Syndicated Metals Continues To Hit Good Grades As It Moves Towards A Maiden Resource At Blue Star, And A Resource Update At Barbara.
By Nadia Cavallaro and Alastair Ford / www.minesite.com
Australian-listed Syndicated Metals is closing in on a maiden resource at its 51 per cent owned Blue Star copper-gold deposit, part of the Mount Remarkable project, near Mt Isa in north Queensland. After an extensive drilling programme over the last couple of months, the Perth-based explorer has been able to report a string of good looking results showing good copper and gold intersections.
"We have just released encouraging drill results for the Blue Star prospect in the Mount Remarkable project, where there is very good potential for an open pit copper sulphide resource," company managing director Russell Davis said. The company hopes to have a resource at Blue Star in the first half of 2011.
"Blue Star needs additional drilling early next year to get sufficient information to estimate a resource," Russell said. Still, the company has already laid pretty solid foundations. Recent results have included 14 metres at 1.15% copper and 0.17 grams per tonne gold from 51 metres, including two metres at 3.25% copper and 0.38 grams per tonne, 14 metres at 1.63% copper and 0.25 grams per tonne gold from 100 metres, including three metres at 2.95% copper and 0.67 grams per tonne of gold. The company also hit four metres at 2.5% copper and 0.28 grams per tonne gold, and five metres at 1.77% copper and 0.3 grams per tonne gold on the same drill programme. An RC rig will remain on site until October, to test the IOCG alteration zone at nearby Mount Margaret, and the northern extension of the Green Zone
Extensive drilling has also been completed on the company's flagship Barbara North and Barbara South copper-gold deposits, which also comprise part of the Mount Remarkable project, and for which a resource update is due in the fourth quarter. Syndicated's current copper resource at Barbara North is 47,000 tonnes and 14,000 ounces of gold.
Green Zone, another deposit adjacent to both Barbara North and South is also of interest in this neck of the woods. Davies said that Green Zone needs additional drilling, but he added that already he is seeing good potential for an open pit there. Syndicated will start drilling up to 2,000 metres at copper targets at Mt Margaret and the northern extension at Green Zone next week. "They are good targets," Davis noted.
In August, Syndicated Metals expanded its portfolio in the copper producing region of Mt Isa by acquiring four tenements from copper junior Altona Mining. One of them, Dronfield, is directly along strike from the company's Kalman molybdenum-rhenium-copper-gold deposit. Syndicated bought the tenements for 1.5 million shares, giving Altona Mining a two per cent shareholding in the company. Syndicated has a 49 per cent interest in the Kalman project. Majority owner King Minerals is currently conducting a scoping study at the site. "We continue to consolidate our ground position at Kalman and Mt Remarkable in the Mount Isa region and have come up with promising results from our exploration," Davis said.
Once the resource is revised, the company will complete a scoping study to determine the best way to develop the Barbara deposits. And although Syndicated hopes to finish the year with around A$2 million in cash, it will need to fund a scoping study through the issue of more equity, Davis noted. It's worth noting at this juncture, though, that Korea Zinc, one of the world's largest zinc producers, owns a 14.9 per cent stake in Syndicated, so the company is no stranger to attracting big names onto its register, and may indeed have a head start when the time comes for it to start sounding out its funding options.
After all, it's a propitious time to be working up copper and gold projects, and not a bad time to be investigating IOCG targets either. And that's even before we get into the company's exposure to other commodities, including rhenium, uranium and potash. For commodities bulls, this definitely looks like one to follow, and as the markets get into their stride for the final trading season of the year, it's perhaps no surprise that Syndicated's shares have started to gain ground. A steady flow of news should help to keep that momentum going.
SMD Price at posting:
16.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
