Aurium Resources eyes iron ore JORC Resource boost in new drilling at Peak Hill

Aurium Resources (ASX: AGU) is targeting early cash flows from Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) at the Peak Hill Iron Project joint venture with Padbury Mining (ASX: PDY).

The DSO exploration target is 10Mt to 55Mt at 55% to 58% iron.

The joint venture is kicking off a $5.5 million reverse circulation and diamond drilling program at the project which is also designed to deliver a resource upgrade.

The potential for an upgrade remains very high, considering that the Inferred JORC Resource of 850 million tonnes at 27.3% iron is defined from just 4 kilometres of a 10 kilometre strike length.
Importantly, a heritage survey has already been completed and approved by the local Jidi Jidi Indigenous community.
Peak Hill is a prospective magnetite and hematite iron ore project located in the Mid-West region of Western Australia at Robison Range, about 450 kilometres north east of Geraldton.

The project has an exploration target of 3.5 to 5 billion tonnes at 25% to 35% iron, and covers a significant 2500 square kilometres.

Aurium holds a 30% stake, with Padbury 70%.

Above 65% DTR

Another key ingredient driving Peak Hill forward includes the recent announcement of above 65% iron from Davis Tube Recovery at the main BIF target.

The results indicate a high-quality concentrate can be achieved, and importantly with low impurities, and mass recoveries of about 22%.

All holes intersecting BIF 1 contain magnetite mineralisation that can be upgraded, demonstrating a high degree of geological continuity.

Importantly, the mineralisation is open along strike to the east and at depth, with the updated resource estimate to include the new DTR data.

Key milestones for 2011/ 2012

The joint venture has outlined the work program and key milestones for the short to medium term, which include:

- Initial drilling to prove up the Mt Padbury and Telecom Hill DSO targets;
- The completion of conceptual mining study, (which has already been received in draft form, and was conducted by CSA Global);
- Completion of a conceptual infrastructure study to assess the viability and costs of infrastructure requirements needed to support mine project development;
- Further key baseline studies (environment/hydrogeology/heritage); and
- Further in-fill drilling at Telecom Hill.
Production is targeted for 2015-2016.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/19349/aurium-resources-eyes-iron-ore-jorc-resource-boost-in-new-drilling-at-peak-hill-19349.html