Saturday, March 04, 2006
Estimates of Tampakan copper project growing
BASED on the latest findings, estimates of mineral deposits in the Tampakan project of Sagittarius Mines Inc. have grown significantly as officials continue to be bullish about the venture.
Tony Robbins, managing director of Indophil Resources NL, announced this development in the company's 2005 fourth quarter report released last week.
Indophil owns 40 percent of Sagittarius, a company eyeing to exploit copper and gold deposits straddling the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.
"For the first time, the resource estimate included a measured category, which lifts the level of confidence in the estimate and reconfirms Tampakan project as a world-class deposit," said Robbins.
The resource estimate now stands at 1.34 billion tons at a 0.82 percent copper equivalent, and when the "potential" category is added, the combined defined resource and exploration potential at Tampakan could total in the vicinity of 1.8 billion tons to 2.2 billion tons, Robbins further announced.
He said the US$21 million pre-feasibility is on track and expected to be completed by September this year.
For the last quarter of 2005, he noted that Sagittarius completed 17 new drill holes, allowing the company a better understanding of the distribution of high-grade minerals into two discrete structurally controlled zones.
For 2005, the company drilled 33 holes that extend 13,000 meters deep into the earth. So far, a total of 157 drill holes were completed for a total of 59,000 meters.
Sagittarius took over the venture from Western Mining Corp. in 2003.
The latest resource estimates dwarfed the initial disclosure of the firm to the public in 2004.
The 2004 annual report, the first that Sagittarius produced since reviving the project from Western Mining, said there are approximately 6.8 million tons of copper metal and 8.7 million ounces of gold in a 300 square kilometer project area.
The mineral resource is estimated to be worth US$23 billion, the previous annual report stated.
Excavation of the resources, based on the 2004 predictions, is estimated to last for over 50 years.
Full blast operations are expected to take place not later than 2010, with company officials saying that at least 3,000 people would be hired for the project, mostly to do hard labor. (RBS)
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(February 27, 2006 issue)
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