12 August 2013
AMUR MINERALS CORPORATION
(AIM: AMC)
Kubuk Drilling Update
Kubuk Upgraded to Resource Deposit
All Kubuk Drill Holes Intersect Mineralisation
Amur Minerals Corporation ("Amur" or the "Company"), a nickel-copper sulphide mineral exploration and resource development company focused on the far east of Russia, is pleased to provide an update on its 2013 drill progress at its Kubuk deposit located within the Kun-Manie licence area.
Highlights:
· As at 2 August 2013, all 21 diamond core holes have intersected nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation at Kubuk.
· These holes have identified a continuously mineralised body of least 750 metres in length (along strike) and approximately 350 metres in width (in the dip direction) having an average thickness of 30 metres containing average nickel grades of 0.66% and 0.32% for copper.
· As a result, the Company has upgraded the Kubuk area from an exploration target to that of a deposit suitable for open cast mining, making Kubuk the fifth resource deposit drilled by the Company to date.
· The deposit could add substantially to the SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK") total Kun-Manie resource of 527,000 tonnes of nickel announced 30 July 2013.
· The Company will continue to drill a 1 kilometre long area of the 2.5 kilometere long geochemical anomaly during the remainder of this field season.
· Subsequent to the completion of the drill programme, the Company will undertake a resource and reserve assessment of the Kubuk deposit for inclusion in the resource inventory which already exceeds a half million tonnes of contained nickel.
Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals, commented:
"Kubuk is the fifth deposit we have drilled at Kun-Manie and lies within the area for which we have applied for the mining licence. In just eight short weeks, we have defined a continuous mineralised area of three quarters of a kilometre in length that contains substantial amounts of nickel and copper leaving more than one and a half kilometres of geochemical anomaly untested by drilling. The drilled mineralisation appears to be conducive to open cast mining with thicknesses that approach those we have previously drilled at Maly Kurumkon. Our progress at Kubuk is highly encouraging and we still have upside potential to expand this area as we have not yet encountered any limits to the mineral zone within our drill programme. This year's drilling should substantially increase our resource inventory which is already over the billion pounds of nickel mark."
Drill results
A total of 21 diamond core holes containing 3,942.7 drilled metres have been completed along 7 drill sections spaced approximately 100 metres apart. Based on analytical results, 20 of the holes have intersected a total of 606 metres of nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation. The analytical results are comprised of a combination of Alex Stewart Laboratories ("ASL") and the Company's Niton XL2 500 X-Ray Fluoresence unit ("RFA") analyses. The results for the 21st hole were not available for this announcement however it was noted that the sulphide mineralisation that typically hosts the nickel and copper was geologically logged within the hole.
Deposit wide, each hole contains an average of 30.3 metres of mineral within one or more discrete intervals. The average thickness per mineralised interval is 12.4 metres which is suitable for open cast mining. The average intercepted nickel grade is 0.66% with copper being 0.32% based on a nickel cut off grade of 0.20%. The indicated grades are higher than those defined at the Ikenskoe and Maly Kurumkon deposits.
Plus 1.0% nickel intervals are also present within 11 of the 20 holes. The average thickness of the intersected high grade intervals is 3.3 metres. Often holes contain 2 or more high grade intervals with the total combined average thickness of high grade per hole approaching 8.2 metres. The average nickel content based on the 1.0% nickel cut off grade is 1.3% with copper being 0.2%.
Previously, the Company noted that the mineralisation dipped shallowly and drilling since then has confirmed that the deposit dip ranges from flat lying to 30 degrees along the 750 metre long drilled area. The thickest intercepts range up to 60 metres and are located at the western limits of the area that has thus far been drilled. The near surface location and orientation of the drilled mineralisation represents an open cast mining target.
The limits of the mineralisation have not yet been defined in any direction thereby indicating that there is potential to further expand the size of the Kubuk deposit beyond that which has been drilled to date.
Trenching has also been conducted; one trench in particular is located 750 metres to the east of the last drill holes and has intersected 27.7 metres of 0.47% nickel and 0.21% copper. Additional work is required to determine if this trench is testing the same mineralised structure that is presently being drilled.
