Adelaide, Oct 5, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Directors of Discovery Nickel Limited (ASX: DNL) are pleased to announce the initial results from the continuing 6000m diamond drill program on the Maun Copper Project in NW Botswana.
Highlights
- Visible chalcocite copper mineralisation has been intersected in all ten holes completed to date.
- Three infill drill holes have been completed within the Zeta Inferred Copper Resource (formerly called G Grid South) which has a previously announced JORC compliant Inferred Resource of 20Mt @ 1.2% Cu.
- Historical RC drill hole GRC005 has been redrilled with diamond drill hole GD052-06 which intersected 10m @ 0.38% Cu & 5.41 g/t Ag in comparison to the historical intersection of 10m @ 0.25% Cu & 1.42 g/t Ag (a 52% increase in copper grade).
- The result from hole GD052-06 suggests that the historical RC drill holes drilled by previous explorers within the Zeta Copper Resource may be underestimating the copper grade.
- Seven holes have been completed at P Grid (10km to the north of Zeta) following up from an earlier historical copper intersection of 15m @ 2.2% Cu in drill hole PR4. The copper mineralisation intersected in PR4 has been extended for over 900m of strike length (grade is currently unknown because assays are pending) and is still open to the NE and SW.
Maun Copper Project Diamond Drill Program
DNL commenced a 6000m diamond drill program on the 14 th of August on the Maun Copper Project. The main objectives of this drill program are to extend the existing Zeta Inferred Copper Resource to the SW, investigate the potential underestimation of the copper grade at Zeta by previous explorers, complete drilling at P Grid to allow the definition of an Inferred Resource and to test six exploration targets.
Discovery's Managing Director, Mr Jeremy Read, said that the initial drill results from both the Zeta Inferred Copper Resource infill drilling and the drilling at P Grid were very encouraging.
"We have intersected copper chalcocite mineralisation in all ten holes completed to date and the mineralisation widths have exceeded our initial expectations," Mr Read said.
"The mineralisation at P Grid is interesting as we have now extended the mineralisation previously intersected in historical RC hole PR4, which returned 15m @ 2.2% Cu from 24m, to over 900m of strike length and the mineralisation is still open to the NE and SW. However, we don't know the copper grade yet as assays are pending" he said.
Zeta Inferred Copper Resource
A total of three holes have been completed at the Zeta Inferred Copper Resource to date. Twenty holes are planned to be drilled at Zeta in order to extend the currently defined Inferred Resource to the SW and to infill within the existing boundary of the Inferred Resource.
An important component of the infill drilling at Zeta is to investigate the possibility that RC drilling completed at Zeta by a previous exploration company has underestimated the grade of the copper mineralisation. Historical RC drill hole GRC005, which intersected 10m @ 0.25% Cu & 1.42 g/t Ag, has been redrilled with diamond drill hole GD052-06 which intersected 10m @ 0.38% Cu & 5.41 g/t Ag.
While only limited conclusions can be drawn from the redrilling of one historical RC hole, the results from hole GD052-06 indicate that the historical RC holes drilled at Zeta may have underestimated the grade of the copper mineralisation.
P Grid
Eleven holes will be drilled at P Grid, approximately 10km to the north of the Zeta Inferred Copper Resource, in order to investigate the strike continuity of copper-silver mineralisation previously intersected in drill hole PR4. PR4 was an RC drill hole which returned an intersection of 15m @ 2.2% Cu from 24m depth. The eleven holes will test 2.2 kilometres of strike length extending NE and SW from PR4. To date seven holes have been completed at P Grid and chalcocite mineralisation varying in thickness from 6m to 15m has been intersected, mostly at shallow depths (Table One). Indications are that the P Grid mineralisation comes to surface and dips at 45-50 o to the NW suggesting that a good percentage of the P Grid mineralisation has the potential to be extracted via an open pit.
Timing of Results
A second drill rig has been mobilised to on to the project and drilling is now being conducted 24 hours per day at both the Zeta Inferred Copper Resource and at P Grid. The release of geochemical results from the first four holes completed at P Grid is expected within the next month. Drilling at P Grid should be completed by the end of October and drilling at the Zeta Inferred Copper resource should be completed before the end of November. DNL is anticipating the release of an Inferred Resource at P Grid prior to the end of 2006.
Contact
Kevin Skinner
Senior Consultant
FIELD PUBLIC RELATIONS
231 South Road
MILE END SA 5031
Tel: (08) 8234 9555
Fax: (08) 8234 9566
Mob: 0414 822 631
kevin@fieldpr.com.au
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