Asiamet Resources Limited (“ARS” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the commencement of drilling on its exciting Beutong Copper-Gold Project (“Beutong”), located in Nagan Raya Regency, Aceh, Indonesia. Asiamet holds a 40% interest (earning to 80%) in Beutong through its local joint venture Company PT Emas Mineral Murni’s (“EMM”).
Beutong is a large porphyry copper-gold system, which comprises the Beutong East Porphyry (“BEP”), Beutong West Porphyry (“BWP”) and the Beutong Skarn(“BSK”) as shown in Figure 1. Beutong has current JORC compliant Resources containing 2.4Mt (5.3Blb) copper, 2.1Moz gold and 20.6Moz silver on a 100% basis and 1.0Mt (2.1Blb) copper, 0.8Moz gold and 8.2Moz silver on a 40% attributable basis (see announcement dated 26 November 2014).
Highlights
· Beutong is a large high-quality copper, gold, silver, molybdenum deposit which outcrops at surface and remains open in several directions including to depth. Potential to increase the size of the deposits with further drilling is considered high.
· Geological observations indicate excellent potential for the presence of a high-grade copper-gold core at depth similar to that seen in some of the giant Asia-Pacific porphyry systems such Wafi-Golpu (Newcrest, PNG) and Grasberg (Freeport, Indonesia). Drilling designed to test this potential is planned.
· Initial drilling is designed to simultaneously test for extensions of the porphyry Cu-Au mineralisation to the east where previous drilling (hole BEU0900-01 794.5m EOH) intersected 374.4m @ 0.89% Cu, 0.20g/t Au from 4.8m depth (refer ARS Press Release 8 January 2018) and to obtain representative sample for metallurgical test work.
· Metallurgical test-work will assess the potential for developing a large-scale heap leach SX-EW mining operation to produce copper cathode at Beutong.
The BEP and BWP systems show zonation in copper mineral species similar to those observed at the Company’s Beruang Kanan Main (“BKM”) Copper Project in Central Kalimantan, with chalcocite, covellite, and digenite (Figure 3) dominating the upper parts (to 600m depth) of both porphyry systems. The first drill hole is designed to bisect the BEP from west to east in order to obtain sufficient material for planned metallurgical test work and to test extensions to the porphyry copper-gold mineralisation to the east. Metallurgical test work will be carried out to determine the leachability of these secondary copper sulphide minerals, with proposed programs comprising sequential analysis, column leach, agitated leach and bottle roll tests.
The Company plans to drill up to approximately 4,000 metres of PQ, HQ and NQ-size core in 8 holes, with individual angled drill holes up to 750 metres in length depending on drilling conditions. Drill holes have been designed to provide critical information on the vertical and lateral distribution of the secondary sulphide mineralisation, test the strike and depth potential of the Beutong system, and fulfil our commitments in respect of the IUP-OP permit.
Being located close to a sealed road, the logistics for drilling are excellent and will support timely processing and turnaround of samples and results. The drill camp and core logging facilities constructed by Tigers Realm Metals (Beutong was acquired from Tigers Realm in 2015), have recently been renovated to support the drilling and associated programme (Figure 4).
Peter Bird, Asiamet’s Chief Executive Officer commented:
“Asiamet is very pleased to advise the commencement of drilling on its large-scale Beutong porphyry copper-gold project. We have been looking forward to the opportunity to daylight the intrinsic value of this asset since it was acquired in 2015 and having recently secured long-term tenure we are now well placed to re-activate drilling and development activities at a time when copper prices are rising and advanced, large scale projects with excellent nearby infrastructure are scarce. As the scale and grade of the Beutong deposit becomes more widely recognised we would expect to see a significantly enhanced level of interest in the Company and its activities. We look forward to reporting the results of the drilling and metallurgical programmes at Beutong, along with results from Feasibility studies at BKM and further exploration at BKZ and other prospects in the BK district.”
Qualified Person
Data disclosed in this press release have been reviewed and verified by ARS’s qualified person, Stephen Hughes, P. Geo, Vice President Exploration of the Company and a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and for the purposes of the AIM Rules.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTOR
