Southern Arc Minerals (“Southern Arc” or “the Company”) is pleased to report further encouraging drilling results from the Tibu Serai and Bising targets at the Mencanggah prospect on Southern Arc’s West Lombok property.
The Company recently completed 12 diamond drill holes (1,696 metres) on the West Lombok property – three at Bising target and nine at Tibu Serai. The results continue to demonstrate the consistency of the wide mineralized body along the 500-metre strike one of the Bising Hill target, and highlight the potential of higher-grade zones within numerous silica ledge bodies mapped at Tibu Serai and other localities throughout the property.
Southern Arc has now provided SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (“SRK”) with all drilling and exploration data collected to date from the West Lombok project, with the objective of completing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate by mid-2013. The report is expected to provide an inferred resource estimate for the property incorporating epithermal-gold mineralization from parts of the Raja target (Pelangan prospect), Bising and Tibu Serai targets (Mencanggah prospect), as well as porphyry copper-gold mineralization from the Selodong prospect. The report will also include SRK’s recommendations for additional drilling for both resource upgrade and expansion, which will help to focus next steps for the project.
“We have seen consistently strong drill results at the West Lombok property, and look forward to the results of the SRK report,” said John Proust, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Arc. “With West Lombok successfully advanced to this stage, Southern Arc may consider bringing a partner to the project to accelerate West Lombok’s advancement while reducing financial exposure and risk to Southern Arc’s shareholders.
“Southern Arc’s treasury is one of its key assets in what is undeniably a difficult capital market. While our share price has followed the general downward trend of most resource companies, having current working capital of approximately $14 million puts Southern Arc in a unique position among our peers and provides the financial flexibility to consider new opportunities that can bring near-term value to our shareholders. As announced in December, Southern Arc is implementing a diversification strategy and actively pursuing advanced-stage gold projects in new jurisdictions. We look forward to reporting progress on a number of fronts to our shareholders in the near term.”
Tibu Serai Target
Highlights from Tibu Serai drilling include:
- MCG058
- 0.70 m @ 13.50 g/t gold and 2.3 g/t silver from 3.20 m
- 18.70 m @ 2.46 g/t gold and 0.4 g/t silver from 58.80 m
- Including 6.90 m @ 5.65 g/t gold and 0.5 g/t silver from 70.60 m
- Including 1.10 m @ 31.97 g/t gold and 1.9 g/t silver from 76.40 m
- MCG060
- 22.50 m @ 1.60 g/t gold and 1.5 g/t silver from 60.30 m
- Including 5.10 m @ 5.29 g/t gold and 5.3 g/t silver from 76.70 m
- MCG067
- 4.50 m @ 7.79 g/t gold and 0.7 g/t silver from 70.60 m
- Including 0.60 m @ 16.60 g/t gold and 1.6 g/t silver from 70.60 m
- And 1.05 m @ 20.94 g/t gold and 1.0 g/t silver from 73.40 m
- MCG061
- 26.30 m @ 1.22 g/t gold and 0.2 g/t silver from 96.50 m
- Including 8.00 m @ 3.21 g/t gold and 0.3 g/t silver from 114.80 m
- Including 0.90 m @ 11.20 g/t gold and 0.2 g/t silver from 117.60 m
- And 0.80 m @ 13.80 g/t gold and 0.7 g/t silver from 122.00 m
- MCG062
- 3.95 m @ 3.55 g/t gold and 0.2 g/t silver from 21.65 m
- Including 0.80 m @ 11.70 g/t gold and 0.2 g/t silver from 23.90 m
The nine Tibu Serai holes (1,273.0 metres, Table 1, Figure 1) extended the known dip and strike extent of the mineralization previously reported in MCG055 (24.8 m @ 4.27 g/t gold and 0.6 g/t silver, including 5.4 m @ 9.44 g/t gold and 1.3 g/t silver, Southern Arc news release dated March 25, 2013). Eight of these holes intersected significant mineralization within a 220-metre strike length centred on MCG055. Two holes drilled 40 m northwest and southeast of MCG055 confirmed continuity of high gold grades along an 80-m strike length at similar elevations. MCG058, located 40 m northwest, intersected 6.90 m @ 5.65 g/t gold, while MCG060, located 40 m southeast of MCG055, intersected 5.10 m @ 5.29 g/t.
MCG061 intersected mineralization 60 m vertically below MCG055 (26.30 m @ 1.22 g/t gold including 8.00 m @ 3.21 g/t gold), indicating continuity of mineralization at depth. MCG067, located approximately 120 southeast of MCG055, intersected high-grade mineralization (4.50 m @ 7.79 g/t gold) within a second shoot zone that remains open to the southeast.
Drilling has also intersected a parallel vein zone exposed 200 m to the southeast of MCG067 (Figure 1). A narrow high-grade intersection in MCG058 (0.70 m @ 13.50 g/t gold and 2.3 g/t silver) well above the targeted mineralization is interpreted to represent the strike extension of this parallel vein zone.
These results support the contiguous nature of high-grade mineralization along just one of the mineralized structures at Mencanggah and highlight exploration potential in the numerous high-grade surface indications of epithermal gold mineralization that remain to be drill tested at both Mencanggah and Pelangan
Bising Target
Three Bising holes infilled a 200-m gap zone in previous drilling between MCG031 and MCG032 (Table 2, Figure 2) and confirmed the continuous and very wide nature of the moderately dipping mineralized body at the Bising hill along a 500-m strike zone. Particularly encouraging is the result from MCG057, which confirmed continuity between other wide > 1 g/t gold intervals intersected to the west (MCG030, 041, 042, 028) and east (MCG032) of this location (Figure 2).
Highlight results from Bising include:
- MCG057
- 52.70 m @ 0.68 g/t gold and 2.3 g/t silver from 7.55 m
- Including 27.15 m @ 1.00 g/t gold and 3.4 g/t silver from 28.40 m
- MCG056
- 41.40 m @ 0.69 g/t gold and 1.4 g/t silver from 97.50 m
- Including 13.70 m @ 0.94 g/t gold and 0.9 g/t silver from 105.00 m
- MCG059
- 34.15 m @ 0.52 g/t gold and 1.1 g/t silver from 94.85 m
- 17.35 m @ 0.78 g/t gold and 1.7 g/t silver from 111.65 m
- Porphyry Copper-Gold Exploration Drilling
Southern Arc also recently completed two drill holes to test porphyry copper-gold mineralization on the property. MCD001 and MCD002 (1,197.7 metres, Table 3, Figure 3) tested two deep porphyry targets beneath the Mencanggah lithocap. These holes were targeting modeled magnetic geophysical anomalies underlying the Tibu Serai area. Neither hole encountered significant porphyry-style mineralization, instead intersecting magnetite rich diorite and volcanics, respectively.
Southern Arc remains very optimistic about porphyry copper exploration on the property. Areas in the Selodong prospect where previous drilling encountered gold-rich high-grade porphyry drill intersections have similar geophysical signatures to other porphyry targets on the property. Porphyry deposits often occur in clusters, and numerous porphyry targets remain to be drill tested beneath the lithocaps at Mencanggah, Pelangan and Selodong.
On behalf of the Board of
Southern Arc Minerals Inc.
“John Proust”
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Source: http://www.southernarcminerals.com/