Drilling will continue at Kubuk through the remainder of this season and will be focused on step out drilling to establish the lateral limits of the mineralisation. Metallurgical and confirmation twin drill holes have already been identified and will also be completed.
Enquiries:
Company Amur Minerals Corp. |
Nomad and Broker S.P. Angel Finance |
Public Relations Yellow Jersey |
Robin Young CEO |
Ewan Leggat Laura Littley |
Dominic Barretto Anna Legge |
+44 (0) 7981 126 818 |
+44 (0) 20 3463 2260 |
+44 (0) 77 6853 7739 |
Notes to Editor
Available for view on www.amurminerals.com are drawings of drill results accumulated to date within the Company's Kun-Manie licence area at Kubuk. Please use the following link in your web browser to access these drawings:
Web link: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4186L_-2013-8-9.pdf
The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by the CEO of Amur, Robin Young. Mr. Young is a Geological Engineer (cum laude) and is a Qualified Professional Geologist, as defined by the Toronto and Vancouver Stock Exchanges.
Kubuk Drill Programme Update Effective 2 August 2013
In eight weeks, the Company has drill identified and confirmed that nickel sulphide mineralisation is continuous through the entire 750 metre long area that has been drilled to date. The area covered by drilling is located adjacent to historical trenches where mineralisation had been exposed. Currently, drilling covers an area 750 metres in length along strike and up to 350 metres down dip from the out crops of mineral exposed in the trenches. Within this year's drill programme, the Company plans to drill along approximately 1 kilometre of the 2.5 kilometre geochemical anomaly defined at Kubuk adjacent the trenches and down dip.
On 3 July 2013, the Company announced results from the first 12 diamond core drill holes. Analytical results available for 10 of these 12 holes identified that the mineralisation was of a thickness, grade and orientation suitable for open cast mining. As a result of the highly positive results, the Company modified the field season's drill programme and undertook the decision to focus the year's drill programme on a 1 kilometre long segment of the Kubuk area to identify the extent of the mineralisation. Since then, an additional 9 holes have been completed bringing the total number of holes to 21, with 20 presently having analytical results for nickel and copper.
Thus far, a series of 7 drill sections spaced at 100 metre intervals have been drilled. Typically each drilled section contains a minimum of 2 holes. Based on this density of drilling, the Company no longer considers Kubuk to be an exploration target but is rather a substantial continuously mineralised near flat lying structure that should contribute to the resource inventory reported from 4 deposits on 30 July 2013. Upon receipt of the comprehensive drill results at the end of the field season, a resource estimate will be compiled for this fifth deposit and should increase the resource beyond that of 527,000 tonnes of contained nickel reported 30 July 2013.
The analytical results for the first 20 holes indicate that the average mineralised thickness per drill hole is 30 metres containing an average nickel grade of 0.66% and 0.32% copper. Often holes contain multiple mineralised intervals having more than one zone where the thicknesses are suitable for open cast mining. On an interval basis, the average thickness is 12.4 metres. High grade intervals in excess of 1.0% are also present and average 3.3 metres per intercept. The average grade of nickel is 1.3% and for copper is 0.23% within these high grade intervals.
Analysis for nickel and copper using the Company's RFA unit located at its sample preparation facility on site is completed on all drill core as a first step and presently provides the majority of the information presented within this announcement. The RFA results are considered to be preliminary in nature and are used to select intervals for final assaying by the independent laboratory of ASL located in Moscow, Russia. The ASL results are considered to be the final value of contained metal and are used in resource estimation.
The information provided in this announcement covers 20 holes of which 5 have final analytical results reported by ASL. A comparison of the RFA and ASL results for the 5 holes confirms that RFA and ASL results are mutually supportive and release of the RFA information can be considered as representative of the anticipated ASL final results. For the 5 holes, the reported RFA average mineralised thickness was 39.0 metres while that of ASL was 37.3 metres. The average RFA nickel grade for the 5 holes was reported to be 0.8% with the ASL value being 0.82%, nearly identical.
