28 August 2006
BLAIR NICKEL MINE – EXPLORATION UPDATE
High grade nickel extension of Area 57 Orebody
Following the positive results, an underground diamond drilling programme has commenced to define the limits of the new lode.
General background
Geological background
Yours faithfully
AUSTRALIAN MINES LIMITED
Brett Young
Chief Operating Officer
BLAIR NICKEL MINE – EXPLORATION UPDATE
High grade nickel extension of Area 57 Orebody
Australian Mines Limited (ASX: AUM) is pleased to announce the latest results of exploration at its Blair Nickel mine, near Kalgoorlie, WA.
Recent exploration development along strike and outside the previous ore reserve limits on the Area 57 Orebody at the 1033 level has indicated:
Recent exploration development along strike and outside the previous ore reserve limits on the Area 57 Orebody at the 1033 level has indicated:
- 20 metres of massive nickel ore grading 6% developed to date.
- true widths of the ore body range from 0.8 to 1.5 metres.
- the new ore lode extension is open in 3 directions.
Following the positive results, an underground diamond drilling programme has commenced to define the limits of the new lode.
General background
The Blair Mine currently is producing ore from three sources, being the L01C Shoot at the 900m level, the Blair Deeps lodes and Area 57 from 1033m RL (320m below surface). The latter appears to be a new ore system that was found by exploration development along strike from the Area 57 orebody. There has been no previous diamond drilling or mining in this area.
The exploration level has to date driven horizontally for 20 metres along potentially a primary open contact massive nickel orebody and as such, may represent a significant exploration success for the company.
The main Blair Shoots have to date been mined to a vertical depth of 930 metres. It is possible that the exploration drive may have found ore which has the potential to be a long term source at shallow depth.
Geological background
The 1033 exploration sublevel has currently driven 20 metres of massive ore in a classical Kambalda style hanging wall open contact position at the base of the second ultramafic flow. The massive nickel ore is positioned on a sediment footwall and has a high MgO ultramafic hanging wall.
By comparison the Area 57 Orebody is considered to be re-mobilised, as it is positioned at the base of the second ultramafic flow, but has a sediment footwall and a sediment hanging wall. This suggests that ore from a primary position could have been remobilised along a fault, and then deposited inside the sediment package
In simple terms, the exploration drive may have found the primary ore source of Area 57 and remains open in 3 directions.
Future Exploration
The plan is to explore the new ore position by the following means:
(a) The airleg exploration drive will be continued.
(b) Exploration diamond drilling has commenced.
(c) Down Hole EM surveys will be conducted.
The Directors are excited by these exploration results, as it has potential to provide a further ore source at a shallow depth. This high grade ore would be additional to ore being produced from the L01C Shoot and the Blair Deeps.
Yours faithfully
AUSTRALIAN MINES LIMITED
Brett Young
Chief Operating Officer
The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr. E Poole who is a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Poole is employed as Exploration Manager of Australian Mines Ltd . Mr. Poole has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.’
Figure 1: Area 57 and current production Areas at the Blair Mine
Figure 2: Area 57 Orebody and Exploration drive in massive ore
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