Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC), a nickel-copper sulphide mineral exploration and resource development company focused on its Kun-Manie project in the Russian Far East, has today provided an update on its drill results for the Kubuk (“KUB”) deposit.
Drill results from 30 June 2017 through to 21 July 2017 continue to expand the resource westward towards the Ikenskoe / Sobolevsky (“IKEN”) deposit. Drilling, at a spacing used by RPMGlobal Asia Limited (“RPM”) to identify Indicated resources, has extended the 10 February 2017 resource limits in both the strike and dip directions. The newly defined mineralisation has an average thickness per drill hole (10) of 14.3 metres (21.5 metres – resource model) averaging 0.78% nickel (0.80% – resource model) and 0.20% copper (0.20% – resource model). This newly defined mineralisation has the potential to significantly expand the underground mining potential at Kubuk.
Highlights:
· Successful resource expansion drilling continues at KUB.
· Spatially, the limits of the mineralisation by now have been expanded by approximately 50% from that of the 10 February 2017 resource model, which contains 14.5 million ore tonnes and a total of 112,000 nickel tonnes (at 0.77%) and 30,000 tonnes of copper (at 0.20%). Mineralisation averages approximately 20 metres in thickness.
· The newly defined mineralisation averages approximately 14.3 metres thickness per ore hole with average grades of 0.78% nickel and 0.20% copper having been identified.
· Two substantial targets remain undrilled, each containing substantial resource expansion potential.
· To the west of KUB, the largest existing drill target, having a total length of 2,500 metres, is present. Successful drilling along this target could result in the joining of the IKEN and KUB deposits to create a single large deposit of more than four kilometres in total length.
· The second target lies to the east of KUB, identified by geochemical sampling and trenching, this one kilometre long target area also requires drilling.
· In the near future, drilling will likely shift to the eastern target to allow for the continued safe construction of drill roads and drill pads located at the western limits of the newly defined mineral limits. Once completed, and safe operating conditions are established, the focus of drilling will shift back to the western target.
· Infill drilling of the currently defined Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 10.9 million tonnes averaging 0.74% nickel and 0.20% copper has been completed. Eight infill holes have defined an average of 0.80% nickel and 0.27% copper at an average thickness of 22.6 metres per ore hole. The infill drilling is intended to convert the Inferred resource to Indicated.
The ongoing resource expansion drill phase at KUB has been highly successful with probable conversion of Inferred resource to that of Indicated and the identification of additional contiguous economic grades of mineralisation being identified in both the eastern and western directions from the 10 February 2017 resource model.
Drilling continues at the IKEN deposit progressing eastward toward the KUB deposit. Results from the IKEN drill programme are reported in separate RNS releases.
Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals Corporation, commented: “We are pleased with the continued progress at Kun-Manie. Drilling at Kubuk continues to identify new resources of economic grade. Having added additional resource potential, at both the eastern and western limits of deposit, and having drilled them at a spacing used to define Indicated resources, we are pleased to be adding to the mining potential of Kun-Manie. We believe we have added as much as another three years to our production through resource conversion to Indicated resource and newly defined mineralisation.
”Substantial resource expansion potential remains at both ends of the Kubuk deposit. More than 3,000 metres of target length remains to be drilled, with the largest potential being located in the west toward our Ikenskoe / Sobolevsky deposit. Drilling at Ikenskoe / Sobolevsky is also underway and we look forward to updating the market with these results in the near future.”
