refresher course before tomorrows race

Hi all (and “Insane” a few posts back)

This is a bit long so I apologise in advance. Its a good bit of background for those who don’t have time to hunt for info on the company or don’t want to read through the reports and anns on the website. Like a few who have posted I was a bit in the dark about BLR and on 4 Feb after asking for reading suggestions, “Orga” suggested I read the December 06 ResourceStocks mag. So thanks Orga for the tip.

Like a complete fool I had never even opened a copy and could only find one newsagent in Canberra that sold it but they only had the January edition. All old editions had been returned to the distributor. Needless to say, profanities were uttered as I slunk out of the store.

However heaven smiled. And in an event that defines serendipity I went to the post box this morning and there was an envelope containing a complimentary copy of Mining Monthly plus, you guessed it, the Dec edition of ResourceStocks. I must have put my name on an internet mailing list over the break.

Anyhow, what a great magazine. I’ve sent off my subscription and I suggest you do to. It even had an article on the new Bentley convertible. I was in heaven. Here is the subscription site though I am sure most of you guys/gals are familiar: http://www.resourcestocks.com.au/

Bear in mind this was probably written late Nov 06, before the exciting January 07 developments and latest Quarterly. Not to mention what’s to come. I just wish I had seen it last year and I would have been up 150% instead of 55%. Them’s the breaks. Anyhow I think it’s a concise and well written summary.


START Homing in on the Range

Having taken a standing eight count from the administrators, Australian resource company Black Range Minerals has come out punching as it aggressively acquires resource projects across the globe. By Wally Graham

Black Range Minerals Limited was brought out of administration and re-listed on the ASX in 2004 with a new board and a resolute focus on the exploration and development of base and precious metal deposits.

Its objective was to rapidly become a mid-tier resource company through the discovery and acquisition of sizeable, high-quality mineral deposits, and then bring them into production.
Managing director Mike Haynes told RESOURCESTOCKS that he and fellow director Matthew Wood were excited by the opportunity offered to them when they were approached to become part of the new look company.

"We vended the Koonenberry Base Metal Project, which at the time was primarily the Grasmere Copper Deposit, into Black Range Minerals for a consideration of shares," he said.
"As part of that transaction we were also encouraged to take board positions at the new Black Range Minerals."

Both men have a great deal of experience in the mining industry.

Haynes has worked with BHP Billiton while Wood was formerly with CRA, Dominion Mining and Aurora Gold. Together they listed Iberian Resources, successfully raising its share price from 20c to around 90c in just under two years.

It was important Black Range made its mark quickly as it had been sitting on the stock exchange from December 2004 through to June 2005 doing nothing. "It was sitting as a listed shell," Haynes said. "It had about $1 million cash in the bank and market capitalisation of around $2 million with effectively no management and no projects."

When Black Range acquired the Grasmere Copper Deposit it was a small high-grade copper deposit sitting about 100km northeast of Broken Hill in the Proterozoic-Cambrian aged Koonenberry Belt. At the time there were few other base or precious metals licences held in the belt.

"When we pegged our first licence it was the only one out there," Haynes pointed out.

Now as much as 80-90 % of the Koonenberry Belt is under tenure with the majority of the northern part of the belt held by Inco Resources and Mithril Resources.

Black Range holds a 100% interest in two full-sized granted exploration licences that encompass the Grasmere Copper Deposit and the newly discovered Peveril Copper Deposit, covering approximately 600sq. km of highly prospective terrain over the southern third of the Koonenberry Belt.

The Grasmere Copper Deposit was mined for a short time during the 1800s and early 1900s for high-grade secondary oxidised copper. Rio Tinto drilled nine diamond holes during 1988-1991 and identified a small high-grade primary copper resource with mineralisation open in all directions.

The previous drilling enabled Black Range to identify the project's enormous potential as strike and depth extensions of the deposit were yet to be tested. Black Range became more excited when additional aeromagnetic data indicated that the prospective horizon hosting mineralisation extended more than 70km.
"When we started our exploration program our initial target was to turn this into a 3-5 million tonne project. Then we thought we might be going close to having a mining operation," Haynes said determinedly.

In the last 14 months Black Range Minerals has completed an electromagnetic survey, a ground gravity survey, XRF soil sampling and two drilling programs with 72 holes drilled for 11,000m.

In the process the company has substantially increased the resource at the Grasmere Deposit and has also discovered the Peveril Copper Deposit, which it believes to be as good as, if not better than, the Grasmere Copper Deposit.

