SPARTAN RESOURCES LIMITED 57 139 522 900
TECHNICAL:
During the quarter, progress was made on development studies and an aggressive regional exploration drilling programme at the Dalgaranga Gold Project commenced. Progress is summarised below:
Dalgaranga ProjectA Pre-Feasibility study for the project is on schedule for completion in the March quarter. The study is investigating development of a 2.5Mtpa processing facility onsite, producing ~100,000ozpa for 6-7 years from two open pits.
The first phase of the study involved additional resource drilling around the Gilbeys deposit. The RC and diamond drilling intersected numerous mineralised zones including:
39.9m @ 2.0 g/t gold incl. 9.5m @ 3.9 g/t (incl. 0.5m @ 48.4g/t)
26m @ 1.5 g/t gold, incl. 14m @ 1.7 g/t
- 13m @ 2.7 g/t gold from 46m, incl. 5m @ 5.6 g/
The Gilbeys Resource was updated to include the additional data which resulted in a 35% increase in the Resource to
23.0 Mt @ 1.4 g/t for 1.02 million ounces, of which 50% is classified at Measured and Indicated.An aggressive regional exploration programme was also undertaken with ~10,000m of aircore drilling and a further 1,100m of RC drilling completed at the Golden Wings deposit.
As a result of this exploration, a mineralised shear zone has been discovered at the Hendricks prospect, 3 km east of the Gilbeys shear. The discovery hole intersected 11m @ 2.2 g/t gold from 36m to the end of hole. The shear is untested for 800m to the south.
To date approximately 50% of the results from the regional exploration programme have been received. Assay results for the last 50% of the aircore drilling are expected in the early February, as are the RC drilling results from the Golden Wings deposit.
Subsequent to the end of the quarter, an optimisation study was completed on the updated resource. This study concluded that a 2.5Mtpa operation could be sustained at Dalgaranga producing approximately 100,000ozpa for 6-7 years.
The PFS is continuing based on the expanded production target and is on schedule for completion in the March quarter.
During the quarter, the preparation and submission of the Mining Proposal (MP) for the Glenburgh project was completed. The MP is a key permitting obligation that must be approved before a mining development can commence.
Geochemical drilling of a structural target was also completed with results expected in February 2016.
CORPORATE:
The Company completed a private placement raising $2.52 million before costs. The funds were raised to accelerate exploration and the Dalgaranga Pre-Feasibility Study.
At the end of the quarter, the Company's cash reserves were $2.2 million.
CORPORATE DETAILS
ASX Code: GCY
Shares: 206M Share Price: 17.5c Market Cap: $36 M
ASSETS
Cash: $2.2M
Glenburgh (100%) 1.0M oz Gold Dalgaranga (80%) 1.02M oz Gold Egerton (100%) 24,000oz Gold
BOARD
Non-Executive Chairman Mike Joyce
Managing Director Michael Dunbar
Non-Executive Directors John den Dryver Gordon Dunbar Graham Riley
Stan Macdonald
CONTACT DETAILS
Telephone: +61 8 9481 3434
Facsimile: +61 8 9481 0411
Email:admin@gascoyneresources.com.au Web: www.gascoyneresources.com.au
REVIEW OF OPERATIONS
Details of the exploration progress during the quarter include:
Dalgaranga ProjectE59/1709, 1904, 1905, 1906, M59/749 & L 59/141 & 142, ELA21/184 - 80% Gascoyne & ELA59/2150 - 100% Gascoyne
The quarter was a particularly busy one at Dalgaranga with an RC and diamond drilling programme, a Resource update for the Gilbeys deposit, and a 10,000m regional exploration drilling programme all completed during the quarter. On top of the exploration and resource activities, the Pre-Feasibility Study is ongoing with key consultants appointed during the quarter and preliminary outcomes of the pit optimisation study being released in mid-January 2016.
Exploration Activities:
As announced during the quarter, (see ASX releases 7th, 8th and 13th of October 2015) the RC and Diamond tail drillholes were completed as part of a programme designed to test the continuity of the gold mineralisation immediately below and along strike from the existing Gilbeys Open pit and to test potential resource extensions in poorly drilled areas within the proposed pit design.
The drilling intersected visible gold within broad zones of mineralisation both at depth and along strike of the existing Gilbeys Open cut (see Figure 3). Intersections included:
39.9m @ 2.0 g/t gold incl. 9.5m @ 3.9 g/t (incl. 0.5m @ 48.4g/t)
26m @ 1.5 g/t gold, incl. 14m @ 1.7 g/t
34m @ 1.0 g/t gold, and 5.15m @ 1.3g/t gold
13m @ 2.7 g/t gold from 46m, incl. 5m @ 5.6 g/t
21m @ 1.5 g/t gold incl. 10m @ 2.1 g/t gold
15m @ 1.5 g/t gold and 3m @ 4.0 g/t gold
Following the resource drilling mentioned above, the Gilbeys resource estimate was updated during the quarter (see ASX announcement 4th November). The combined Dalgaranga Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource now stands at
23.0 Mt @ 1.4 g/t gold for 1.02Moz of gold, of which 21.8 Mt @ 1.4 g/t gold for 949,000oz is within the Gilbeys deposit (see Figure 2)
Modelling and estimation has been completed by RungePincockMinarco Limited, an external and independent global mining consultancy (see Table 1&2 for Mineral Resource classification).
