DEVELOPER of the Yandera copper project in Madang, Marengo Mining Ltd, has announced the first results of its drilling campaign and finance discussion for the facility.
In a statement released to the market yesterday, the miner said the first diamond drill of its 2013 campaign targeting the near-surface Dimbi zone within the Yandera Central Porphyry System at its flagship Yandera Copper-Molybdenum-Gold has returned encouraging results.
A 2,000m (10-hole) diamond drilling campaign commenced at Dimbi in mid-September with the objective of identifying near-surface resources with the potential to delineate a starter pit for the Yandera mining operation which could enhance the Project.
The new drill-holes have been designed to target projections of interpreted north-east striking mineralised structures in the hanging wall of the Dimbi Fault, a major north-westerly striking structure which dips to the north-east and bounds the Dimbi Zone on the south-west.
The statement said the Dimbi drilling program has been progressing well with three holes (YD 551, YD 552 and YD 553) completed to date and the fourth hole currently in progress. The first batch of assay results has been received for the first hole, YD551, for the interval from surface to 162m down-hole.
Marengo’s President and CEO, Mr Les Emery, said he was pleased and encouraged by the early results from Dimbi, with the first hole intersecting a broad zone of mineralisation with an average grade for the sections for which assays have been received, significantly above the current Mineral Resource grade at Yandera.
“This is a significant result for Yandera, providing strong early encouragement that the current drilling campaign can outline an extensive near-surface zone of higher grade material at Dimbi – with important strategic implications for the overall Yandera development.
“Dimbi has received relatively less attention as an exploration target in the past compared with the other zones which make up the Yandera Central Porphyry, mainly because of the challenging terrain in this area,” Mr Emery continued.
He said the drilling so far has confirmed the very encouraging results from detailed tape and compass-based field mapping carried out earlier this year over the Dimbi zone.
He said the drilling zone gave them the confidence that the program was appropriately targeted and represents the right strategy for the Yandera Project at this time.
‘We look forward to receiving further results from the current drilling campaign over the coming weeks and months,” he said.
The miner said it has entered into discussions regarding the $10 million (K26.46m) loan provided by the Sentient Group, in advance of the December 31, 2013 maturity date for this facility.
“Discussions have been positive to date, and we expect to have a further update regarding these discussions in the coming weeks”