The Company intends to drill the remainder of this field season at Kubuk. The prime area and objective of the programme is to define the extent of the mineralisation along one kilometre in length and the extent of the mineralisation down dip. Drill density will be increased during the effort making the drill hole data set suitable for reporting resources and the contained metal within the area. Additional trenches will be excavated along strike to the east and west of the drill area to identify the presence of the mineralised structure along strike. One trench has already identified a mineralised zone where 27.7 metres of mineralisation has been sampled having an average nickel grade of 0.47%. This trench is located approximately 750 metres east of the drill area.
At the bottom of this statement, the results from ASL and the RFA unit are provided as are the discrete intervals of higher grades in excess of 1.0%. In addition, a link is provided here for accompanying updated schematics of the Kubuk drill progress: www.amurminerals.com
The Accuracy and Acceptability of RFA Results
The Company cautions readers on the accuracy and acceptability of its Niton XL2 500 X-Ray Fluoresence unit ("RFA") derived results. Even though geological examination of the drill core has confirmed that the host structure is present, definitive analytical results will be attained when certified laboratory analyses are provided by Alex Stewart Laboratories (ALS). The results derived from the RFA at site are considered to be preliminary but within the range of acceptable accuracy for selecting the limits of the mineralised zones and defining the potential grade of the samples tested.
Procedures include calibration of the unit at the beginning and end of each shift, a manufacturer set of standards are checked to verify proper reporting and that there was no drift during the course of the shift. In addition and for the purpose of additional quality control, ASL derived results from previous and on-going assaying programmes are checked using the RFA unit. The Company updates its control sample set using newly acquired sample results from ASL. During 2012, the difference between the RFA unit and ASL were within 10% of one another.
The reported values provided in this statement have been given an accuracy of one significant digit due to the potential variability of the unit. Final certified ALS results may differ from those reported in this statement.
Kubuk Drill Core Results
Diamond Core Hole Results |
Diamond Core Hole Results |
0.2% Ni Cut Off Grade |
1.0% Ni Cut Off Grade |
Hole # |
From |
To |
Length (m) |
Ni% |
Cu% |
From |
To |
Length (m) |
Ni% |
Cu% |
ASL Final Laboratory Results |
C234 |
13.0 |
34.5 |
21.5 |
0.47 |
0.15 |
39.0 |
40.5 |
1.5 |
1.07 |
0.22 |
C234 |
37.5 |
48.0 |
10.5 |
0.55 |
0.13 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C234-1 |
12.0 |
13.5 |
1.5 |
0.24 |
0.07 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C234-1 |
18.0 |
45.0 |
27.0 |
0.72 |
0.17 |
21.0 |
22.5 |
1.5 |
1.07 |
0.22 |
|
24.0 |
28.5 |
4.5 |
1.35 |
0.26 |
33.0 |
36.0 |
3.0 |
1.14 |
0.25 |
C234-1 |
46.5 |
48.0 |
1.5 |
0.48 |
0.11 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C235 |
35.5 |
47.5 |
12.0 |
0.77 |
0.22 |
40.0 |
44.5 |
4.5 |
1.18 |
0.33 |
C235 |
52.0 |
61.8 |
9.8 |
0.73 |
0.29 |
58.0 |
61.8 |
3.8 |
1.27 |
0.25 |
C235 |
62.5 |
64.0 |
1.5 |
0.28 |
0.06 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C236 |
18.0 |
60.0 |
42.0 |
0.85 |
0.20 |
21.0 |
24.0 |
3.0 |
1.37 |
0.26 |
|
25.2 |
30.0 |
4.8 |
1.15 |
0.24 |
34.5 |
36.0 |
1.5 |
1.18 |
0.36 |
37.5 |
43.5 |
6.0 |
1.34 |
0.28 |
52.5 |
54.0 |
1.5 |
1.11 |
0.31 |
57.0 |
58.2 |
1.2 |
1.27 |
0.28 |
C237 |
46.0 |
56.5 |
10.5 |
0.83 |
0.19 |
49.9 |
53.5 |
3.6 |
1.41 |
0.28 |
C237 |
59.5 |
88.5 |
29.0 |
1.22 |
0.32 |
62.5 |
71.5 |
9.0 |
1.44 |
0.31 |
|
73.0 |
82.0 |
9.0 |
1.42 |
0.35 |
85.0 |
86.5 |
1.5 |
1.18 |
0.31 |
C237 |
97.0 |
116.5 |
19.5 |
1.01 |
0.21 |
99.3 |
106.0 |
6.7 |
1.14 |
0.27 |
|
112.7 |
113.7 |
1.0 |
1.06 |
0.30 |
RFA Preliminary Results - SamplesPresently Being Analysed by ALS |