A regional 10,000m aircore exploration drill programme was also undertaken during the quarter. The drilling programme has been designed to test multiple high priority targets in the vicinity of the 1Moz Resource base at Dalgaranga which have the potential, with further exploration, to lead to additional discoveries and future Mineral Resource growth.
This drilling has resulted in the discovery of a mineralised shear zone approximately 3km east of the Gilbeys shear zone at the Hendricks prospect. The southern most line of drilling across the interpreted shear intersected 11m @ 2.2g/t gold from 36m to the end of hole (see Figure 4 and ASX release 13th January 2016)
To date approximately 50% of the assay results from the 10,000m of airore drilling have been received, with the remainder expected in early February.
Further infill and step out RC drilling aimed at converting the majority of the Golden Wings Resource to Indicated Resource status was also completed in December. Results from this drilling are also expected to be received in within the next week and a updated Resource estimate for Golden Wings will follow shortly thereafter.
Pre-Feasibility Study Activities:
Substantial progress has been made on a number of key aspects of the project including pit optimisations and process plant design (see ASX Release 19th January for full details). The study is on schedule for completion in the March quarter.
Pit Optimisation Update:
CSA Global Pty Ltd (CSA Global), an independent mining consultancy, has undertaken a number of pit optimisations to determine the prefered production rate as well as to provide a guide for overall project economics.
The opimisation study has identified that the project can sustain a substantially larger production rate than the 1.5Mtpa throughput originally anticipated in the 2015 Scoping Study. The optimisations were run at 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 Mtpa using a A$1,500 gold price and preliminary costs adjusted for scale, based on the recently updated Gilbeys Resource and the existing (soon to be updated) Golden Wings Resource. The optimisations have also taken into account the geotechnical data recently obtained from the historical Dalgaranga mine and historical production records.
The optimisations indicate that the project can sustain a production rate of between 2.0 and 3.0Mtpa, with projected production betweeen 80,000 and 115,000 ounces per annum for between 6 and 7 years. Over the life of mine, production of this scale would result in between 584,000 and 712,000 ounces falling within the A$1,470 pit shell.
A production rate around 2.5Mtpa (for ~100,000ozpa) is considered by CSA Global to be most appropriate for the project.
Process Plant Studies
The Company has also appointed Mintrex as process plant engineers for the Pre Feasibility Study. Mintrex are working on the design as well as the capital and operating cost models for the project.
Mintrex has a history with Dalgaranga with a number of the key team members being involved in modifications to the original 1990's process plant design and its move to Kirkalocka. Additionally Mintrex has a history of designing simple process plants that have proven themselves to operate efficiently while also being considerably less capital intensive than other designs. As evidenced by the design and construction of the process plants for Regis Resources. Mintrex have designed all three of Regis' process plants with a combined capacity of around 10Mtpa.
The plant design for Dalgaranga will be based on Regis Resources's Moolart Well and Rosemount processing plants.
Type | Measured | Indicated | Inferred | Total | ||||||||
tonnes | Au | Au | tonnes | Au | Au | tonnes | Au | Au | tonnes | Au | Au | |
Mt | g/t | Ounces | Mt | g/t | Ounces | Mt | g/t | Ounces | Mt | g/t | Ounces | |
Laterite | 0.2 | 1.7 | 13,000 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 13,000 | ||||||
Oxide | 0.4 | 1.8 | 20,000 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 42,000 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 19,000 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 80,000 |
Transitional | 0.3 | 1.8 | 14,000 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 25,000 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 10,000 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 49,000 |
Fresh | 1.8 | 1.3 | 74,000 | 7.5 | 1.3 | 322,000 | 11.1 | 1.3 | 481,000 | 20.4 | 1.3 | 877,000 |
Total | 2.4 | 1.4 | 108,000 | 9.0 | 1.4 | 401,000 | 11.6 | 1.4 | 509,000 | 23.0 | 1.4 | 1,019,000 |
Note: Totals may differ due to rounding Mineral Resources reported on a dry basis
Gilbeys Resource - October 2015 (0.5g/t and 1.0g/t cut-off) and Golden Wings Resource June 2015 (1.0 g/t cut-off)
Type | Measured | Indicated | Inferred | Total | ||||||||
tonnes | Au | Au | tonnes | Au | Au | tonnes | Au | Au | tonnes | Au | Au | |
Mt | g/t | Ounces | Mt | g/t | Ounces | Mt | g/t | Ounces | Mt | g/t | Ounces | |
Oxide | 0.4 | 1.8 | 20,000 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 18,000 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 16,000 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 54,000 |
Transitional | 0.3 | 1.8 | 14,000 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 15,000 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 4,000 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 33,000 |
Fresh | 1.8 | 1.3 | 74,000 | 7.4 | 1.3 | 316,000 | 10.9 | 1.3 | 472,000 | 20.2 | 1.3 | 862,000 |
Total | 2.4 | 1.4 | 108,000 | 8.1 | 1.3 | 349,000 | 11.2 | 1.4 | 492,000 | 21.8 | 1.4 | 949,000 |
Note: Totals may differ due to rounding Mineral Resources reported on a dry basis
Figure One: Gascoyne Resources Project Locations in the Gascoyne and Murchison Regions
Gascoyne Resources Ltd. issued this content on 29 January 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 29 January 2016 05:01:37 UTC
Original Document: http://www.gascoyneresources.com.au/assets/Uploads/December-2015-Quarterly-Report2.pdf
