See the nice article on Mine box today, this should help spread the word. Salaam Abu Mumtaz
Exploration program starts at Manbarrum
Drilling at Manbarrum
Tennant Creek Gold Limited has commenced a landmark $8 million exploration program at its 100%-owned Manbarrum Zinc-Lead-Silver Project in the Northern Territory, with major resource drilling programs scheduled to commence shortly as part of its 2007 exploration field season.
The core objective of the program – which comprises some 30,000 metres of diamond and RC drilling as well as further detailed IP (Induced Polarisation) and gravity surveys – is to delineate a substantial inventory of strategic zinc-lead-silver resources at Manbarrum during 2007 and confirm the Project’s potentially world class nature, hosting multiple MVT (Mississippi Valley Type) zinc-lead-silver deposits.
It will include an intensive program of resource extension drilling focusing on the Sandy Creek deposit itself, where TNG announced an initial JORC compliant resource of 10.5 million tonnes at 3% Zn, 0.74% Pb and 5.5g/t Ag (3.3% Zn Eq) earlier this year. The current Sandy Creek resource remains open at depth and to the north, south and west.
During the northern wet season, TNG completed an initial positive economic evaluation of the Sandy Creek deposit and also reviewed the broader exploration potential of the Manbarrum Project, which comprises some 400sqkm of highly prospective tenements located some 70km north-east of Kununurra.
Drilling programs focused last year on the known mineralization at Sandy Creek, which was explored historically by major groups including Aquitaine. However, TNG’s exploration team has confirmed the potential for the broader area to host multiple pods of MVT-style base metal mineralization of similar scale or larger than Sandy Creek.
The 2007 exploration program will focus on confirming extensions to the Sandy Creek deposit to underpin an upgraded resource estimate and test four key IP targets at Sandy Creek North, Browns, Djibitgun and Llandandi. These priority target zones were identified during the northern wet season following a reassessment of historic IP geophysical, gravity and drill data for the Manbarrum Project.
“These target zones have similar IP responses to the Sandy Creek deposit and some feature historic RC drill values of up to 8.5% Zn, highlighting their importance as priority drilling targets,” commented TNG’s Managing Director, Neil Biddle.
“Typically MVT-style deposits occur in clusters and our exploration team, which includes one of the world’s foremost experts in MVT mineralization, Dr Simon Dorling, believes that the Manbarrum Project has the potential to evolve into a world-class MVT district,” he added.
A total of 159 RC drill holes for a total of 20,000m and approximately 45 diamond drill holes for a total of 10,000m have been planned to in-fill and extend the current resource at Sandy Creek and to undertake regional exploration of these key targets during the 2007 exploration field season.
“This represents one of the more significant exploration programs to be undertaken by a junior exploration company in Australia, and certainly one of the largest exploration efforts currently underway in the Northern Territory,” Mr Biddle commented. “If successful, the 2007 exploration program has the potential to establish Manbarrum as a globally significant zinc-lead-silver project.”
“The quantum of resources already delineated, the geological characteristics of the region, the tendency of MVT deposits to occur in clusters, and the regional work we have already completed all bode very well for a successful 2007 field season,” he added.
TNG has recently applied for additional exploration licences in the region which would consolidate its combined ground position to over 1,100sqkm in what is regarded as a key emerging MVT district.
The company has recently completed an $11.52 million capital raising to underpin its 2007 exploration field season. Zinc producer CBH Resources Ltd acquired a 4.5% interest in TNG as part of this capital raising.
- 08 May 2007
TNG Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
