| January
29, 2004
TERTIARY TO START DRILLING NEXT MONTH
ON FOUR FRONTS AT SCANDINAVIAN PROJECTS – AGM TOLD
- Drill Rigs
Being Mobilised For Separate Programmes In Finland And Sweden
- Work Begins
To Define Drill Site At New Finnish Kimberlite Target
- Company Evaluates
Funding Opportunities For Tantalum Projects
Details of Tertiary
Mineral’s planned programme of intensive exploration on its
Scandinavian projects over the next few months were revealed today
by executive chairman Mr Patrick Cheetham at the company’s
annual meeting. They include drilling of two prime targets, the
Kaaresselkä gold prospect in Finland and the Ahmavuoma copper-gold-cobalt
project in Sweden. Work is also scheduled on four other projects,
including the Boliden East gold prospect and the new Finnish diamond
project announced earlier this week.
Kaaresselkä, acquired late last year, is located in northern
Finland some 15km from the producing Pahtavaara gold mine and within
the same Lappland gold belt as the 2m oz Suurikuusikko deposit.
The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has been exploring the project
for several years and is reported to have intersected significant
gold mineralisation (a best value of 45g/t over 2m) in three separate
zones within an area measuring 1.1km by 0.6km. An extensive exploration
database has been compiled from the results of more than 10,000m
of drilling and numerous geophysical and geochemical surveys completed
in the area.
A report by geological consultants ACA Howe International, commissioned
by Tertiary in December to compile all historical GTK exploration
data at Kaaresselkä and make recommendations for a programme
of follow-up drilling, should be available next week. Tertiary says
it expects to mobilise a drill rig to Karresselkä by mid-February
with the objective of defining the resource potential of the known
zones of mineralization and to test any additional targets within
the project area.
The initial
three-week programme is scheduled to complete approximately 1,000m
of diamond drilling with further programmes to follow. Assay results
from the initial drilling can be expected 3-4 weeks after drilling
is completed, Tertiary adds.
A second drill rig will be mobilised on February 9 to the Ahmavuoma
project, a target for copper-gold and cobalt located 40km east of
Kiruna in the Norbotten district of northern Sweden. An initial
three-week programme of 7-10 core holes is planned for a total of
1,000m-1,500m of drilling, with further holes dependent on initial
results. Previous drilling at the property in the 1980s was hindered
by poor core recovery and, to overcome this problem, Tertiary will
use a larger diameter triple-tube core barrel with operations supervised
by a specialist driller from Canada.
Known mineralization at Ahmavuoma has the characteristics of iron
oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) type deposits which include a number of
world-class orebodies such as Olympic Dam in Australia and Kiruna,
states Tertiary. The Norbotten district is regarded as a “hot
spot” for IOCG exploration with large ground positions held
by Rio Tinto and Phelps Dodge, and a new discovery, Rakkurijarvi,
recently announced by Anglo American.
The drilling at Ahmavuoma in the 1980s targeted a 3km long magnetic
anomaly comprising three off-set zones (South East, Main and North
West), focussing on the South East zone where wide intervals of
copper-gold-cobalt mineralisation were intersected. However, poor
core recovery in zones of strong alteration and in massive sulphide
mineralisation hindered accurate evaluation of grade and thickness
of this zone, states Tertiary. Only limited drilling was undertaken
in the Main and North West zones but this encountered magnetite-breccias
typical of IOCG deposits as well as sporadic copper-gold mineralisation.
The sulphide mineralisation in the South East zone is conductive
and was detected by previous electromagnetic (EM) surveys. These
also showed a number of anomalies within the Main and North West
zones which have not been tested and are now priority targets, says
Tertiary. The EM surveys were generally effective to a depth of
less than 80m and a deeper survey is now in progress to test all
three zones at Ahmavuoma to a depth of more than 200m, it adds.
The overall objective of the programme is to determine the grade/tonnage
potential of the South East zone of mineralisation, extend it where
open along strike and also to test a number of coincident geophysical/geochemical
anomalies in the Main and North West Zones.
BASE-OF-TILL DRILLING AT BOLIDEN
AND VEHKAVARRA
Elsewhere, Tertiary plans to start next week on a programme of base-of-till
drilling at two Swedish prospects. Some 50 holes will be drilled
at Boliden East (gold) in two traverses 1km along strike from the
historic Boliden gold mine which, prior to closure in 1965, produced
more than 4m oz from ore grading over 15g/t gold. The drilling at
Vehkavaara will test for IOCG-style copper-gold mineralisation in
a zone of coincident geophysical and surface geochemical anomalies.
Follow up drilling is provisionally planned this winter at both
projects.
At the company’s new Finnish diamond project, a programme
of ground magnetic testing has been contracted to the Geological
Survey of Finland. It is expected to be carried out within the next
two weeks and drill testing of the kimberlite target will follow.
Further geophysical exploration is planned for the Notträsk
nickel project in Sweden to target additional drilling programmes.
Tertiary also states that evaluation continues of its massive Ghurayyah
tantalum deposit in Saudi Arabia where its strategy is to advance
the project without further costs to the company.
“A number of promising funding opportunities are being evaluated
for Ghurayyah and we hope to be in a position to make a further
statement during the present quarter”, said Mr Cheetham.
“The market recovery for tantalum use in consumer electronics
is also benefiting our Rosendal tantalum project in Finland where
preliminary investigations for external funding are now taking place”,
he added.
Further
info: Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, Tertiary
Minerals plc.
Tel: 01625-626203
John Greenhalgh/Ron Marshman, City of London PR Ltd.
Tel: 0207-628 5518 |
