resource potential fe1 - byro

Leveller,

You asked about a resource for FE1 at Athena's Byro Project.

All the information to do a back of the envelope resource guesstimation is out there.

From Athenas 4 October 2010 announcement we know that 11 holes were drilled at FE1.

From Table 1 we can determine that the average length of the intercepts (width of the ore zone) in these holes (AHRC001 to 11) was 20 metres, and the length weighted average grade of the intercepts is 31.8% Fe. You can't use a straight average of the Fe because the incepts are different widths.

If you do the same calculation only using intercepts >10metres you get an average width of 45 metres and the grade stays at 31.8%Fe. This is more realistic as you won't mine iron at these grades which is only 4-6 metres wide.

Next we need to determine the depth or down dip extent of the mineralisation. This is just going to be a guess at this stage as the mineralisation shown on the cross-sections released by Athena is open at depth. The 3 cross sections of FE1 show that 50 metres is certain and 100 metres is a reasonable expectation.

From the aeromagnetic image to is reasonable to assume a strike length of 1000 metres for FE1.

We then have 45 metres wide X 100 metres down dip X 1000 metres long or 4,500,000 cubic metres (BCM). If assume a specific gravity of 3 for largely silicate ore this then converts to 13.5 million tonnes.

In the same announcement Athena say they have identified 20 kilometres (20,000 metres) of magnetic targets similar to FE1. If we assume only half of the 20kms comes in we can assume that Athena has some 135 million tonnes of superior quality magnetite on their hands. And that is only to 100metres down dip, which could easily be doubled to 200metres.

My numbers are possibly conservative. Change any factor by 2 or 10 and you have a massive increase in potential resources.

Remember, you only need 10 years mine life as anything over this doesnt improve the NPV if you are using a 10% discount rate. In short at a mining rate of 5 million tonnes per annum Athena has more than enough. Especially as they have a superior product.


Hope this helps.

Fergus