Last checked at 6 Nov 2014 07:00
06 November 2014 |
Bushveld Minerals Ltd
("Bushveld" or the "Company")
Bushveld Vanadium Project Update - AB Zone Drilling Results
Bushveld Minerals Limited (AIM: BMN), a mineral development company with a portfolio of vanadium and titanium bearing iron ore and tin assets in Southern Africa, is pleased to provide an operations update on drilling and sampling on the AB Zone at its Bushveld Vanadium Project in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Highlights:
· Assays of the AB Zone completed with encouraging results;
· Inaugural strike of ~1.7 km delineated for the AB Zone;
· Additional infill drilling to commence shortly as a result of recent drilling results; and
· MML Hanging Wall Resource Update Underway.
Fortune Mojapelo, CEO of Bushveld Minerals, said: "These intersections on the AB Zone confirm that a suitable strike extent for this ore body exists at shallow levels. We will shortly begin infill drilling to quantify the grade and tonnage of this mineralisation into a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate, which we expect to complete in 1H 2015.
While the additional AB Zone mineralisation announced today is still at an early stage, its results offer strong encouragement for further improving the economics of the Bushveld Vanadium Project's high-grade, shallow and open castable resources. This is particularly welcome given that our scoping study was premised solely of the MML resource, which has to date been defined to the Indicated Resource Category and has as independently assessed post tax NPV10 of $264m."
THE BUSHVELD VANADUM PROJECT
The AB Zone represents a ca. 10 m wide zone of disseminated magnetite identified in the footwall to the MML. This zone was initially identified in borehole BV-1, a historical borehole drilled in 1991 on the farm Bellevue (part of the Bushveld Resources Amended Prospecting Right). In BV-1, the in-situ vanadium grade was 1.17% V2O5, which could be upgraded to 2.38% V2O5 through magnetic separation (Operations Update, 27 November 2013). Subsequently, a drilling programme was launched to delineate the extent of the AB Zone. The Company reported during its Operational and Corporate Update of 12 February the completion of three boreholes (AB1, AB2 and AB4), one of which (AB4) had intersected over 20m of disseminated magnetite. Four more boreholes have since been drilled with two of these intersecting MML mineralisation and one intersecting the AB Zone. All intersections have also been assayed with the results for both the MML and AB Zone intersections summarised below.
Boreholes AB1, AB2 and AB3 did not intersect mineralisation, while boreholes AB4 and AB5 (located 1.7 km apart along strike) both intersected disseminated zones of magnetite mineralisation. Although the in-situ grades are lower than those found in the BV-1 borehole, they are still considerably higher than global average grades. Moreover, the intersection widths are significantly larger (up to 23.22 metres) than previously discovered.
Boreholes intersecting AB Zone | Intersection (width in parenthesis is true width assuming a dip of 20° for the orebody) | Avg Fe | Avg TiO2 | Avg V2O5 | Estimated V2O5 in magnetite |
AB4 | 122 m - 138 m (15.03 m) | 19.67% | 3.20% | 0.52% | 1.82% |
AB5 | 78.78 m - 102 m (21.82 m) | 29.20% | 3.44% | 0.67% | 1.58% |
Boreholes AB6 and AB7, located to the west of AB4 and AB5 to test the AB zone at depth, both intersected the MML, which runs parallel to and along a higher stratigraphy than the AB Zone to the west. This indicates that these two boreholes were located too far west from the AB strike. Grades and thicknesses for the MML in these boreholes are in line with previous intersections, and these boreholes will be incorporated into the geological and grade model for the MML.
Boreholes intersecting MML | Intersection (width in parenthesis is true width assuming a dip of 20° for the orebody) | Avg Fe | Avg TiO2 | Avg V2O5 | Estimated V2O5 in magnetite |
AB6 | 66.50 m - 74.20 m (7.24 m) | 38.94% | 8.36% | 1.19% | 2.10% |
AB7 | 22.15 m - 29.91 m (/7.29 m) | 37.93% | 8.63% | 1.19% | 2.16% |
The purpose of the drill program had been to assess the potential extent of the strike of the AB Zone. Having successfully identified ~1.7 km of strike, the company will focus its AB-Zone efforts on a drilling programme in order to establish a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate on the AB Zone. This programme will run concurrently with a drilling programme on the MML, aimed at collecting material for further metallurgical test-work, and infill drilling in order to upgrade portions of the MML ore body to the Measured Resource category.
Pursuant to the completion of the metallurgical test work and financial evaluation of several MML hanging wall magnetite units grading above 0.3% V2O5 in-situ, that had not been included in the Mineral Resource Estimate for the MML and the MML Hanging Wall (see RNS: Operations Update released on 14 October), the Company engaged MSA Group to undertake a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate on these layers using a V2O5 cut-off grade rather than a Fe grade cut-off. This exercise is underway and a Mineral Resource Estimate update will be provided in due course.
Enquiries: info@bushveldminerals.com
Bushveld Minerals Fortune Mojapelo | +27 (0) 11 268 6555 |
Strand Hanson Andrew Emmott | +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 |
Fox Davies Jonathan Evans | +44 (0) 20 3463 5000 |
RFC Ambrian Jonathan Williams | +44 (0) 20 3440 6800 |
Tavistock Jos Simson/ Nuala Gallagher | +44 (0) 20 7920 3150 |
Tielle Communications Stéphanie Leclercq | +27 (0) 83 307 7587 |
- ENDS -
Notes to the editor
Bushveld Minerals Limited is a mineral development company with a portfolio of vanadium-and titanium bearing iron ore and tin assets in Southern Africa. The Company owns the Bushveld Iron Ore Project and Mokopane Tin Project, both located on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa. In addition, Bushveld has a controlling 57.21% interest in Lemur Resources (ASX: LMR), that owns the Imaloto coal project in Madagascar.
Bushveld was admitted to the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange in March 2012.