AMC.L Regulatory News (AMC)

1 Feb 2007 09:05

Amur Minerals Corporation01 February 2007 1 February 2007 Amur Minerals Corporation ("Amur" or "the Company") Amur Identifies a New Drill Target - Expanding Exploration Portfolio Amur Minerals Corporation (AIM: AMC) announces it has identified the Yan HegdArea as a new drill target. This follows the results from the 2006reconnaissance exploration work and analytical results from grab samples withinKun-Manie Project Area. The discovery adds a seventh drill target to theCompany's rapidly developing Nickel-Copper project. Yan Hegd is located 8kilometres north of the Ikenskoe deposit and is the Company's first discoveryoutside the main Krumkon trend opening new terrain for discovery potential. . Key results and observations follow: • Yan Hegd is located outside the Krumkon Trend, the Company's primary exploration target, opening new terrain for discovery potential. • Centered on a 6 km(2) area where websterite outcrops, similar to those found at Kun-Manie, have been observed on the surface. Websterite is the high iron and magnesium bearing host rock that contains the nickel and copper mineralisation thus far defined by Amur at Kun-Manie. • Structural mapping indicates that the websterite occurs within a near- vertical pipelike structure. This is the first occurrence of the host rock in this orientation, and it is typical of deep sourced structures. • The western half of the area is characterised by a magnetic anomaly detected in an airborne geophysical survey a response which tends to occur over areas of higher metal content. • Selective grab sampling in the area has confirmed the presence of anomalous nickel grades in the surface outcrops. Grades up to 0.4% nickel have been obtained. Samples at the surface tend to have been leached and often carry lower values than materials encountered below the zone of oxidation which is limited to a few metres. These values are similar to those encountered during exploration of areas containing the thus far drilled resources. The next phase of exploration will include additional detailed geologicalmapping, ground based geophysics and geochemical sampling, with laterexploratory drilling to confirm the structure and near-surface potential to hostnickel-copper mineralisation. Robin Young, Amur's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "The growth potential ofthis licence area is amazing, which is one of the key reasons why we acquiredKun-Manie. We have drilled four deposits and to date report resources fromthree of these containing more than a quarter million tonnes of nickel with thefull limits of mineralisation still yet to be identified. . Adding Yan Hegd asanother drill target provides the Company with three additional promising areaswhere we are yet to sink a single hole. For some companies this would be enoughto chew on, but it is exciting to remember that reconnaissance exploration alongmore than 20 kilometres of the main trend also remains to be conducted whichcould generate even more potential targets." The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved bythe CEO of Amur, Robin Young. Mr. Young is a Geological Engineer (cum laude) andis a Qualified Professional Geologist, as defined by the Toronto and VancouverStock Exchanges. Enquiries: Amur Minerals Corp. RBC Capital Markets Parkgreen CommunicationsRobin Young Andrew Smith Victoria ThomasCEO Martin Eales+44 (0) 7981 126 818 +44 (0) 20 7029 7881 +44 (0) 20 7851 7480 Notes to Editors About Amur Minerals Amur's principal asset is the 100% owned Kun-Manie exploration licence, anickel-copper deposit located in the Amur Province in the far east of theRussian Federation. The Kun-Manie licence area is approximately 950 km(2) andis located 700 km northeast of the capital city of Blagoveshchensk and is 750kmnorth of the Chinese border. In April 2004 ZAO Kun-Manie, a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Amur, was granted a licence to explore for nickel and relatedmetals, including copper and platinum, in respect of the Kun-Manie licence. Work carried out to date on the Kun-Manie licence including diamond coredrilling, trenching and geological mapping has identified four mineralisedtargets; the Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoe, Maly Krumkon and Falcon zones, three ofwhich warrant further exploration as the limits of the mineralisation have notbeen identified. The four zones are located within a 15 kilometre long segmentof the 40 kilometre long Krumkon Trend. This trend is the primary explorationtarget within the licence area. An additional three targets identified asChornie Ispelene, Yan Hegd and Kubuk (also referred to as Ata) have beenidentified as additional drill targets. Chornie Ispelene and Kubuk lie withinthe trend whilst Yan Hegd is located approximately 8 kilometres to its north.Approximately 50% of the Krumkon Trend remains to be examined by reconnaissancework where existing Soviet data indicates potential exists to identifyadditional drill targets. Exploration drill results have been utilised by SRK Consulting to calculateresources. These include resources of the Measured, Indicated and Inferredcategories which have been estimated for the deposits of Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoeand Maly Krumkon. Effective January, 2007, the independently compiled ResourceEstimate consists of a total of 53.3 Mt at a mean grade of 0.48% nickel and0.14% copper containing 254,500 tonnes of nickel; and 73,000 tonnes of copper.This is summarised in the following table. SRK Consulting's 2006 Year End Resource Report Orebody Tonnage Ni Ni Cu Cu (Mt) (%) (t) (%) (t) Vodorazdelny Indicated 5.9 0.71 41,800 0.20 11,800 Ikenskoe Measured 3.7 0.61 22,700 0.16 5,800 Indicated 26.8 0.42 111,300 0.12 32,700 Sub-total 30.5 0.44 134,000 0.13 38,500 Inferred 5.9 0.49 28,700 0.13 7,500 Total Ikenskoe 36.4 0.45 162,700 0.13 46,000 Maly Krumkon Inferred 11.0 0.45 50,000 0.14 15,200 Total Measured 3.7 0.61 22,700 0.16 5,800 Total Indicated 32.7 0.47 153,100 0.14 44,500 Total Inferred 16.9 0.47 78,700 0.13 22,700 Grand Total 53.3 0.48 254,500 0.14 73,000 Presently, Amur is compiling a prefeasibility study on the Kun-Manie Project tobe completed in the second quarter of 2007. Concurrently, work is also beingconducted on the assembly of a report to be submitted to the State Committee onReserves (GKZ). Upon approval, the GKZ shall issue a certificate of "Discovery". This certification allows the Company to continue along the process of converting portions of the exploration licence into a mining licence. Amur also controls the Anadjakan gold-copper exploration licence in KharaborvskKrai near the well-infrastructured city of Elban. The Company chooses not toreport any value on this asset until it concludes its comprehensive review ofall information and verifies existing Russian results. The 2007 explorationprogramme for this area is designed to check the historical results and definefuture drill targets. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange