ABM Resources NL Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit Drilling Update
Summary from drilling at Old Pirate South, Central and Western Limb:
- Results received and compiled from ~70% of the infill drill program at Old Pirate.
- Grades overall consistent with previous drilling.
- Drill intercepts in the top 40 metres increased from 87 mineralised intercepts (pre-2014) to 290 mineral intercepts with further results pending finalisation.
>1g/t cut-off intercepts averaging 11.7g/t*m.
>0.5g/t cut-off intercepts averaging 19.3g/t*m.
Old Pirate South drilling results include:
10 metres averaging 16.83g/t gold including:
3 metres averaging 47.99g/t gold with a peak value of 87.4g/t gold.
2 metres averaging 32.45g/t gold with a peak value of 41.20g/t gold.
2 metres averaging 21.9g/t gold with a peak value of 27.8g/t gold.
2 metres averaging 12.05g/t gold with a peak value of 16.3g/t gold.
1 metre grading 67.8g/t gold.
Central Zone at Old Pirate (further to previous results reported 25/06/2014) drilling results include:
20 metres averaging 4.48g/t gold including:
4 metres averaging 19.43g/t gold with a peak value of 63.3g/t gold.
14 metres averaging 4.61g/t gold1 including:
6 metres averaging 9.50g/t gold with a peak value of 49.6g/t gold.
2 metres averaging 23.82g/t gold with a peak value of 28.1g/t gold
4 metres averaging 11.20g/t gold with a peak value of 32.6g/t gold.
3 metres averaging 13.63g/t gold with a peak value of 38.5g/t gold
3 metres averaging 13.44g/t gold with a peak value of 26.4g/t gold.
7 metres averaging 5.26g/t gold with a peak value of 8.52g/t gold.
4 metres averaging 8.34g/t gold with a peak value of 21.1g/t gold
2 metres averaging 12.43g/t gold with a peak value of 20.3g/t gold.
2 metres averaging 12.23g/t gold with a peak value of 16.9g/t gold.
1 metre grading 37.8g/t gold.
Western Limb at Old Pirate (further to previous high-grade results reported 25/06/2014):
1 metre grading 30.9g/t gold.
Infill / Grade Control Drilling
ABM is currently conducting a reverse circulation drilling program at the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit. The infill / grade control drilling component is focusing on the top 50 metres of the system with a view to developing the mining inventory for the open pit and enabling the next stage pit design. To date over 14,000 metres of drilling have been completed and the Company has received and compiled assay results for approximately 10,000 metres of this drilling.
ABM reported the first round of results on 25/06/2014 and results reported in this release are in addition to the previously reported results. Significant intercepts are shown in Appendix 1 and in Figure 1 and 2 in link below.
Main Old Pirate Zone (including Western Limb, Old Pirate South, and Central Zone)
The latest drilling throughout the Old Pirate area is based on 25 metre spaced drill lines and primarily testing the top 50 metres of the system. This infill / grade control drilling is conducted to establish a mining inventory for the next stage open-pit development at Old Pirate and surrounding areas. Overall the drilling is consistent with previous results showing multiple mineralised structures through the Central Zone of variable width and grade. As is typical at Old Pirate, high-grade intercepts are interspersed with lower-grade intercepts principally due to statistical nugget effect and local variations in the geology (see section 'About Old Pirate Geology / Mineralisation below'). In areas where mineralisation was not intersected based on the interpreted geology (such as some deeper down-plunge projections of Old Pirate South), additional drilling is being carried out to test for offsets to mineralisation or variations in geometry.
The 2014 grade control data is now sufficiently complete to compare to previous work. As can be seen from the table below, on a grade basis, the current results are comparable to slightly better than previous results.
Drilling, with its small sample size, will generally under-call overall grade in a high-nugget effect or coarse gold system due to the uneven distribution of gold within the vein. As noted previously, it is common for ABM to drill a hole through known high grade veins and return low-grade results. Furthermore, ABM's drilling is carried out on 1 metre composite samples and assaying is not conducted to geological boundaries. If a vein is intersected spanning the 1 metre sample interval the grade is diluted by the surrounding country rock. For example, if a 1 metre wide vein exists at grade of 10g/t gold between 10.5 metres and 11.5 metres down hole it will produce two 1 metre assays at half of the grade of the vein (i.e. 2 metres at 5g/t from 10 to 12 metres). However, the gram metre calculation (g/t*width) will, for this example, be 10g/t*m and better reflect the grade of that vein.
During the trial mining in 2013, the Company conducted selective mining to geological contacts and thus limited dilution and was able to mine to less than 1 metre width in places. Surface / in trial pit grade control data was collected to geological boundaries and, in Table 1 in link below, has been composited to 1 metre widths to provide comparable weighting to the drilling intercepts. Based on the above grade control data and comparison with previous work, ABM believes that it will be able to mine Old Pirate to high grade geological contacts and vein boundaries and thus limiting mining dilution and the inherent dilution assumed in drilling.
Three dimensional modelling of the mineralised zones is on-going.
On-going work
Results following up on work at Old Glory extensions, Golden Hind extensions, Old Pirate South, and Central Zone (northern extensions) are still pending completion of assays and compilation. The Company is currently conducting sterilisation drilling on the areas designated for waste rock dumps and the drill rig will be returned to Old Pirate and extensions dependent on whether further drilling is deemed to be required.
to view all tables and diagrams, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ABU-685181.pdf
About ABM Resources NL:
ABM Resources (ASX:ABU) is an exploration Company developing several gold discoveries in the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Company has a multi-tiered approach to exploration and development with a combination of high-grade potentially short-term production scenarios such as the Old Pirate high-grade gold project, large scale discoveries such as Buccaneer, and regional exploration discoveries such as the Hyperion gold project.
In addition, ABM is committed to regional exploration programs throughout its extensive holdings including the alliance with Independence Group NL at the regional Lake Mackay Project, and the recently announced proposed divestment of the North Arunta projects to Clancy Exploration Ltd.
Contact:
ABM Resources NL
T: +61-8-9423-9777
F: +61-8-9423-9733
www.abmresources.com.au