Dec 16 2013
IMX Resources is pleased to advise that it has commenced an exploration program targeting direct shipping hematite at its Mt Woods Project in South Australia.
IMX currently mines direct shipping magnetite ore with copper from its Cairn Hill Mine, located close to the hematite prospects it has identified at Mt Woods.
A direct shipping hematite discovery at Mt Woods would have the potential for near-term production using the rail and port infrastructure currently used for IMX's Cairn Hill Mine.
The Mt Woods Project sits within the Mt Woods Inlier, which is an extremely iron-rich geological terrain that hosts Arrium Mining's Peculiar Knob direct shipping hematite mine. The Mt Woods Project is just 7km from Peculiar Knob.
Magnetic geophysical surveys show extensive distribution of magnetite-rich rocks across the Mt Woods tenements. While magnetic surveys can detect magnetite ore bodies, they cannot detect non-magnetic hematite deposits.
IMX believes that hematite may occur in association with the abundant magnetite at Mt Woods, as it does in the iron ore mines of the Middleback Ranges and other advanced hematite-magnetite prospects in the Gawler Craton region of South Australia.
The common iron industry exploration technique to detect hematite that lies beneath shallow cover is to use detailed ground gravity surveys. A difference in the gravity response exhibiting a gravity high, points to the presence of both hematite and magnetite.
A ground magnetic survey is then undertaken. Given that only magnetite will generate a magnetic response, any gravity high responses not attributable to magnetite, are probably due to the presence of hematite.
A desktop assessment of regional airborne gravity data collected previously has identified 39 geophysical anomalies which exhibit features that help target hematite close to both existing magnetite occurrences and major structural features. Table 1 lists the main prospect areas and Figure 1 shows the location of the geophysical anomalies.
An initial round of detailed ground geophysical work will compare the ground magnetic responses with the ground gravity signal of the top 15 anomalies in order to identify their potential for hematite and suitability for drill testing. This is expected to be completed in early 2014.
IMX Acting Managing Director John Nitschke said the DSO hematite exploration program had the potential to add significant value to the Company's iron ore asset portfolio in South Australia, which is underpinned by the operating Cairn Hill Mine and includes the larger-scale Mt Woods magnetite development project.
"Any DSO hematite discovery has the potential to be developed relatively quickly and at low cost using our existing mining and operational expertise and leveraging off our infrastructure access," he said. "In the current strong iron price environment this represents an attractive business development opportunity for IMX."
JOHN NITSCHKE
Acting Managing Director
Source: http://www.imxresources.com.au