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Significant sulphide zone identified at Punchbowl

Diamond drill core from Punchbowl


Redbank Mines has identified a new copper sulphide zone at the Punchbowl area, within the Redbank Copper Project in the Northern Territory.

The company has reported a further instalment of results from its reverse circumstance drilling program completed at the Redbank project during December 2006 and January 2007.

These include the first results for this program from the Punchbowl area located 3km from the Sandy Flat Mine.

Several of the drill holes have intersected significant broad zones of oxide and sulphide copper mineralisation.

Hole PB06-7 drilled at a declination of 60 degrees due south returned an intercept of 65m at 1% copper from a depth of 19m. The hole was planned to a down-hole depth of 100mbut terminated in mineralisation at 84m due to problems with the collar. The last 13m of the hole from a depth of 71m down-hole assayed a higher grade of 1.52% copper.

An intercept of copper mineralisation in the adjacent Hole PB06-6 returned 22m at 1.37% copper from 50m.

Jerome Vilate, managing director of Redbank Mines, said that this suggests the mineralised zone is broad as well as exhibiting remarkable grade continuity.

In 1975 a vertical diamond drill Hole AD1 was drilled by Newmont in the Punchbowl area located 3km from the Sandy Mine, and intersected 120m at 1% copper from 38m, and 92m at 0.9% from 200m. The precise collar location of AD1 is not known due to subsequent surface rehabilitation of the site, but translation of its reported grid location to modern coordinates and evidence of prior drilling activity on the ground indicate its position was within about 25m of new holes PB06-7 and PB06-6 drilled by Redbank.

“These latest results combined with the nearby 1975 diamond hole indicate that there is a significant disseminated copper sulphide zone at Punchbowl that extends from the near surface to depths of at least 292m,” said Mr Vitale.

Further drilling is now a priority to test the depth and lateral extent of this newly identified zone of copper sulphide mineralisation.

The oxidation zone at Punchbowl has been reported to extend down to a depth of about 30m. This latest drilling indicates the oxide mineralisation at Punchbowl may be somewhat discontinuous and spotty.

However the sulphide zone appears to host disseminated copper mineralization which has been shown to be remarkably consistent in grade with very little internal dilution within the intercepts.

- 12 Feb 2007