| Key Points:– Burtville Mineral Resource increases to 5.7Mt @ 1.3g/t for 235,000oz of gold
– Wider exploration review points to likelihood of a very large mineralised system outside existing mined area – Short-term goal is to advance development of Burtville and establish an Ore Reserve to enable incorporation in the 12 month mining schedule at Laverton |
Focus Minerals Ltd. (ASX: FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, is pleased to announce that recent drilling at the Burtville mining centre in Laverton (see ASX release dated 31 July 2012) has delivered a 140% increase in its Burtville Mineral Resource estimate to 5.7Mt @ 1.3g/t for 235,000 ounces of contained gold (Table 1).
Burtville (Figure 1) has been a target of strong interest for Focus since it took control of the Laverton operations in October 2011. Burtville was a large, low strip ratio, open pit operation mined in the 1990s by Sons of Gwalia producing 64,000oz @ 1.4g/t. Numerous workings indicate a substantial gold system across a 2km x 1km footprint (Figure 2) located 22km from the Barrick Granny Smith Mill.
“This is a significant increase in the Mineral Resource from a drilling program that has only focused on one small portion of the Burtville system,” said Focus Minerals CEO, Campbell Baird. “Very little drilling has been previously undertaken within a 2km x 1km area around the old pit, where old workings and structural trends highlight significant exploration upside.”