Baobab Resources (LON:BAO) has begun a 7,000m step-out reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme on the South Zone at the Tete iron/vanadium/titanium project in Mozambique. With the next phase of work now underway, and given the successful completion of the diamond drilling phase, Baobab said it is on target to update the Tete resource inventory by the end of the year.
The RC programme will cover 35 holes targeting a sequence of mineralised zones, which were identified during an earlier scout drilling campaign.
Baobab said that the South Zone step-out drilling was prioritised “due to the significant widths and interpreted lateral continuity of mineralisation”, and it intends to combine the results with the diamond drilling to estimate a global resource for the South Zone prospect.
"The company is very pleased to announce the commencement of the RC phase of the 2010 exploration programme. We are confident that this work, combined with the successfully completed scout drilling campaign, will allow us to meet our target of updating the Tete resource inventory by year-end," Baobab MD Ben James commented.
Baobab also updated investors on the completion of the scout diamond drilling at the South Zone, and at the Chimbala prospect.
On the South Zone, a 9 hole drilling programme has been for a total of 2,127m, and Baobab highlighted that every hole intersected substantial widths of magnetite-ilmenite mineralisation.
The South Zone was first recognised, during Baobab’s 2008 high-res aeromagnetic survey, as a 2.5km long north-south zone of ‘high magnetic response’ immediately south of the known Massamba Group prospects.
In terms of the Zones geology Baobab commented: “The primary iron, vanadium and titanium mineralisation occurs as cumulate sequences within the gabbro / anorthosite suite ... A secondary phase of mineralisation, in the form of a vertical massive magnetite-ilmenite intrusive dyke, outcrops as a chain of small ridges along the western margin of the magnetic anomaly.”
In 2009, three diamond drill holes were completed before the wet season took hold. Now a further six diamond holes have been completed, taking the total drilled metres to 2,127m.
The company highlighted that samples from the first two 2010 holes on their way to an analytical laboratory in Perth, and the results are expected in early September.
At the Chimbala prospect, Baobab has completed 25 holes diamond scout drilling holes, for a total of 5,378m.
The programme, which tested magnetic targets over a 3km2 area, intersected significant widths of magnetite-ilmenite mineralisation and results from all-but two holes have now been received. Baobab said that drilling has intersected “packages of both cumulate and intrusive style magnetite-ilmenite mineralisation intercalated with gabbroic and anorthositic country rock”.
The company reported significant intercepts for 5 holes - TDH0035, 36, 38, 41 and 42 - with total mineralized intercepts, in each hole, ranging between 46.5-71 metres and grades ranging from 58.5-65.9% Fe, 0.55-0.71% V2O5 and the mass recoveries (among the significant intercepts) ranged between 23-39%.
The Chimbala prospect comprises the central portion of the Massamba Group trend, the company noted that the prospect is “underlain by a 3km long zone of strong aeromagnetic response” and the prospect area has been subjected to limited historical exploration.
The Tete project contains two areas of magnetite-ilmenite mineralisation, the Massamba Group trend and the Singore area. The 8 kilometre long Massamba Group trend is composed of a series of five prospects - Chitongue Grande, Pequeno, Caangua, Chimbala and South Zone - that have experienced little or no historical exploration.
Overall, Tete covers 632km2, sharing boundaries with what Baobab calls Vale and Riversdale’s “mega coal projects,” and having access low tariff hydro-electric power from existing and developing schemes on the Zambezi River.
The company is targeting the completion of a pre-feasibility study at Tete by mid-2011 and a bankable feasibility study by early 2013.
Proactiveinvestors is a leading multi-media news organisation, investor portal and events management business with offices in New York, Sydney, Toronto, Frankfurt and London.
No comments:
Post a Comment