AMC.L Regulatory News (AMC)

17 Jul 2006 07:00

Amur Minerals Corporation15 July 2006 16th July 2006 Amur Minerals Corporation ("Amur" or "the Company") New Zone Discovered at Kun-Manie Amur Minerals Corporation (AIM:AMC), the nickel-copper exploration company, withassets in the Amur Oblast in far east Russia, announces that a fourthmineralised zone has been discovered through drilling completed in May and earlyJune of this year. The zone is identified as Maly Krumkon and lies approximately4.5 kilometres northwest of the previously identified Vodorazdelny zone. Thezone occurs within the 40 kilometre long Krumkon Trend which is the primaryexploration target within Amur's 950 square kilometre licence. Results indicatethat the zone has a minimum length of 600 meters and average intersects fornickel and copper grades of 0.63% and 0.17% respectively. These resultsindicate that Maly Krumkon represents a new target potentially containing higheraverage grades than most of the mineralisation drilled to date within thelicence area. The Maly Krumkon discovery is based on four diamond drill holes which have beendrilled on two separate sections located approximately 600 metres apart. Withineach drill section, the holes are spaced approximately 100 metres apart.Geological mapping and trenching indicate this trend is continuous between thedrill sections and extends beyond the limits of the area encompassed by the fourdrill holes. Drill results indicate an average true thickness of 16.3 metreshaving an average nickel grade of 0.63% and a copper grade of 0.17%. The dip ofthe zone ranges from 35 to 50 degrees. Atomic adsorption analytical resultshave been derived by the Central Laboratory located in Khabarovsk. The qualityof the Central Laboratory analytical results from previous drilling seasons hasbeen verified by SRK Consulting, although this year's samples will not be checkassayed by Omac Laboratories until Q4 2006. The results for each mineralisedinterval are summarised within the following table. Drill Hole From To Length True Thickness Nickel Copper (m) (m) (m) (m) (%) (%) 101 9.4 36.9 27.5 19.4 0.41 0.14 102 82.6 90.6 8.0 5.7 0.91 0.19 102 99.5 108.7 9.2 6.5 0.74 0.21 105 23.6 81.5 57.9 40.9 0.68 0.17 106 173.1 186.1 13.0 9.2 0.63 0.17 Average 16.3 0.63 0.17 Individual drill hole results are provided in the notes to the editor section. The discovery of the Maly Krumkon zone brings the drill explored length of thetrend to approximately 10 kilometres whilst the remaining 30 kilometres of thetrend has been examined only by reconnaissance mapping and limited grab samplingwhich confirms additional potential for the identification of new targets.Within the 10 kilometre area that has been drilled, additional potential is alsopresent as the limits of the mineralisation have not yet been established withinthe Ikenskoe orebody and the Falcon mineralised zone. Commenting on the discovery, CEO Robin Young stated, "At the start of each fieldseason, the Company always tests a new target and we are very excited that forthe second consecutive year, our exploration drill programme has resulted in thediscovery of a potentially substantial mineralised zone. This discovery,together with the positive results from the conceptual open pit study carriedout by SRK Consulting on the Vodorazdelny and Ikenskoe orebodies, furthersubstantiates the Company moving forward with scoping studies and apre-feasibility study. We are confident that Amur Minerals will be a majorlong-term player in the region." 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. Ends Enquiries: Amur Minerals Corp. Nabarro Wells & Co. Limited Parkgreen CommunicationsRobin Young John Wilkes Justine Howarth /CEO Director Jane Murray+44 (0) 7981 126 818 +44 (0) 20 7710 7400 +44 (0) 20 7493 3713 Notes to Editors The Amur Group's principal asset is the 100% owned Kun-Manie explorationlicence, a nickel-copper-PGM deposit located in the Amur Province in the fareast of the Russian Federation. The Kun-Manie licence area is approximately 950km(2) and is located 700 km northeast of the capital city of Blagoveshchensk andis 750km north of the Chinese border. In April 2004 ZAO Kun-Manie, a whollyowned subsidiary of Amur, was granted a licence to explore for nickel andrelated metals, including copper and platinum, in respect of the Kun-Manielicence. Work carried out to date on the Kun-Manie licence including diamond coredrilling, trenching and geological mapping has identified four mineralisedtargets, the Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoe, Falcon and Maly Krumkon zones each of whichwarrant further exploration. The four zones are located within a ten kilometerlong segment of the 40 kilometre long Krumkon Trend which is the primaryexploration target within the licence area. An additional two targetsidentified