new copper and cobalt breccia pipe on jv

26 May 2008
New Copper and Cobalt Breccia Pipe on JV
with Glencore; Airborne Survey Commences

Field exploration activity on exploration licence EL
24654, known as the Copperado Joint Venture, has
identified a mineralised breccia pipe similar in scale to
the larger pipes of the Redbank area (C1 Pipe, Figure
1). Field analyses with a Niton XRF analyser found 0.3
to 0.8% copper widespread in surface material in and
around the pipe and a small high grade vein of copper
mineralisation with 18% copper (Table 1).
The analyses also found anomalous levels of zinc, lead
and cobalt in some samples. A 2.0% cobalt analysis
was associated with a 0.8% copper value. The
occurrence of a copper bearing breccia pipe in the JV
area indicates that it has been subject to mineralising
processes similar to those that formed the nearby
Redbank copper pipes.
To follow up on the encouraging results from this
reconnaissance work, the Company has commenced an
11,000 line kilometre airborne magnetic and radiometric
survey covering the entire 805m2 JV area, located 10km
north of the Redbank mine site. The programme is
being funded 100% by Glencore under the terms of the
JV agreement.
The mineralisation potential for the JV area includes:
�� copper and copper/cobalt mineralised breccia pipes
�� stratabound copper and copper cobalt mineralisation
Redbank Mines Limited
ASX Announcement 26 May 2008 2
�� Skaarn type uranium mineralisation, and
�� Base metal basin margin type hydrothermal deposits.
Fugro Airborne Pty Ltd has been contracted to complete the surveys, expected to take two weeks to
complete the field data capture phase with data processing expected to take a further four weeks.
Interpretation of the survey results will be complete in late July. Initial target evaluation with soil
geochemistry surveys are planned for August.
Figure 1 - EL 24654, Copperado Joint Venture, Glencore earning 50%
and Redbank Project Mine Area, ERL 94 - RBM 100%
Redbank Mines Limited
ASX Announcement – ASX Announcement 26 May 2008 3
Background
Redbank Mines Ltd and Glencore International AG recently formed a joint venture, known as the Copperado
Joint Venture, to explore the 805 square kilometre exploration licence EL 24654, located 10 kilometres north
east of the Redbank Copper operations in the Northern Territory, Australia (refer ASX announcement of 4th
December 2007). Glencore can spend A$1.0 million over 2 years to earn a 50% interest in the JV. Expenditure
of A$0.5m has been committed to a programme to be carried out over the next 9-12 months. Redbank Mines
Limited will conduct and manage the exploration programme on behalf of the Copperado JV.
The JV area contains a large area of the Gold Creek Volcanics (Figure 1). To the NE the Gold Creek Volcanics
are covered by Cainozoic cover that also obscures the transition to the Jurrassic-Cretaceous Carpentaria Basin.
Previous explorers in the region have focussed on the Redbank area to the south-west and the Stanton copper
and cobalt mineralisation located 2 kilometres NW of the JV area (Figure 1). The Stanton mineralisation is
similar to Redbank in that it consists largely of mineralised breccia pipes, however there is also a significant
cobalt association. Resources at Stanton have been reported to be 1Mt “0.15% copper and 0.15% cobalt*.
Diamond exploration in the 1980’sand 1990’s found diamond indicator minerals and microdiamonds in and
around the joint venture area but was unable to identify a source. Four copper occurrences are shown in regional
geological maps within the JV area. Previous exploration on the tenement however has been cursory due to
difficult terrain and Cainozoic cover and despite being only 10km north east of the Redbank area is essentially
unexplored for copper.
This will be followed by a 5,000 sample soil geochemical programme and RC and diamond drilling designed to
test existing target areas and new ones defined by the aeromagnetic/radiometric survey. Any new mineralization
identified at the Copperado JV will add to the existing resource base on the Company’s 100% owned ERL 94,
and is expected to enhance the economics of the Redbank Copper Project as outlined in the Company’s
prefeasibility study announced to ASX on 14 November 2007.
Yours faithfully,
Redbank Mines Limited
Jerome G Vitale
Managing Director
* Department of Primary Industry Fisheries and Mines (NT) web site:-
http://www.nt.gov.au/dpifm/Minerals_Energy/Geoscience/index.cfm?header=Undeveloped%20copper%20resources
NOTE
Geological information contained in this announcement insofar as it relates to the Company’s exploration results at the Copperado
Exploration Joint Venture on EL24654 and at the Redbank Copper Project is sourced from information compiled by Dr D James Searle,
B.Sc, PhD, MAusIMM,. Dr Searle is an Executive Director of Redbank Mines Limited and has sufficient expertise relevant to the style
of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as
defined in the 2004 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Reserves’. Dr Searle has approved the
inclusion of the statement in the form and context in which it appears.
Redbank Mines Limited
ASX Announcement – ASX Announcement 26 May 2008 4
Table 1:
Niton XRF analyses of the Copperado JV No1 Pipe and host rock samples (LOD = limit of detection for
that element)
Sample Units Cu Co Pb Zn
Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 665.19 Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 522.93 Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 1,510.14 Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 3,343.34 7759.56 2,603.25 1,082.85
Volcanic collapse breccia ppm 49.18 Volcanic collapse breccia ppm 838.48 Volcanic collapse breccia ppm 8,148.89 19,934.25 5,524.68 1,388.53
Volcanic collapse breccia ppm 3,851.33 Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 111.26 Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 69.89 Host rock Gold Creek
Volcanics
ppm 55.78 Mineralised cm scale vein
in collapsed breccia
%
18.25
0.34
0.2 0.17
Copperado JV – EL 24654: Gold Creek Volcanic host rock layering indicating slumping towards
the pipe core.