Kubuk 2013 Drilling Completed

 

11 October 2013

 

AMUR MINERALS CORPORATION

(AIM: AMC)

 

Highly Successful Kun-Manie Exploration Season Completed

 

Kubuk 2013 Drilling Completed

Substantial Untested Upside Remains

Resource estimate planned for newly defined deposit

 

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 announce that it has completed its 2013 exploration field season at its Kun-Manie project.  The prime accomplishment is the successful drill definition of a new 900 metre long deposit at Kubuk, where 26 of 31 holes contain potentially economic grades of nickel and copper, with ultimate mineral limits as yet undetermined.

 

Highlights:

 

·     As at 8 October 2013, the Company had completed 32 diamond core holes and a total of 6,001.7 metres of drilling along the outcrop trend of the Kubuk deposit.  The 2013 drill programme is now completed with the drilling equipment and all site transport being winterised.  Staff are being demobilised over the course of the next two weeks.

 

·     Drilling has successfully defined the Kubuk deposit to be a minimum of 900 metres in length and up to 400 metres in the dip direction.  Mineralisation is exposed in outcrop and dips shallowly representing an open cast mining target.  Individual mineralised intercepts average nearly 17 metres in thickness with most holes containing more than one interval of mineralisation.  The total average combined mineralised intersect per hole approaches 30 metres.

 

·     Analytical results from Alex Stewart Laboratories ("ASL") are now available for 21 holes of 31 holes drilled to define mineralisation at Kubuk and contain potentially economic grades of nickel and copper.  ASL results from an additional five holes are not yet available however preliminary internal site generated RFA results confirm that mineralisation is present within the five drill holes yet to be analysed.  Samples for these five holes have already been delivered to ASL's Moscow facilities for final analyses.  A total of 26 of 31 holes drilled to define resources at Kubuk will contain economic levels of mineralisation.

 

·     Upon receipt of the final ASL analytical results for the remaining five holes and verification results from external laboratories, the Company will undertake an independent resource estimation for the newly defined deposit which could substantially expand the already large 531,700 tonne nickel and 145,500 tonne copper resource.

 

·     Using a 0.2% nickel cut-off grade having a minimum 3 metre thickness, the average down the hole thickness intercepted within the 26 holes is nearly 30 metres.  Several holes have multiple intercepts with the average thickness per mineral interval being 16.9 metres.  The average grade of the mineralisation is 0.67% nickel and 0.19% copper. 

 

·     High grade nickel intervals are also present with grades in excess of 1.0% nickel.  The average high grade interval thickness intersected by drilling is 3.3 metres and the total average down hole contained per hole is 8.6 metres.  The average high grade values for nickel are 1.32% and 0.39% for copper.

 

·     Trenching located at one half and one kilometre to the east of the last drill holes tested soil geochemical anomalies identified in the 2011 and 2012 field seasons and indicated that mineralisation is exposed in out crops for as much as another kilometre and could well be the same structure drilled during this field season.  Two trenches identified surface exposures of 37.2 metres and 27.7 metres of mineralised host rock.  The average grades exposed in the trenches range from 0.35% nickel to 0.47% nickel.  Copper is also present and ranges from 0.11% to 0.21%.

 

·     Substantial potential to increase the size of the Kubuk deposit remains as drilling has not defined the limits of the mineralisation to the east nor in the down dip direction.  These areas represent drill targets for future drill campaigns and additional scout drilling is planned to test up to a kilometre to the east beyond the limits of this year's drill holes.  Ultimately, successful step-out drilling could result in the Kubuk deposit being as large as the Maly Kurumkon deposit.

 

·     Two of the completed holes have been drilled to verify results derived during this year's programme.  The verification work comprises twinning two holes immediately adjacent existing holes completed earlier in this year's drill campaign.  One hole has also been completed to obtain larger diameter core for metallurgical test work.

 

 

Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals, commented:

 

"The drilling of our fifth deposit continues to confirm our belief that Kun-Manie hosts one of the largest nickel and copper sulphide resources known in the part of the world.  It is rare that a company can drill a target as large as this in 14 weeks and have the potential to add so substantially to its resource balance.  In fact, this year's work alone may have identified a deposit that is larger than many deposits that our peers have spent year's drilling.  And we do not know the limits of this deposit, much like three of our other deposits.  We look forward to the reporting the inaugural resource estimate at Kubuk once our final analytical results are available."

 

Drill results

 

A total of 32 diamond core holes containing 6,001.7 drilled metres were completed on drill sections spaced approximately 100 metres apart.  Based on analytical results, 26 of the holes have intersected a total of 777.1 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.  Results have been obtained from ASL with the exception of five holes which were delivered recently to ASL for final determination of the metal content.

 

At Kubuk, each hole intersected an average of 30 metres of mineralised rock within one or more discrete intervals.  The average thickness per mineralised interval is 16.9 metres which is suitable for open cast mining.  The average intercepted nickel grade is 0.67% with copper being 0.19% based on a nickel cut-off grade of 0.20%.  These indicated grades are higher than those defined at the Ikenskoe and Maly Kurumkon deposits.

 

Intersections of plus 1.0% nickel intervals are also present within 17 of the completed holes.  The average thickness of the intersected high grade intervals is 3.3 metres.  Commonly, holes contain 2 or more high grade intervals with the total combined average thickness of high grade per hole approaching 8.6 metres.  The average nickel content based on a 1.0% nickel cut-off grade is 1.32% with copper being 0.39%.

 

The Company notes that the mineralisation dips shallowly and drilling confirms that the dip of the deposit ranges from flat lying to 30 degrees along the 900 metre long drilled area.  The thickest combined intercepts from within a single hole range up to 64 metres.  The near surface location and shallow dipping geometry of the mineralisation represents an open cast mining target.

 

The limits of the mineralisation have not yet been defined in the dip direction and to the east thereby indicating that there is potential to further expand the size of the Kubuk deposit beyond that which has been drilled during this field season.  Trenching to the east of the drilled area has exposed mineralised outcrops indicating that the currently drilled structure could extend an additional kilometre to the east.  Successful drilling to the east could double the length of the Kubuk deposit.

 

Once final analytical results are available from ASL, the data set will be provided to an independent consultant to update the July 2013 resource which consists of 531,700 tonnes of nickel, 145,500 tonnes of copper, 13.9 tonnes of platinum and 15.6 tonnes of palladium.  The subsequent resource update will be used to define the mineable reserve at Kubuk. 

 

The Accuracy and Acceptability of RFA Results

 

The Company cautions readers on the accuracy and acceptability of its 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 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.  Results from the RFA have been included in the RNS and those intervals reported in the table below are noted with an asterisk.

During use of the RFA unite, 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 RFA unit and ASL results were within 10% of one another.

 

Enquiries:

 

Company Amur Minerals Corp.	Nomad and Broker S.P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP	Public Relations Yellow Jersey
Robin Young CEO	Ewan Leggat Laura Littley	Dominic Barretto Kelsey Traynor
+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 is a plan view drawing of the Kubuk drill hole location map and each drill holes projected Metal Factor.  The Metal Factor is defined by the following equation (Average grade of the intervals in excess of 0.2% nickel x the total length of the mineralisation within the hole).  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/2457Q_-2013-10-10.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.

 

2013 Kubuk Drill Season Results

 

Kubuk Diamond Core Hole Results						Kubuk 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%
C230	92.5	107.5	15.0	0.50	0.18	No +1.0% Intervals
C230	118.0	131.4	13.4	0.49	0.13	No +1.0% Intervals
C231	145.1	148.1	3.0	0.37	0.10	No +1.0% Intervals
C232	124.0	137.5	13.5	0.70	0.19	127.7	133.0	5.3	1.20	0.37
C232	140.5	143.5	3.0	0.68	0.21	No +1.0% Intervals
C233	97.9	122.0	24.1	0.64	0.22	113.5	115.0	1.5	1.06	0.39
						119.5	122.0	2.5	1.56	0.55
C234	13.0	34.5	21.5	0.47	0.15	No +1.0% Intervals
C234	37.5	48.0	10.5	0.55	0.13	39.0	40.5	1.5	1.07	0.22
C234-1	18.0	48.0	30.0	0.78	0.18	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
C234-1K*	13.5	48.0	34.5	0.91	0.25	16.5	17.8	1.3	3.01	0.27
						21.0	22.5	1.5	1.27	0.42
						24.0	27.0	3.0	1.49	0.38
						31.5	36.0	4.5	1.16	0.34
C235	35.5	47.5	12.0	0.81	0.22	40.0	44.5	4.5	1.31	0.31
C235	52.0	64.0	12.0	0.64	0.25	58.0	61.8	3.8	1.27	0.29
C236	18.0	58.2	40.2	0.88	0.21	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	1.12	0.27
						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
C236K*	16.5	60.0	43.5	0.91	0.29	18.0	19.5	1.5	1.05	0.47
						25.2	36.0	10.8	1.23	0.35
						37.5	42.0	4.5	1.23	0.35
						52.5	54.0	1.5	1.34	0.48
						57.0	58.2	1.2	1.09	0.29
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	0.31
						85.0	86.5	1.5	1.18	0.31
C237	97.0	116.5	19.5	1.04	0.21	99.3	111.4	12.1	1.35	0.27
						112.7	113.7	1.0	1.06	0.30
C238	110.5	113.5	3.0	0.28	0.07	No +1.0% Intervals
C238	137.2	152.6	15.4	0.37	0.09
C239	137.5	143.5	6.0	0.44	0.16	No +1.0% Intervals
C240	85.0	90.7	5.7	0.22	0.09	No +1.0% Intervals
C240	93.9	98.9	5.0	0.65	0.13
C240	107.9	121.0	13.1	0.54	0.17
C241	109.0	112.0	3.0	0.42	0.10	No +1.0% Intervals
C241	125.5	146.5	21.0	0.44	0.15	131.1	133.0	1.9	1.05	0.23
C242	151.0	179.5	28.5	0.77	0.17	155.5	158.5	3.0	3.15	0.35
						160.0	161.5	1.5	1.16	0.29
C243	82.0	100.0	18.0	0.65	0.15	88.0	89.5	1.5	1.04	0.18
						92.5	95.5	3.0	1.07	0.20
C243	103.0	153.0	50.0	0.78	0.18	109.0	110.5	1.5	1.01	0.23
						125.5	130.0	4.5	1.03	0.19
						142.0	145.0	3.0	1.15	0.25
C244	169.0	184.0	15.0	0.33	0.10	No +1.0% Intervals
C245	207.1	226.0	18.9	0.7	0.2	208.0	209.5	1.5	2.34	0.31
C246	242.5	245.5	3.0	0.40	0.16	No +1.0% Intervals
C246	253.6	268.0	14.4	0.97	0.25	253.6	254.8	1.2	1.01	0.33
						256.0	260.5	4.5	1.28	3.00
						263.5	265.0	1.5	1.12	0.24
C247	215.5	230.5	15.0	0.58	0.19	No +1.0% Intervals
C247	233.5	282.7	49.2	0.68	0.18
C248	163.0	173.4	10.4	0.43	0.14	No +1.0% Intervals
C248	184.0	219.3	35.3	0.39	0.15
C249	178.0	181.0	3.0	0.27	0.12	No +1.0% Intervals
C249	212.5	220.7	8.2	0.38	0.16
C250	No Mineralisation					No +1.0% Intervals
C251	No Mineralisation					No +1.0% Intervals
C252	No Mineralisation					No +1.0% Intervals
C253	No Mineralisation					No +1.0% Intervals
C254	No Mineralisation					No +1.0% Intervals
C255*	281.5	287.5	6.0	0.20	0.08	No +1.0% Intervals
C255*	295.0	298.0	3.0	0.20	0.09
C255*	302.5	308.4	5.9	0.30	0.14
C256*	229.0	232.0	3.0	0.26	0.15	No +1.0% Intervals
C256*	235.0	244.0	9.0	0.49	0.18
C256*	247.0	294.3	47.3	0.44	0.18	289	292	3.0	1.27	0.32
C257*	65.5	76.3	10.8	0.66	0.20	No +1.0% Intervals
C257*	79.7	95.5	15.8	0.72	0.26	83.5	85	1.5	1.29	0.36
						89.5	91	1.5	1.09	0.29
Mineralised Holes Only (0.2% Ni Intervals)						Mineralised Holes Only (+1.0% Ni Intervals)
Average Per Interval			16.9	0.67	0.19	Average Per Interval		3.3	1.32	0.39
Average Per Hole			29.9	0.67	0.19	Average Per Hole		8.6	1.32	0.39
*   Values are Company derived RFA analyses and must be considered preliminary in nature.

 

About Amur Minerals Corporation

 

Amur's principal asset is the 100% owned Kun-Manie exploration licence, a nickel-copper sulphide deposit located in the Amur Province in the far east of the Russian Federation. The Kun-Manie licence area is approximately 950 km² and is located 700 km northeast of the capital city of Blagoveshchensk which  is located on the Chinese border with the Russian Federation. In April 2004 ZAO Kun-Manie, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amur, was granted an exploration licence to explore for nickel and related metals, including copper, cobalt, palladium and platinum, in respect of the Kun-Manie licence.

