Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/652911
22 E&MJ; • MARCH 2016 www.e-mj.com High-tech Core Library Opens in South Australia Aston Bay Holdings has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with BHP Billiton to advance Aston Bay's Storm copper pro- ject on Somerset Island in the Canadian Arctic. Under the terms of the LOI, BHP Billiton may earn a 75% interest in the project, with a provision in place to con- vert into a joint-venture agreement. To earn its 75% interest, BHP Billiton must spend a minimum of C$40 million on exploration at Storm within nine years of the signing of a definitive agreement, including a minimum of C$2.5 million within two years. Aston Bay will have no required exploration expenses for four years from the date of signing of the definitive agreement. The Storm project is based on stratabound copper mineralization along more than 100 km of strike length of mineralized showings. Copper oxide mineralization is present at sur- face in the form of malachite, azurite and chalcocite. Malachite and azurite, along with primary hypogene chalcocite and the presence of bornite and chal- copyrite, have been identified at depths of at least 100 m. Historical drilling focused on miner- alized zones cropping out at surface and included intercepts of 110 m of 2.45% copper, 56 m of 3.07% copper, and 49 m of 1.79% copper. Exploration by Aston Bay has identified a number of coincident conductivity and gravity anomalies that are consistent with regional mineralizing processes. Aston Bay CEO Benjamin Cox said, "We are very pleased to have attracted, as a partner, a top-tier global mining company with a track record of building and operating some of the world's largest copper mines. This new partner- ship is a testament to the exploration potential at the Storm copper project." ( astonbayholdings.com ) Exploration Briefs Alecto Minerals has entered into a joint venture agreement with Randgold Resources (Mali) to explore and devel- op Alecto's 137 km 2 Kossanto West gold project in western Mali. Randgold will hold a 65% interest and Alecto will retain a 35% participating in- terest in the project's permits. Rand- gold will fund all costs up to and including completion of a prefeasibil- ity study. Phase 1 of the Kossanto West work program will include completion of geo- logical and regolith mapping, soil geo- chemistry, follow-up pitting and trench- ing, and detailed ground magnetic sur- veys to allow a fuller understanding of how gold occurrences on the property link up and to identify further targets. If this work produces favorable results, reconnaissance drilling will follow. The companies anticipate that this work could be completed in the first 12 months of the joint venture at a cost of approximately $1 million. A Phase 2 work program would focus on completion of work required to produce a prefeasibility study. On completion of a prefeasibility study, all costs would be split between the joint venture companies in accordance with their participating interests. A Phase 3 work program would focus on work to enable completion of a feasi- bility study. ( www.alectominerals.com ) REGIONAL NEWS - EXPLORATION ROUNDUP Aston Bay Attracts BHP Billiton as Potential Storm Project Partner One of the world's most advanced drill core reference libraries, holding 130 years of mining samples, has opened in South Australia. The A$32.2 million South Australia Drill Core Reference Library in Adel- aide holds 7.5 million m of drill core samples from across South Australia and has the capacity to display up to 2 km of cores for inspection on a series of automated conveyor belts in the main viewing area at any one time. It also features a 3-D viewing room, which uses virtual reality technology to give geologists a worms-eye view of geology. South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy President Terry Burgess said the facility is one of the "unique core libraries in the world" and holds cores dating back more than 100 years. "It's a huge storage of information that's waiting to be tapped…analytical techniques are being developed all the time and like the 3-D work that's been done, I think we are going to get a lot of new ideas and new technologies that weren't available before." Exploration companies in South Australia are required by legislation to provide the Department of State Development representative samples of any core and cuttings taken during tenure. Core and cuttings are stored in the Drill Core Reference Library. The library brings together samples previously stored at four separate drill core libraries spread across South Australia. They are now kept in a mas- sive storage warehouse. High-tech forklifts are used to retrieve requested core samples to be brought to the main viewing area for inspection. The library is about two-thirds full with room for future samples for the next two decades. The new South Australia Drill Core Reference Library houses 7.5 million m of core samples.