Auckland, Oct 15, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Zedex Minerals Ltd (ASX:ZDX) (the Company) is pleased to announce that a recent independent consultant report on the geological potential of the Bau Gold Project has prioritised a number of prospective mineralization zones (external to the previously announced JORC resource of 1.304M oz gold) containing additional geological resource potential for 4.4 to 4.75M oz of gold (refer to annexed JORC statement). This assessment (by independent consulting geologist Murray Stevens, of New Zealand) was based on field work and comprehensive review of geology, structure, historic mining records, geochemical, geophysical and drilling data.
Estimation of the gold potential contained within (approximately 3.6M tonnes of auriferous mine tailings) held under an existing Mining Certificate is also currently in progress. It is expected that this resource estimate, coupled with continuing improvement in the validation and definition of mineralization within known deposits will allow a significant increase in the Bau Project JORC resource inventory to be announced during November.
During 2009, Zedex aims to examine the feasibility of generating early cash flow from certain zones that are considered amenable to low-capex development. Another prime 2009 objective will be to substantially increase the Bau Project JORC resource inventory through advanced exploration of known deposits and by capitalizing upon additional resource potential lying within the auriferous tailings and the mineralization zones specified in the Stevens report. The 2009 drilling programme will additionally include provision for large diameter (PQ) diamond drilling, designed to extract representative mineralization samples for definitive metallurgical test-work.
Diamond drilling (by external contractors) has now been concluded for 2008, and is scheduled to resume early in 2009. Since January 2008, 4,487.75 metres of diamond drilling have been completed in 37 multi-purpose drill holes, including: "scout" holes (to test newly identified zones), "step-out" holes (to test open-ended extensions of known deposits) and "in-fill" holes (to check historic assay results and allow upgrade of historic resources to JORC status).
Resource drilling during 2008 has been focused within and around three deposits (Jugan, Pejiru and Sirenggok), for which previously announced JORC resources are shown (by Sector) in the following table:
BAU GOLD PROJECT JORC STATUS RESOURCES (as at 10/10/08)
---------------------------------------------------------------SECTOR Tonnes Grade Cutoff Category Gold (Mt) (g/t Au)(g/t Au) (oz)---------------------------------------------------------------Sirenggok 7.185 1.23 0.75 Inferred 284,000Pejiru 8.576 2.24 1.00 Inferred 497,000Jugan (> RL-110m) 7.724 1.68 1.00 Indicated 417,000Jugan (RL-110 to -200m) 2.367 1.39 1.00 Inferred 106,000--------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 1,304,000---------------------------------------------------------------
Ongoing Bau project work during the balance of 2008 includes diamond drilling (using a small, company-owned rig), geological mapping, surface channel sampling, resource modeling, metallurgical studies and conceptual mining studies.
Background
The Bau Gold Project in Sarawak, East Malaysia comprises consolidated Mining and Exploration tenements that collectively cover 828 km2 of the most highly-prospective ground within the Bau Goldfield. Operating intermittently since 1864, the Bau goldfield has recorded 1.5 million oz gold production, estimated historic production of more than 3.0 million oz. Zedex holds majority interest and is operator of the Bau Gold Project Joint Venture.
Beyond the Bau Gold Project, the Joint Venture also holds a number of regional exploration tenements, covering 1,236.38 km2 of highly prospective, but relatively unexplored terrain in Sarawak. Exploration of these regional tenements is currently in progress.
JORC Statement
Scientific or technical information in this news release has been prepared under the supervision of Rod Murfitt, Chief Geologist of the Company and a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). Mr Murfitt has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation 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" (the JORC Code). Mr Murfitt consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.
The information in this report relating to the Bau JORC resource is based on information compiled by John Ashby who is a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and who is employed by Ashby Consultants Ltd. John Ashby has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to resource estimation 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." John Ashby consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on His information in the form and context in which it appears.
Geological resource potential is conceptual in nature and insufficient exploration has to date been completed to allow estimation of a mineral resource, as defined in the JORC code. It is uncertain whether further exploration will result in the determination of a mineral resource. The information in this report relating to Geological Resource Potential is based on information independently compiled and reported by Murray Stevens, who is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and who is employed by Stevens and Associates Ltd. Murray Stevens has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to resource estimation 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." Murray Stevens consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on His information in the form and context in which it appears.
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