C233 |
97.0 |
122.0 |
25.0 |
0.6 |
0.3 |
113.5 |
115.0 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
0.5 |
|
119.5 |
122.0 |
2.5 |
1.4 |
0.6 |
C238 |
110.5 |
113.5 |
3.0 |
0.3 |
0.1 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C238 |
137.2 |
139.0 |
1.8 |
0.3 |
0.1 |
C238 |
140.5 |
145.0 |
4.5 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
C238 |
147.2 |
152.6 |
5.4 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
C239 |
137.5 |
143.5 |
6.0 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C240 |
85.0 |
86.5 |
1.5 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C240 |
89.2 |
90.7 |
1.5 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
C240 |
93.9 |
98.9 |
5.0 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
C240 |
107.9 |
121.0 |
13.1 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
C241 |
109.0 |
112.0 |
3.0 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C241 |
125.5 |
128.5 |
3.0 |
0.3 |
0.1 |
C241 |
130.0 |
134.5 |
4.5 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
C241 |
136.0 |
143.5 |
7.5 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
C241 |
145.0 |
146.5 |
1.5 |
0.6 |
0.1 |
|
|
Kubuk Drill Core Results |
RFA Preliminary Results - Samples in Transit to ALS |
Diamond Core Hole Results 0.2% Ni Cut Off Grade |
Diamond Core Hole Results 1.0% Ni Cut Off Grade |
Hole # |
From |
To |
Length (m) |
Ni% |
Cu% |
From |
To |
Length (m) |
Ni% |
Cu% |
C230 |
92.5 |
107.5 |
15.0 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C231 |
118.0 |
131.4 |
13.4 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C231 |
145.6 |
147.5 |
1.9 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C232 |
124.0 |
137.5 |
13.5 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
127.7 |
133.0 |
5.3 |
1.1 |
0.0 |
C232 |
140.5 |
143.5 |
3.0 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C242 |
130.0 |
131.5 |
1.5 |
0.3 |
0.1 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C242 |
152.5 |
179.5 |
27.0 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
155.5 |
158.5 |
3.0 |
2.7 |
0.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
160.0 |
161.5 |
1.5 |
1.0 |
0.4 |
C243 |
82.0 |
100.0 |
18.0 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
88.0 |
89.5 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
0.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
92.5 |
95.5 |
3.0 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
C243 |
103.0 |
153.0 |
50.0 |
0.8 |
0.2 |
127.0 |
128.5 |
1.5 |
1.2 |
0.3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
142.0 |
145.0 |
3.0 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
C244 |
169.0 |
179.5 |
10.5 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C244 |
182.5 |
184.0 |
1.5 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
C245 |
205.0 |
211.0 |
6.0 |
0.8 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C245 |
212.5 |
226.0 |
13.5 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
208.0 |
209.5 |
1.5 |
2.1 |
0.4 |
C246 |
241.0 |
245.5 |
4.5 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C246 |
253.6 |
269.5 |
15.9 |
0.8 |
0.3 |
256.0 |
260.5 |
4.5 |
1.1 |
0.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
263.5 |
265.0 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
C247 |
202.0 |
208.5 |
6.5 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C247 |
215.5 |
282.7 |
67.2 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
C248 |
146.2 |
148.0 |
1.8 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
No +1.0% Intervals |
C248 |
151.9 |
153.1 |
1.2 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
C248 |
155.5 |
173.4 |
17.9 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
C248 |
174.6 |
188.5 |
13.9 |
0.3 |
0.1 |
C248 |
190.0 |
219.3 |
29.3 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
Average for 20 Holes |
30.3 |
0.66 |
0.32 |
Average +1.0% Ni 11 Holes |
8.9 |
1.30 |
0.23 |
Average Interval |
12.4 |
0.66 |
0.32 |
Average +1.0% Ni Per Interval |
3.3 |
1.30 |
0.23 |
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