Apr 11 2013
Asia Now Resources Corp. ("ANR" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed additional drilling at its Beiya and Habo projects in the Yunnan Province of China during 2012. A total of 25 core holes were drilled on the extended Beiya claim groups (the "Beiya Project") and 4 core holes and one trench were completed at its Habo properties (the "Habo Project").
Of the 25 drill holes drilled on the Beiya Project, 22 had no measurable intercepts of mineralization. Of the three that had positive intercepts, drill hole ZK1869 intercepted 3.47 metres ("m") of grading 1.17 grams per tonne ("g/t") of gold and 53 g/t of silver with 5.77% lead and 1.73% zinc, at a depth of 181.7 m. Drill hole YZK301 intersected 1.68 m of gold at a depth of 181.21 m grading 0.86 g/t of gold and 74 g/t of silver with 1.69% lead. The last drill hole, YZK701, intercepted very narrow bands of low grade gold/lead mineralization. The drilling program was unable to demonstrate continuity of mineralization with follow-up drilling in any of these three drill holes.
The Habo Project had four drill holes drilled. In the Tanshan area, drill hole TC5 intercepted 25.85 m of mineralization at a depth of 26.27 m grading 0.29 g/t of gold and another 14.10 m of mineralization at a depth of 58.51 m grading 2.26 g/t of gold and another 7.50 m grading 0.33 g/t of gold at 77.72 m. Drill hole ZK 802 intersected 8.00 m of mineralization at a depth of 518.57 m within a zone of 23.41 m, averaging 1.46 g/t of gold and 46 g/t of silver with 2.61% antimony. Drill hole ZK 1601 encountered 6.00 m of low grade copper/molybdenum mineralization at a depth of 288.38 m and at a depth of 410.24 m another 4.00 m grading 0.81% copper was encountered. In total, this drill hole encountered a mineralized intersection 237 m thick beginning at 278.38 m with an average grade of 0.18% copper and 0.016% molybdenum, very low grade but quite interesting due to its thickness. The other two drill holes in this area encountered traces of copper and molybdenum over large thicknesses, but so low grade as to be not interesting.
As a result of this season's drilling results, the Board of Directors decided to abandon three licenses, totalling 66.23 square kilometres ("sq km"), to reduce costs in these areas of poor mineralization. The two concessions which comprise the Beiya Project are Beiya, Heqing, with 18.85 sq km, and Tanyao, Heqing with 9.04 sq km. Since this project is being abandoned, exploration expenditures incurred to date will be written-off as at December 31, 2012. At Ma Touwan-Nandaping, the Eryuan license with 38.34 sq km relates to the Ma Touwan property.
After years of studies, surveys and drilling, no significant mineralization has been identified in any of these three concessions. This will allow the Company to focus on its studies of ground conditions and development alternatives for its Beiya North (Ma Touwan) orebody (the "Beiya North Property") in the northwest part of the Yunnan Province and furthering its exploration program in the Habo South area (the "Habo South Property") in the southern part of the Yunnan Province.
The Beiya North Property has 47,640 metres of drilling in 135 holes. 84 of these holes had been completed at the time of the resource estimate. The resource estimate was prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. of Toronto, Canada and reported in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). It was based on 84 drill holes and used a cut-off of a Net Smelter Return of US$50 per tonne and is stated as:
- Indicated: 12 million tonnes @ 1.11 g/t Au, 45 g/t Ag and 2.98% Pb
- Inferred: 10.6 million tonnes @ 0.76 g/t Au, 44.8 g/t Ag and 2.85% Pb
The resource is contained in four distinct groups of mineralization and 19 individual ore pods geologically modeled with some of the pods defined by only a single drill intercept. On February 14, 2013, the Company reported that Resource and Mining Development (International) Pte. Ltd. ("RMD") had reviewed certain aspects of the Beiya Project within the main deposit area and determined that significantly more drilling would be required to obtain sufficient detailed information in order to make a decision on methodology and viability for a mining option. Ground conditions and rock mass quality were observed as being very poor; the rocks have a high fracture density and the rock quality designation is low. The Company and its consultants have determined that a considerable amount of work will be required to develop a viable approach to mining and the Company has accordingly decided to narrow its focus to advance its development planning of the Beiya North and Habo South properties.
In order to allow Management to intensify its focus on the Beiya North and Habo South properties, the Board of Directors has named Marshall Cooper as Deputy Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Cooper has extensive experience in mining development, operations and corporate finance. He is currently a Director of Lippo Energy, which is involved in developing a global minerals and mining portfolio within the Lippo Group, currently focusing on copper, iron ore, coal and gold. Mr. Cooper has over twenty-five years of experience operating in Asia and Australia. Prior to joining the Lippo Group, he worked for the international mining group CRA (now Rio Tinto) holding senior commercial roles in bauxite and precious metal operations in Australia and Indonesia.
Qualified Person
Information of a technical nature in this press release has been reviewed and approved for dissemination by Mr. P. K. Rana Medhi, an independent geological consultant. Mr. Medhi is a "qualified person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.
Source: http://www.asianow.ca