FOURTH QUARTER ACTIVITIES REPORT
Period: 1 APRIL - 30 JUNE 2012
Release Date: 18 JULY 2012
The Directors of Gippsland Limited ('Gippsland' or
'the Company') [ASX: GIP, FRA: GIX] provide the
following Activities Report for the period April to June
2012, together with details of events up to the date of this
report.
HIGHLIGHTS
• First cassiterite shipment despatched from Abu Dabbab
Alluvial Project;
• Concentrate sales contract signed with Malaysia Smelting
Corporation Bhd;
• 5,000 metre reconnaissance RC drill programme to test
coincident VTEM and gravity anomalies in Eritrea has
commenced.
EGYPT - ABU DABBAB TANTALUM-TIN PROJECT Project Debt
Finance
Discussions with major banks and sovereign funds located in
the Middle East and North Africa region are ongoing.
Project Environmental Approvals
As reported previously, the updated Environmental Social Impact Assessment ('ESIA') has been submitted to the Shore Protection Agency and Ministry of Water and Irrigation for approval.
Abu Dabbab Alluvial Project
During the quarter, mining of the Wadi Quaria placer tin
deposit continued and whilst the ramp up to full production
has been slower than expected, the first product despatch
from the mine site was completed on Thursday 28 June
2012.
Also during the quarter, Gippsland's 50% owned subsidiary,
Tantalum Egypt JSC, entered into a contract with Malaysia
Smelting Corporation Bhd for the sale of tin concentrates
from the Abu Dabbab Alluvial Project.
It is likely that the project will receive its first revenue
from the June shipment in August, allowing for transit time
and payment terms, which is four months later than initially
expected, and therefore, the projected revenues used to
evaluate the economics of the project, as previously
disclosed, will be delayed by a similar period.
1 GIP - ASX Quarterly Apr - Jun 2012.docx
Details of the first shipment are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Shipping Details | |
Details | Amount |
Shipment number | 1 |
Jumbo bags | 12 |
Despatch date from site | 28 June 2012 |
Total wet mass | 9.0 |
Provisional grade, %Sn (*) | 65 |
* Grade of 46% was originally determined by averaging 9 Niton hand-held XRF readings for each of 12 bags containing 750kg concentrate/bag, and rounded down to zero decimal points. The final grade per the above table was determined by the independent superintendence laboratory using XRF.
ERITREA (ADOBHA PROJECT)
Gippsland's 100% owned subsidiary Adobha Resources (Eritrea)
Pty Ltd holds the Adobha Exploration Licence covering 2,100
km2 and the Gerasi South Exploration Licence
covering 100 km2 in the highly prospective
Adobha region in the State of Eritrea.
After successfully completing a programme of airborne
geophysics followed-up with gravity surveys, geochemical
surveys and geological mapping, the company identified a
number of favourable targets for drill testing. The drilling
programme, which was expected to have commenced in May, was
initially delayed due to the Eritrean authorities changing
the visa requirements for foreign drillers and technical
workers entering the country, and further delayed when a
drilling rig being mobilised to site was washed off a
causeway by a flash flood. The Company is pleased to advise
that there was no harm to Gippsland employees or contractors
as a result of the incident, and there is no repair cost to
Gippsland arising from the incident.
A replacement drilling rig was contracted and on 6 July the
Company announced that a drilling rig was being mobilised to
the Adobha Project site to commence drilling the Versatile
Time Domain Electro Magnetic system ('VTEM'), gravity and
geochemical targets. Despite some logistical difficulties
caused by the start of the wet season the drilling commenced
on the 13 July and is progressing well.
The drilling programme will involve up to 5,000 metres of
reconnaissance reverse circulation drilling to test
high-priority targets following the completion of a gravity
survey within the Adobha Project. The gravity survey was
conducted over twelve electromagnetic anomalies including six
high and medium to high ranked electromagnetic anomalies
previously identified from an airborne survey flown by
Geotech Airborne Limited using a VTEM during 2011. The
gravity survey results were particularly useful in more
closely defining the VTEM anomalies due to the difficulty in
distinguishing VTEM anomalies related to graphitic rock
types.
The drilling will comprise a series of inclined holes to
depths of 60 to 80m to test each of the anomalies. A Niton
portable XRF analyser has been purchased to enable onsite
base metal determinations to be made during the course of the
drilling in order to optimise the programme.
Geological mapping and drainage geochemical sampling is
continuing in other parts of the project area.
2 GIP ASX Qtrly Activities April - June 2012
CORPORATE
Sale of Unmarketable Parcels of Shares
As part of a capital management programme, during the
previous quarter Gippsland established a sale facility for
unmarketable parcels of Gippsland shares.
The sale process in relation to the unmarketable parcels was
completed in July and the sale proceeds have been sent to the
holders of the unmarketable parcels.
Ian Gandel Chairman Gippsland Limited
www.gippslandltd.com
For further information, please contact:
Geoff Hawkins
Gippsland Limited
T: +61 8 9340 6000
E: info@gippslandltd.com
Note:
In accordance with Listing Rule 5.6 of the Australian Stock Exchange Limited, the geological information in this report that relates to Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves is based on data compiled by Dr John Chisholm, a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Dr Chisholm has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit 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'. Dr Chisholm consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
3 GIP ASX Qtrly Activities April - June 2012
distributed by |