as Chornie Ispelene and Kubuk have also been identified within thetrend and require additional geological investigation and drilling. Incombination, the six targets are located along approximately 13 kilometres ofthe length of the Krumkon Trend whilst the remainder of the trend containsadditional potential based on geochemical sampling and geological mapping whichhas identified anomalously mineralised host structures. To date, detailed exploration conducted by the Company and an independentlycalculated resource estimate compiled by SRK Consulting indicates the presencesof Indicated and Inferred resources. These resources are contained within twodeposits termed Vodorazdelny and Ikenskoe. The resource estimate derived by SRKConsulting as at 31 December 2005 is reported in accordance with JORC Codedefinitions and guidelines and was published in the Amur Admission Documentdated 10 March 2006. In summary, SRK's resource estimate comprises an IndicatedMineral Resource of 28.4Mt with mean grades of 0.47% nickel and 0.13% copper andan Inferred Mineral Resource of 17.7Mt with mean grades of 0.43% nickel and0.12% copper together containing approximately 209,000 tonnes of nickel and58,500 tonnes of copper. The resource estimate will be updated in the fourthquarter of this year and if possible it is planned to include the results fromthe Maly Krumkon and Falcon zones. The following table presents a summary ofall available drill results and statistics for each orebody as well as SRKConsulting's earlier resource statement. Drilling Statistics SRK Resource Estimate Orebody Holes True Ni Cu Tonnes Ni (%) Ni (Tonnes) Cu Cu (Tonnes) Thickness (%) (%) (Million) (%) (m) Vodorazdelny 11 20.1 0.67 0.28 10.7 0.61 65,400 0.17 18,700 Ikenskoe 28 12.5 0.49 0.14 35.4 0.41 143,600 0.11 39,800 Falcon 5 5.2 0.42 0.10 Not Estimated Maly Krumkon 4 16.3 0.63 0.17 Not Estimated Amur's exploration strategy comprises a three tiered approach. At the beginningof each field season, a new undrilled target is tested. This year's first stageconsisted of drill testing the Maly Krumkon target. This has been completed andthe Company is now in the process of in-fill drilling the already identifiedVodorazdelny and Ikenskoe orebodies. The work for these two areas also includesadditional ground based geophysics and trenching. The objective of the in-fill work is to increase the confidence level reflectedin the current Indicated and Inferred resource statement prepared by SRK andshould allow for upgrading the resources into categories of higher confidence.It will also provide a resource drilled at an appropriate spacing for thepreparation of a resource estimate report suitable for submission to the StateCommittee of Reserves (GKZ) at the end of Q4 2006 or in Q1 2007. Once approved,Amur will have met its final obligation required under the terms of itsexploration licence. Though not required until December 2008, the Companyintends to complete this obligation as soon as possible to allow Amur to applyfor a Discovery and subsequently convert the exploration licence into a 20 yearMining / Production licence. Concurrent with this work, geochemical sampling and detailed geological mappingis being undertaken along the Krumkon Trend to identify additional new targetsrequiring drilling and trenching in the future. Presently, two additional drilltargets have been identified and are known as Chornie Ispelene and Kubuk.Chornie Ispelene is located approximately one kilometre northwest of MalyKrumkon and Kubuk is two kilometres to the southeast of the eastern limit ofIkenskoe. In total, the two orebodies (Vodorazdelny and Ikenskoe), twomineralized zones ( Falcon and Maly Krumkon) and two drill targets (ChornieIspelene and Kubuk) lie within a 13 kilometre long segment of the 40 kilometrelong trend. The remainder of the host trend remains highly prospective aslimited reconnaissance geological mapping and sampling confirms the presence offavourable host rocks, the websterite sills that contain anomalous nickelgrades. The following table contains the detailed results of all drilling completedwithin Maly Krumkon. Maly Krumkon Diamond Core Hole Drill Results Hole From To Length True Thickness (m) Ni (%) Cu (%) 101 9.4 36.9 27.5 19.4 0.41 0.14 102 82.6 90.6 8.0 5.7 0.91 0.19 Contains 84.8 87.5 2.7 1.9 1.94 0.28 102 99.5 108.7 9.2 6.5 0.74 0.21 Contains 103.7 105.2 1.5 1.1 1.25 0.21 Contains 106.7 107.7 1.0 0.7 1.71 0.65 105 23.6 81.5 57.9 40.9 0.68 0.17 Contains 26.1 26.7 0.6 0.4 1.94 0.79 Contains 29.7 32.6 2.9 2.1 1.78 0.23 Contains 40.2 41.7 1.5 1.1 1.06 0.20 Contains 64.6 65.7 1.1 0.8 1.38 0.21 Contains 69.1 70.2 1.1 0.8 1.08 0.25 Contains 77.6 78.8 1.2 0.8 2.27 0.27 106 173.1 186.1 13.0 9.2 0.63 0.17 Contains 176.3 178.0 1.7 1.2 1.12 0.27 Average 16.3 0.63 0.17 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange