ASX Announcement. Activities Update

Transcription

1 Activities Update May May 2010 ASX Announcement Activities Update (ASX: III) is pleased to provide the following update on the Company s recent activities: Highlights Ian Sheffield-Parker, a mining and processing engineer with more than 20 years experience has commenced as Project Manager for the Mt Carbine tungsten project in north Qld. Bulk ore-sorter testing of Run-of Mine ore, mineralised waste and ore sorter reject stockpiles at Mt Carbine is scheduled to start in late June. The current drilling program at Mt Carbine continues to intersect mineralised veining beyond the previous drilling, expanding the resource. EPMs and surrounding and adjacent to Mt Carbine are in the process of being assigned to Icon s wholly owned subsidiary, Tungsten Resources Pty Ltd, the holding company for Mt Carbine. Drilling at the Peel Fault Gold Project in NE NSW is proceeding well with the first hole currently at 330m having intersected extensive alteration with visible sulphide mineralisation. Managing Director Dr John Bishop said: Ian s expertise will add significantly to Icon s inhouse capabilities. In the short-term, his appointment will ensure the timely progress of Mt Carbine towards development as well as assisting in the evaluation and progress of Icon s ongoing and future projects. One of Ian s first tasks will be to oversee the bulk testing of the Mt Carbine stockpiles with latest-generation ore-sorters. If these tests are positive, then we anticipate that the extensive waste and reject dumps will be profitable to re-treat, in which case Mt Carbine should come into production much sooner, at a much lower capital cost. Meanwhile the drilling program at Mt Carbine is ongoing and continues to extend the mineralisation beyond the known resource. The drilling at Crow King on the Peel Fault is also proceeding well. The first hole has intersected intensely altered ultramafics from 67m and is presently drilling ahead at 330m with elevated values of gold pathfinder elements such as arsenic and bismuth also recorded.

2 Activities Update May 2010 MT CARBINE: Tungsten, North QLD (III 100% of mineral rights) Tenements: Granted Mining Leases MLs 4867, 4919 Target: Bulk tonnage sheeted quartz veining with wolframite and scheelite. Mt Carbine was the first mine in Australia to use ore sorters more than 30 years ago, the application of which was credited with the profitable operation of the mine until the collapse of the tungsten market in the mid-1980 s. Ore-sorting technology has come a long way since then and it seems likely that the reject stockpile (that is, material rejected by the ore sorters as being too low-grade for processing) and potentially the mineralised waste stockpile can be very cheaply re-run through new ore-sorters to produce profitable feed for processing. Bulk testing of this material is planned for late June Given the large amount of reject material available (historical estimates of about 4mt), a positive outcome would result in an immediate and significant upside on the mine development plan. As well as the sorter rejects, there is a much larger tonnage (historical estimates of about 12mt) of waste material. Waste was defined by the previous operation as material judged to contain less than 10% (mineralised) quartz. The grade was estimated by the previous operation at ~0.07% WO 3 and verification of this estimate will be an integral part of a second bulk sampling trial with the on-site ore-sorter. Image of part of the Mt Carbine Mine Leases showing the extensive reject and waste stockpiles plus the site of several thousand tonnes of ore hauled by the previous mining operation to the ROM pad for processing. Bulk testing of all three materials is planned next month through an on-site ore-sorter.

3 Activities Update May 2010 In addition, a large volume of ROM ore stockpiled by the last operation will be tested through the ore-sorter to help quantify the financial and operating parameters of the planned processing plant. As well as improved ore-sorters, new process technologies such as high-speed centrifuges are expected to result in much better recoveries than the previous operation. Lastly, new hydrometallurgical techniques can now profitably treat very low grade concentrates. Thus, as well as again producing high-grade (>70%) concentrates of scheelite and wolframite, it is planned to also produce low grade (>20%) mixed concentrates. Combined, these factors are expected to result in a significantly enhanced overall recovery for Mt Carbine. These tests will be one of the responsibilities of the new Mt Carbine project manager, Ian Sheffield-Parker who joined Icon last week. Ian has qualifications in mining engineering and mineral processing, from the UK s Camborne School of Mines. From early experience as an airleg miner in Africa to recent experience as CEO of an ASX-listed company with a tungsten focus, Ian has an ideal background to bring the Mt Carbine mine back into production. Drilling is continuing at Mt Carbine with approximately 3500m of core produced from 12 holes. Drilling is currently concentrating on the area to the north of and below the north face of the open pit and is scheduled to return to the Iron Duke area to further define that region. The latest assays received are given in the table below plus a plan view showing the location of the holes to the NW of the open cut beyond previous drilling. The holes were routinely surveyed with a downhole camera and located by field GPS. All holes will be accurately surveyed at the end of the campaign. The collars of the completed drill holes are located on the accompanying figure which shows projections of the previous (legacy) drilling superimposed on a satellite image of the old pit plus shaded outlines of the historic lodes. DRILLHOLE me (GDA) mn (GDA) Az (mag) Dip TD (m) CB ,277 8,172, CB ,319 8,172, CB ,129 8,172, CB ,190 8,172, CB ,459 8,172,

4 Activities Update May 2010 DRILLHOLE From (m) To (m) Interval (m) % WO 3 CB Including: CB Including: and and Including: CB Including: and Including: CB CB Including: (this interval includes:) Holes CB56 to CB59 targeted previously untested extensions to a series of mineralised zones associated with shallow historical workings along the western flank of Carbine Hill to the NW of the open cut.

5 Activities Update May 2010 Wolframite (black), scheelite (cream) and chalcopyrite (brassy) in quartz veining. 185m CB56 was planned to test for continuation of the Bluff and Nell vein zones and intersected multiple zones of quartz veining with down hole orientations indicating a NE dip of degrees rather than the vertical fabrics observed within the pit. Both the Bluff and Nell zones of veining were intercepted with several narrow veins returning high tungsten grades within a broad envelope of approximately 92m grading 0.06% WO 3 from 150m downhole. A feature of the veining was the presence of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite in and adjacent to the veins. CB57 tested veins worked at surface and possible extensions to the Bluff, Nell and Nil zones. Multiple zones of veining were intercepted but correlation of the main zones with the known vein groups is unclear. Veining containing low-grade tungsten is largely confined to a 19m zone from 41m downhole grading 0.07% WO 3, and a 27m zone from 215.5m grading 0.04% WO 3 (refer table). Chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite were also a feature of these veins. CB58 tested minor outcropping previously worked veins and possible extensions well beyond the known vein trends. Mineralised veins were intersected in two zones grading approximately 0.1% WO 3, a shallow interval of 36.5m from 17.4m downhole and a deeper 25m zone from 170m. CB59 also targeted shallow historical workings but intersected only narrow broadly spaced veining. CB60 was drilled closer to the open cut to test the Bluff zone and potentially mineralised zones adjacent to the portal of the (uncompleted) decline development. A broad (110m) low grade (0.045% WO 3 ) zone of multiple vein sets was intersected from 78m downhole, but individual tungsten bearing veins are narrow and widely-spaced. Drilling has now moved to the northern side of the open cut to test previously undrilled gaps in the geological model.

6 Activities Update May 2010 Location plan showing collars and projected drill traces of the completed holes from Icon s current drilling campaign at Mt Carbine superimposed on an image of the old open cut, plus plan projections of the previous drilling (in black) and shaded outlines of the historic lodes. Assays for CB51 to CB55 drilled into the Iron Duke Zone (in purple) were reported in an ASX release on 2 March Assays for CB56 to CB60 drilled to the NW of the pit (red) are reported in this release. Completed holes awaiting assay are shown in green. Mt Carbine Exploration Tenements: EPMs and are in the process of being assigned to Icon s wholly owned subsidiary Tungsten Resources Pty Ltd. As previously reported, as well as providing more flexibility for mining operations, the permits contain prospective old workings and mineralised occurrences. The tenements contain 42 known mineral occurrences of which 34 are historical tin and/or tungsten mines. One area of known tin-tungsten mineralisation occurs near the Mt Alto Granite and another occurs along the western side of the Mt Carbine Granite.

7 Activities Update May 2010 Four main types of mineralisation have been described from the Mt Carbine district: 1) sheeted quartz vein systems and associated eluvial deposits with cassiterite, wolframite and/or scheelite, 2) calc-silicate rocks and altered basic dykes with scheelite, 3) alluvial cassiterite deposits, and 4) stratabound copper mineralisation similar to the nearby Mt Molloy deposit. In an area approximately 3km southeast of Mt Carbine within EPM 14872, scheelite-only mineralisation occurs in association with quartz veins, calc-silicate rocks and altered basic dykes. This corridor is considered prospective for stratiform or stratabound scheelite deposits and additional high-grade quartz-scheelite-chlorite mineralisation may be present where suitable structures intersect favourable host rocks in close proximity to the granite contact. The Mt Holmes prospect located approximately 10km south of Mt Carbine within EPM contains a sheeted vein system approximately 500 metres long and 250 metres wide within Hodgkinson Formation metasediments. Individual veins are nearly vertical and up to 1.8 metres wide, although most veins are less than 40 cm wide. The veins are composed largely of milky quartz and feldspar and commonly have a muscovite-rich selvage. Cassiterite is occurs along the margins of the veins with muscovite, and associated with quartz in the body of the veins, wolframite and scheelite occur with the quartz in the main body of the veins. Cassiterite (black) within a quartz vein (white) at the Mount Holmes tin-tungsten prospect The Mt Holmes vein system exhibits similarities to the Mt Carbine sheeted vein complex and Icon plans to evaluate the potential for the development of bulk tonnage tin (and tungsten) mineralisation at depth both within the host metasediments and underlying granite.

8 Activities Update May 2010 Peel Fault: Gold, NE NSW (III 100%) Tenements: Exploration Licences EL6618, 6620, 6648, Target: Californian Mother Lode and related orogenic vein gold systems Drilling at the Peel Fault Gold Project in NE NSW is progressing well with the first hole, ICK001, currently at 330m having intersected extensive intense listwanite alteration and associated intrusives and breccia zones with visible sulphide mineralisation and elevated (gold) pathfinder elements detected by field portable XRF (Niton) analysis. ICK001 is currently intersecting intensely veined carbonaceous metasediments. The hole has a nominal target depth of 400m, but actual depth will depend upon drilling conditions and rock type as the hole passes through the main chargeability zone. Cross-section for the current drillhole ICK001 showing the buried chargeability target and results from surface mapping and soil chemistry surveys. At the time of writing, ICK001 was at ~330m and has intersected zones of intense alteration from ~67m with increasing sulphide content down hole Dr John Bishop Managing Director Information in this report that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Dr John Bishop, who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. John is a full-time employee of Icon and has sufficient experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity 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 Bishop consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.