Zinc

[Lone Clone]

Three Australian zinc hopefuls get high grade drill hits

http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page36?oid=21357&sn=Detail

Three Western Australian junior companies this week reported high grade zinc drill intersections to give hope for a boost in this vast mining state’s limited zinc production.
Author: Ross Louthean
Posted: Thursday , 24 May 2007

PERTH -

Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) today detailed fresh drilling from shallow depths at its Emull zinc zone at the Red Billabong project in the East Kimberley region which has been a prime focus for the company.

Best results were 3 metres grading 9.58% zinc from 39m depth, including 2m at 13.75%, 3m at 7.06% from 45m, including 1m % 17.4%. Managing director Charles Wilkinson said the high grades were picked up within a broader envelope of 55m at 1.41% Zn, 0.36% copper, 0.12% lead and significant silver values.

Results from the remaining nine of a 13 drill hole programme were expected in two weeks - reflecting the backlog problem all Australian explorers, particularly in WA, are experiencing with overworked assay laboratories. Drilling also took place on the regional Lamboo platinum and Red Billabong North nickel prospects.

Wilkinson said these results were the first received from Northern Star's project for the 2007 programme.

High grade shoots at Emull are now known to be within a broadly-drilled mineralised zone 500m long and 50m wide.

Prairie Downs Metals Ltd (ASX: PDZ) has received assays from three of its RC holes in its 2007 programme at the Zed Lode at the Prairie Downs zinc prospect, 60 kilometres south west of the iron ore mining town of Newman in the Pilbara. Best hits were 6m at 8.5% zinc, 8.6% lead and 41.8 grams/tonne silver and 6m at 10.5% zinc, 7.9% lead and 35.4 g/t silver.

Managing director Mark Hansen said that to put these results into perspective, the existing resource at Prairie Downs is primarily hosted by Main Lode "which is evidently misnamed" and has a grade of 8.3% zinc, 1.7% lead and 22 g/t silver, with an average intersection width of 4.3m.

"Zed Lode is consistently of higher tenor," he said.

Hansen said the results bode well for underground mining, as the company has been advised the mineralisation is amenable to mechanised mining down to a width of 1.5m at 3.5% Zn.

The drilling programme should be completed by the end of this month and diamond drilling should re-commence in July. Zed Lode remains open in all directions and Prairie Downs Metals was encouraged by intersecting the Gabbro Lode below Zed in the eastern sector.

Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS) released new drill results from the Kultarr prospect at the Manindi zinc project - the largest of four deposits where there is already a resource of 603,130t at 7.66% Zn, which the company says was calculated in 2000 and does not include extensions found in 2006-07 drilling.

The best new intercept was 18.15m at 10.72% Zn, from 122m depth, including a 3m section at 27.57% and another of 2m at 16.3% Zn.

Manindi, formerly Freddie Well, is in the Yalgoo field - the same region that holds WA's big zinc-rich polymetallic mine Golden Grove, run by Oxiana Ltd.