 

Work carried out to date on the Kun-Manie licence including diamond core drilling, airborne and ground based geophysics, trenching and geological mapping has identified five mineralised deposits; Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoe, Maly Krumkon, Gorny and Kubuk.  Four deposits warrant further exploration as the limits of the mineralisation have not been fully identified. The drilled deposits are located within a 20 kilometre long segment of the 40 kilometre long Krumkon Trend. This trend is the primary exploration target within the licence area. Additional targets that are not yet drill tested are identified as Chornie Ispelene, Yan Hegd, Falcon and Ata-Ataga. 

 

More than 50% of the 20 kilometre long area within the Krumkon Trend remains to be examined by scout drilling to determine the full extent of the mineralisation within the Trend.  Work indicates that the Maly Kurumkon and Gorny zones may be one continuous zone approaching 6 kilometres length.  Of this 6 kilometres, approximately 50 to 60% has been drill tested.  Ikenskoe and Kubuk may also be a single continuous zone also approaching 6 kilometres in length of which approximately 35% has been drill tested.

 

Exploration drill results have been utilised by SRK Consulting to calculate resources for four deposits.  Presently, Kubuk, fifth zone, is planned for resource estimation upon receipt of the final independent analytical results.  The presently defined resources are JORC compliant and include the Measured, Indicated and Inferred categories which have been estimated for the deposits of Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoe, Gorny and Maly Krumkon. Effective July, 2013 the SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd company independently compiled Resource Estimate consists of a total of 100.2 Mt at a mean grade of 0.53% nickel and 0.15% copper containing 531,700 tonnes of nickel; and 145,500 tonnes of copper. By product platinum and palladium are also present with 13.9 tonnes and 15.6 tonnes being present, respectively.  The global resource for the four estimated deposits is summarized below.

 

 

JORC Compliant Resource Estimate

July 2013

 

Orebody	Tonnage	Ni	Ni	Cu	Cu	Pt	Pt	Pd	Pd
	Mt	%	t	%	t	g/t	kg	g/t	kg
Gorny	7.6	0.31	23,900	0.09	7,000	0.2	1,600	0.2	1,900
Ikenskoe	34.1	0.52	177,700	0.13	43,800	0.2	6,100	0.2	6,800
Vodorazdelny	5.6	0.64	35,900	0.17	9,600	0.1	800	0.1	800
Maly Kurumkon	52.9	0.56	294,200	0.16	85,100	0.1	5,400	0.1	6,100
Grand Total	100.2	0.53	531,700	0.15	145,500	0.1	13,900	0.2	15,600
Distribution by Resource Category
Total Measured	15.8	0.52	81,800	0.13	21,100	0.2	2,900	0.2	3,200
Total Indicated	34.3	0.55	187,100	0.15	50,900	0.1	4,100	0.1	4,900
Total Inferred	50.1	0.52	262,800	0.15	73,500	0.1	6,900	0.1	7,500
Grand Total	100.2	0.53	531,700	0.15	145,500	0.1	13,900	0.2	15,600

 

In late 2007, a pre-feasibility study was completed by SRK Consulting (Russia) Ltd based on the resources defined to be present within a portion of Maly Kurumkon, Vodorazdelny and Ikenskoe.  The study indicated that the defined mineralisation was suitable for open cast mining, subsequent treatment of the ores by conventional crushing, grinding and flotation and that the final concentrate would be suitable for contract smelting.  A life of mine project cash flow indicated that the project had a projected NPV (discounted at 10%) of nearly $US89 million whilst processing 4.0 million tonnes of ore per annum for a 10 year mine life.

 

During the period since completion of the study, the Company has continued to explore the project area and has substantially expanded the resource and conducted additional metallurgical test work which has confirmed that improved recoveries are possible.  The combination of these two key items has moved the Company forward and an update of the 2007 engineering study is necessary.  The required work to appropriately update the study includes the calculation of the resource at Kubuk (a newly drilled deposit), a full rescheduling of all open cast deposits using optimised production schedules, an update of the operating and capital cost estimates to account for inflation and an update of the cash flow model to 2013 costs.  This work is to be staged to allow for valuable information to be developed and utilised in each ensuing step.

 

The Company has applied for a mining licence wherein a request has been submitted to Rosnedra in Moscow, Russia to convert a portion of the exploration licence to a mining licence.  The project contains strategic metals including nickel, cobalt, platinum and palladium and therefore must undergo approvals at the Federal level which require several additional agency reviews which are not required of non strategic projects.  The Company is working with Rosnedra to advance the application through to approval.  Whilst this licence approval works through the system, the Company will continue to explore, expand, evaluate and derisk the technical aspects of the project thereby adding value to the shareholders and reducing lead times to key decision points post the anticipated award of the mining licence.