Drilling update28 May 2015 08:16
Tengri getting on with it....GL S
Drilling Campaign Commencement, Scoping Study Tender Awarded
28 May 2015
-- 2,500m diamond drilling campaign commenced at Taldybulak gold-copper project to optimise Phase I mine planning and upgrade and expand resource definition
-- Local Scoping Study tender awarded and signed with Kazakh Mineral Company
-- Taldybulak project team expanded to 55 people, of whom the majority are from the local village of Aral
Tengri Resources (AIM: TEN) is pleased to announce that a drilling campaign aimed at Phase I optimisation and upgraded resource definition has commenced at the Company's 100% owned Taldybulak gold-copper Project ("Taldybulak"). Taldybulak is a 6.7Moz Au, 1.7bn lb Cu development project in Kyrgyz Republic. It is the Company's priority project with a Feasibility Study targeted for completion this calendar year.
This 2,500m drilling programme is designed to define the optimum mine plan between the Phase I and Phase II pits, as well as to increase the grade, tonnage and resource category of the overall deposit. Three drill holes have been completed to date. Samples of the first drill hole (TB0112) will be sent to ALS' laboratory in Bishkek and results are expected in early June.
Kyrgyz regulations require that a local technical body must undertake a scoping study prior to the commencement of the definitive feasibility study later in the year. The local scoping study tender has been awarded to Kazakh Mineral Company, a highly regarded Central Asian specialist consultant. The study will investigate the establishment of a mine and processing facility to recover gold and copper concentrate from the higher-grade, sheeted vein domain (Phase I) in conjunction with a conceptual study to determine options for mineral recovery from the Taldybulak deposit.
At present, Tengri's local subsidiary, Talas Copper Gold, employs 21 people within the Kyrgyz Republic, including 16 employees from the local Aral village situated near to the Taldybulak project site. Additionally 34 people from Aral village are contracted to support the drilling campaign. We expect the number of local contractors to increase to 60 people as the drilling programme progresses later in the year.
Executive Chairman Mr Gary Lewis comments, "We are pleased to have another season of drilling underway at Taldybulak. This is now our second year of working on license and we would like to thank our local partners for their ongoing support and co-operation."
We believe that the results from this programme will allow us to improve the resource definition as well as increasing the overall resource size at Taldybulak. At the same time, this programme will provide us with much of the technical information required to develop a robust mine plan. We look forward to providing further updates as we progress through the drill programme, as well as the key development milestones from the scoping and feasibility studies