"It's been a very aggressive exploration approach," Haynes emphasised. "To complete all that in that time frame, for a junior company, is quite a bit of work."

The hard work and aggressive approach adopted by Black Range has enabled it to increase its Koonenberry Project resource base by 1000% to almost 6Mt and economic studies to evaluate bringing this project into production are now underway.

The achievements attained at Koonenberry have been perfectly complemented by the company's recent announcement that it has secured an exclusive option in the United States to earn up to a 90% interest in the high-grade Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit in South Wyoming.

"At the same time as being busy on the exploration front we have been working very hard on the project acquisition front," Haynes said.

"What we didn't want Black Range Minerals to be is a one project company."
The Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit was discovered in 1897 and was in production until fire destroyed its processing facilities in 1908. A drastic drop in the price in copper at the time meant the mine was closed and has remained so until the present day.

Records show that as much as 10,000 tonnes of copper were produced from the mine, which at the time was the 27th largest copper mine in the world. Although no exploration drilling has ever taken place at the mine, two shafts and several adits were used to explore and develop the deposit to approximately 200m depth.

"Matthew and I have been working on this acquisition since we got involved with Black Range Minerals," Haynes said proudly.

"The reason we were so persistent is that we think this is a fantastic asset. In all likelihood it could well prove to be a company maker."

Historically, the mining focus was. on the upper portion of the orebody which averages 8-10m in width with some places measuring up to 20m, where grades averaged over 20% copper.

Haynes said Black Range is convinced that remaining unmined ore in the lower explored but undeveloped portions of the deposit comprises at least IMt at 5-6% copper and 3-4 grams per-tonne of gold.

"We will be taking time over the impending Northern Hemisphere winter to compile all historical information on the deposit," he said. "We will then undertake a concerted drilling program early next year to determine the potential size of the previously unexplored extensions to the deposit."

The acquisition of the Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit demonstrates how serious Black Range Minerals' ambitions are regarding the discovery and acquisition of sizeable, high-quality mineral deposits. The company is confident it can bring the deposit back into production in the near term and acknowledges the importance of rapidly testing the project's enormous exploration potential so it can optimise the scale of future operations.
The company has also made a calculated decision to diversify into the uranium sector. Black Range has a different strategy to most ASX-listed uranium companies in that it seeks to identify particular jurisdictions, all outside of Australia, where regulations support the exploration and development of uranium projects.

"We want to be able to make returns to our shareholders by bringing projects into production," Haynes said. "In Australia there is just too much uncertainty whether you can get a new uranium project into production."

In June Black Range signed an agreement with US-based Uranerz Energy Corporation to form a joint venture to explore and develop the advanced Cyclone Rim and Eagle Uranium projects located in the Red Desert area of southwest Wyoming.

"We had identified that Wyoming and the uranium industry go hand in hand," Haynes said.
"Wyoming has the USA's largest reserves of uranium and it is also home to one of the only two commercial-scale uranium mines operating in the USA."

Joint venture partner Uranerz Energy is a company with a great deal of expertise in the uranium industry. Its directors and management have a combined total of over 100 years of experience in the industry, especially with in-situ uranium mining. They were quick to recognise the Black Range Minerals directors' proven track record of successful exploration and bringing projects to production.

"Our strategic alliance is that we are good explorers and they have production experience," Haynes said. "We have got an agreement that we will do all the exploration, then as soon as it is economic to mine we will hand it over to Uranerz and then they will bring it into production.”

Drilling has commenced at the company's Eagle Uranium Project and when completed the rig will be moved to its Cyclone Rim Uranium Project. When these programs have been completed the company intends releasing JORC-compliant resource calculations for both deposits, which it anticipates will reflect previous estimates of 2 million pounds of U308 at the Eagle Project and 3 million pounds of U308 at the Cyclone Rim Project.

Recommissioning of the Sweetwater Uranium Mill, located just 25km from both projects, could potentially see Black Range Minerals in production from these deposits in the foreseeable future as both deposits are amenable to in-situ leaching and/or open pit mining.
Following recent fund raising activity Black Range Minerals has cash reserves of around $4.5 million. This cash backing will allow the company to rapidly advance its key projects towards production. It should also add punch as the company finalises negotiations with other parties in the US as it seeks to acquire additional advanced uranium projects.

In the short space of 14 months Black Range Minerals is one junior company that has dragged itself off the canvas to quickly become a major contender. END