralisation above the main Whundo conductor plate 2. SHELBY ANOMALY The Shelby EM anomaly (Figure 1) is a broad and deep seated moderate to strong Electromagnetic (EM) conductor located to the south west of Yannery. This source has been detailed with a second geophysical loop to confirm the orientation, and now appears to be a conductive source about 150m by 150m in size, situated at about 300m to 325m depth and has a similar signature or conductance to West Whundo. Given the significant depth, this source could be substantially more conductive than currently modeled. The second loop with lower frequency also suggests that the source is likely to be more conductive than current estimates. The significant size, location and orientation of this source make this a high priority target in Phase 2. - 5 - VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULPHIDE (VMS) DEPOSITS VMS deposits usually appear in clusters. The deposits form in deep ocean water by the precipitation of sulphide minerals released by submarine volcanoes. The EM responses gathered to date suggests that the new Whundo anomaly may be connected to the larger deeper Shelby anomaly (Figure 1) forming a significant potential target for the discovery of further copper-zinc-silver mineralisation. “This is the beginning of an exciting year for Fox as the company begins its 2006 copper-zinc exploration program. The company plans to continue production from its Radio Hill nickel and copper mine well into the next quarter with unhedged sales at attractive nickel and copper prices. The Board of Fox would also like to thank our shareholders for their support in 2005 and the company is determined to increase shareholder value in 2006.” Don Harper, Managing Director said. ABOUT FOX RESOURCES LTD NICKEL, COPPER & ZINC – Radio Hill, Sholl, Ruth Well and West Whundo Fox is a Top Ten Australian nickel sulphide producer which operates the Radio Hill Nickel Sulphide Mine, located near Karratha in W.A. Fox’s nickel and copper concentrate production is shipped monthly to China’s largest nickel producer, Jinchuan Limited. A feasibility study has commenced into mining and heap leaching of the disseminated nickel resources at Radio Hill and the surrounding Sholl deposits. These deposits contain 40,000 tonnes of nickel and 50,000 tonnes of copper and on successful completion of the study, Fox aims to commence production in the second half of 2007. GOLD – Star of Mangaroon, Four Ounce Show, and Radleys gold deposits The Star of Mangaroon Gold Mine is located 170 km north of Gascoyne Junction and 250 km northeast of Carnarvon, in the Gascoyne Mineral Field. The deposit was discovered in 1956 with underground production between 1960 and 1983 of 7,464 ounces of gold from 5,357 tonnes of treated ore (average grade of 34.8g/t gold). Fox holds the lease on which the deposit is located, as well as a surrounding lease application giving Fox a tenement holding of 65km2. Fox is currently assessing joint venture opportunities. The Four Ounce Show and Radleys gold deposits are situated on a mining lease approximately 12km from the Radio Hill Mine in the Pilbara. This tenement hosts a number of gold-bearing systems where previous exploration outlined a preliminary resource in excess of 36,000 ounces to a depth of 50m. The mineralisation is mainly open in all directions. An additional promising gold prospect is East Well where previous drilling intercepted 2 m at 5.5 g/t gold. Assays of up to 50 g/t gold were obtained from rock chip sampling over a strike length of 800 m. Radio Hill For further details, please contact: Don Harper – Managing Director +61 8 9318 5600 Kevin Kartun, RADAR Investor Relations +61 2 8256 3310
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