Sunridge starts mining study, drills working at Asmara
2005-11-15 15:24 ET - News Release
Mr. Michael Hopley reports
SUNRIDGE GOLD ANNOUNCES THE COMMENCEMENT OF A CONCEPTUAL MINE PLAN FOR DEBARWA VMS MAIN ZONE
Sunridge Gold Corp. has commenced a conceptual mining study at the Debarwa VMS Main zone. All four contracted rigs are now operating at the Asmara project, Eritrea.
Conceptual mine plan
Sunridge has selected Beacon Hill Consultants 1988 Ltd. to complete a conceptual mining plan for the high-grade copper and gold Debarwa project, part of the Asmara project, Eritrea. Beacon Hill is a Vancouver-based consulting company with 20 years experience in the industry that has previously conducted similar studies for many companies and has also completed studies for such companies as Barrick Chile Ltda. and Teck Corp. Work has already commenced on the study, which is scheduled to be completed by February, 2006. The conceptual mine study will examine many aspects of the Debarwa project, including the geological model and resources, conceptual engineering and mine plan, metallurgy and mineral-processing options, capital and operating costs, financial analysis as well as environmental baseline data collection. Beacon Hill will also evaluate the possibility of fast-tracking Debarwa into production to benefit from the rise in commodity prices, the exceptionally high grades and the excellent infrastructure at the Asmara project. The Debarwa project has a paved road and power lines that link the project to the capital city of Asmara, 30 kilometres to the north.
The Beacon Hill study will focus on two areas known as Debarwa Main, which has been drilled to 20-metre centres over a strike length of 250 metres, and Debarwa South, on which Sunridge and joint-venture partner, Sub-Sahara Resources NL, completed over 14,000 metres of detailed definition drilling in 2004. Management of Sunridge believes that the size of the Debarwa deposit can be significantly expanded particularly along strike to the north and south and down dip.
25,000-metre drill program
Sunridge has contracted four drill rigs to complete a 25,000-metre drill program over the next several months. Two drill rigs are operating at the Debarwa high-grade copper-gold volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) area and two are operating at the Adi Nefas high-grade zinc-copper-gold VMS.
The Debarwa Main zone will be the immediate focus of the conceptual mine plan due to its exceptionally high grades and the current commodity prices. The purpose of this drill program is to test the potential strike extensions of the main zone to the north for 200 metres, to the south for 700 metres and to depth. In addition, several other gravity anomalies in close proximity to Debarwa Main zone will be tested. A minimum of 5,000 metres is budgeted for these areas with the objective of expanding the current zone of mineralization and testing the anomalies for new discovery potential.
Drilling this year at Adi Nefas has outlined a zone of high-grade mineralization over approximately 350 metres of strike length and to 225 metres in depth. Two drill rigs are working at Adi Nefas to test the potential strike extensions for one kilometre to the south, 700 metres to the north and to depth.
As part of this exploration/development program, several other targets will be tested, including the high-priority Emba Derho and Kodado VMS targets, where gossans are exposed over 700 metres in length at surface. Outcropping gossans have been the key indicator for VMS discoveries in Eritrea such as Debarwa, Adi Nefas and Nevsun's Bisha project.
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