Last checked at 24 Feb 2011 07:00
24 February 2011
CUE DIAMOND PROJECT
EXPLORATION LICENCE GRANTED
Sunrise Resources plc ("Sunrise" or "the Company"), the AIM-quoted diversified mineral exploration and development specialist, is pleased to announce that its exploration licence application for the Cue Diamond Project, in Western Australia, has now been granted.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Ø Exploration Licence 20/727 granted for an initial 5 year period.
Ø Covers diamondiferous kimberlite dykes at Cue 1 and Soapy Well Prospects.
Ø Three parallel kimberlite dykes at Soapy Well, up to 3m wide.
Ø Multiple kimberlite targets at Fennels Well 2.5km along strike from Soapy Well.
The successful exploration licence application (ELA20/727) covers an area of approximately 70 square km and is located 70km to the north-west of the town of Cue in the Murchison Mineral Field in the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia.
The Company will now initiate the usual Aboriginal heritage surveys and further drilling is being planned for the second quarter of the year, subject to the successful completion of the heritage surveys and drill rig availability. The objectives of the first drill programme will be to obtain samples from the known kimberlites, to evaluate their diamond content/characteristics, and to test kimberlite targets at Fennels Well and Soapy Well.
Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman of the Company, commented today: "De Beers found diamondiferous kimberlites in two separate areas on the licence and considered that the area had excellent potential for further discoveries. A number of targets were defined by De Beers before their strategic decision to cease exploration in Australia and these need to be drill tested."
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Further information:
Sunrise Resources plc Tel: +44 (0)845 868 4590
Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman Mobile: +44 (0)7767 458751
www.sunriseresourcesplc.com
Northland Capital Partners Limited Tel: +44 (0)20 7492 4750
Gavin Burnell / Rod Venables
Charles Vaughan (Broking)
Yellow Jersey PR Tel: +44 (0)20 8980 3545
Dominic Barretto
Notes to Editors:
About the Cue Diamond Project
The Cue region was explored for diamonds by De Beers in the period 1994-2001 during which time De Beers discovered a number of kimberlite dykes in two separate areas within the Company's licence area.
At the "Cue 1" locality a kimberlite dyke outcrops and is reported by De Beers to be 2-3 m wide. Several drill holes intersected the dyke and one vertical hole intersected kimberlite from surface to 60m depth. At Soapy Well, 7km to the west, at least three closely spaced kimberlite dykes, up to 3 m wide, were encountered in two drill traverses spaced 400m apart. De Beers reported positive diamond sampling results from both localities.
In addition, soil sampling and ground geophysics identified multiple drill targets for kimberlite at Fennels Well, 2.5km along strike from the Cue No 1 kimberlite and in a separate area close to the Cue I kimberlite where a new area of kimberlite rock debris was found on surface.
Also of interest within the licence area is a sulphide-bearing gabbro dyke that was intersected in several drill holes by De Beers prior to the discovery of the Cue 1 kimberlite. Although not of interest to De Beers for diamond exploration, this gabbro dyke is now targeted by Sunrise for PGM's and gold.
About Sunrise Resources
Sunrise Resources plc was formed to acquire the diamond exploration interests of Tertiary Minerals plc in 2005. Since then, the Company has made a number of new kimberlite discoveries in Finland and expanded its portfolio of diamond exploration interests to include a new project near Cue in Western Australia.
In 2009 the Company made a strategic decision to diversify its project interests and has since acquired interests in the Long Lake Project as well as the Derryginagh Barite mine in south-west Ireland. Derryginagh was worked for barite from 1864-1922, supplying white barite to the local paint industry. Barite, the mineral form of the chemical barium sulphate, is used as a high-value industrial filler in, for example, paint plastics, brake linings and acoustic panels. The Company is targeting a modest scale mining operating at Derryginagh that could, in time, produce a valuable cash flow for the Company.
Most recently, in May 2010, the Company secured an option agreement for the Long Lake Gold-Nickel-Copper-PGM project 20km south-west of the City of Sudbury, Ontario (Canada). The Long Lake Gold Mine produced 57,000 ounces of gold from over 200,000 tonnes of ore mined in the periods 1910-1916 and 1932-1939 and has considerable untested gold potential. The claims also cover potential extensions to the currently producing Copper Cliff dyke system at the heart of the World's most productive nickel-copper mining complex.
The information in this release has been compiled and reviewed by Mr. Patrick Cheetham (MIMMM, MAusIMM) who is a qualified person for the purposes of the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009. Mr Cheetham is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and also a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy.