98aee8b5-4278-447e-af74-e40ce3a2e651.pdf
Silver Lake Resources Ltd ("Silver Lake" or "the Company")
Suite 4, Level 3 South Shore Centre
85 South Perth Esplanade South Perth WA 6151
TEL +61 8 6313 3800
FAX +61 8 6313 3888
ABN 38 108 779 782
Board of Directors:
David Quinlivan Luke Tonkin Kelvin Flynn Les Davis
Brian Kennedy
ASX Code: SLR
Issued Capital:
503.7m Shares 2.0m Options
-
m Performance Rights
All financial figures quoted in this report are in Australian dollars and are unaudited
ASX ANNOUNCEMENT 29 April 2016
Maxwells Mineral Resource Increases 400% to 307,000 Ounces
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Excellent final results returned from accelerated Maxwells exploration drill program including:
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Contained ounces in the Maxwells Mineral Resource increased 400%
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Increase to 1.69 million tonnes at 5.67 g/t Au for 307,000 ounces
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Indicated Mineral Resources of 891,000 tonnes at 6.01 g/t Au for 172,000 ounces accounts for 56% of the updated Mineral Resource
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Preparations are underway to commence a low capital, underground development at Maxwells in Q1 FY17
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Drilling targeting depth extensions and repetitions along strike remain a priority with 2,500 metres diamond drilling planned in current quarter
Silver Lake Resources Limited ("Silver Lake" or the "Company") advises that the results from its accelerated Maxwells exploration drill program have resulted in a significant increase to the Maxwells Mineral Resource estimate.
The Maxwells Development Project now hosts an upgraded Mineral Resource totalling 1.685 million tonnes at 5.67 g/t Au for a total of 307,000 ounces of gold, including 891,000 tonnes at 6.01 g/t Au for 172,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated category, equating to 56% of the total Mineral Resource.
Background
The Maxwells gold deposit is a high-priority, near-term development opportunity within the Mount Belches mining centre, located 18 kilometres east of the Randalls Mill within the Mount Monger Operation. Current Silver Lake mining operations within the Mount Belches area include the Cock-eyed Bob underground mine, and the Rumbles, Santa and Fly-Camp open pit mines.
The banded iron formation ("BIF") units that host the gold mineralisation within the existing Maxwells open pit were previously mined to approximately 140 metres below ground level with the most recent cut back completed in June 2014. The open pit generated ore at 16,087 tonnes per vertical metre ("TVM") or 1,375 ounces per vertical metre ("OVM") over its life, however significantly more OVM was generated while the open pit simultaneously mined the Western, Central and Eastern BIF units. During this phase of mining the Maxwells pit produced approximately 24,000 TVM of ore at 1,970 OVM.
Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX: SLR) Page 1 of 18
Historical grade control and exploration drilling coupled with the most recent diamond and RC drilling results supported the proposition that the higher grade ore shoots seen within the open pit continued well below the base of the existing open pit at grades and widths capable of sustaining a profitable underground mine.
Drilling Results
The accelerated Maxwells exploration drilling program was completed in April 2016. Overall, the Maxwells exploration drilling program has delivered an outstanding set of results and has vindicated the exploration strategy targeting higher margin ounces outlined by Silver Lake in August 2015.
A total of 149 diamond and RC drill holes for an aggregate of 16,713 metres have been completed at Maxwells since August 2015. Most drill holes intersected the host BIF units in the projected target positions. Mineralisation logged within the host units is similar to the high grade lodes within the Maxwells open pit, comprising strongly altered BIF, quartz veining, abundant pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite sulphides, and visible gold.
Following on from the drilling reported in the March 2016 Quarterly Report, the final assay results from the remaining four diamond drill holes have been received, including highlights of 2.75 metres at
11.7 g/t Au and 1.58 metres at 22.2 g/t Au in 16MXRD014. These results are reported in Appendix 1.
Maxwells Mineral Resource Update
The exploration drilling program has resulted in a significant upgrade to the Maxwells Mineral Resource estimate, completed in accordance with the 2012 JORC code. Maxwells now hosts a Mineral Resource totalling 1.685 million tonnes at 5.67 g/t Au for a total of 307,000 ounces of gold, including 891,000 tonnes at 6.01 g/t Au for 172,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated category, representing 56% of the Total Mineral Resource (Table 1, Figure 1).
April 2016 Mineral Resource Estimate (2.5 g/t Au Cut-off)
Indicated
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
Tonnes
(t)
|
Grade
(g/t Au)
|
Gold
(oz)
|
Tonnes
(t)
|
Grade
(g/t Au)
|
Gold
(oz)
|
Tonnes
(t)
|
Grade
(g/t Au)
|
Gold
(oz)
|
891,000
|
6.01
|
172,000
|
794,000
|
5.28
|
135,000
|
1,685,000
|
5.67
|
307,000
|
Note: Totals may differ due to rounding.
Table 1: April 2016 Maxwells Mineral Resource
The updated Maxwells Mineral Resource estimate represents a 246,000 ounce (400%) increase to the previous Mineral Resource reported in the annual Silver Lake Mineral Resource and Ore Reserves Update from 28 August 2015 (Table 2).
Mineral Resource Increase
April 2016 vs. August 2015 (2.5 g/t Au Cut-off)
Resource Category
|
Tonnes (t)
|
Grade (g/t Au)
|
Gold (oz Au)
|
Increase
|
% Increase
|
August 2015
|
April 2016
|
August 2015
|
April 2016
|
August 2015
|
April 2016
|
Tonnes (t)
|
Grade (g/t Au)
|
Gold (oz Au)
|
Tonnes (t)
|
Grade (g/t Au)
|
Gold (oz Au)
|
Indicated
|
188,000
|
891,000
794,000
|
4.78
|
6.01
5.28
|
29,000
|
172,000
135,000
|
+703,000
|
+1.23
|
+143,000
|
374%
|
26%
|
493%
|
Inferred
|
194,000
|
5.16
|
32,000
|
+600,000
|
+0.11
|
+103,000
|
309%
|
2%
|
322%
|
Total
|
382,000
|
1,685,000
|
4.97
|
5.67
|
61,000
|
307,000
|
+1,303,000
|
+0.70
|
+246,000
|
341%
|
14%
|
403%
|
Notes: Totals may differ due to rounding. August 2015 Mineral Resource previously reported using 1.0 g/t Au cut-off. August 2015 Mineral Resource reported in this announcement at a 2.5 g/t Au cut-off to allow direct comparison between estimates.
Table 2: Maxwells August 2015 vs. April 2016 Mineral Resource increase
The significant Mineral Resource increase is attributed to the greater tonnage and higher grades within the three main Maxwells mineralised BIF units intersected by the recent drilling, which confirmed the predicted shallow-plunging and high-grade shoots extend below the base of the open pit.
Maxwells Development Project
The Company will assess the development of an exploration and production decline at Maxwells during the current quarter. The development, which could commence in Q1 FY17, envisages strike development and production from the Eastern and Central BIF units. This will also provide a drilling horizon from which to drill the high grade Western BIF unit directly beneath the pit floor.
To date the Maxwells deposit has only been effectively tested to an average depth of 150 metres below the base of the open pit which, at its deepest, is 140 metres below surface.
The Maxwells high-grade shoots remain open at depth and along strike to the south, and several parallel lodes have been intersected to the east and west of the three main BIF host units. These potential depth extensions and repetitions to the Maxwells deposit will be the target of ongoing exploration drilling programs. An additional 2,500 metres of diamond drilling is scheduled for the latter half of Q4 FY16, and exploration drilling at Maxwells is expected to continue into FY17.
Commenting on the significant increase to the Maxwells Mineral Resource, Silver Lake Managing Director Luke Tonkin said:
"The substantial 400% increase to the high-grade resource at Maxwells, one of Silver Lake's key development projects, is incredibly encouraging. Maxwells has been one of our highest priority exploration projects since August 2015 and while the updated resource is a key milestone we continue to see great opportunity to further increase the resource both at depth and along strike.
"The potential underground development at Maxwells supported by the updated mineral resource is expected to make a meaningful contribution to Silver Lake's key objective of delivering new ore sources that sustain and enhance margins to drive shareholder returns. Consistent with this objective, Board approval to commence underground development of Maxwells will be sought by the end of the current quarter.
"Silver Lake is delivering today, developing for tomorrow and discovering for the future."
For further information, please contact:
Competent Person's Statement
The information in this report that relates to Exploration Targets and Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr Antony Shepherd, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Shepherd is a full time employee of Silver Lake Resources Ltd and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edit ion of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Shepherd consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
The information in the ASX announcement to which this statement is attached that relates to grade estimation for the Mineral Resources for Maxwells deposit is based upon information compiled by Matthew Karl, a Competent Person who is a member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Karl is a full-time employee of the company. Mr Karl has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Karl consents to the inclusion in the report of matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
Figure 1: Oblique long section of the Maxwells deposit, showing the updated Mineral Resource estimate block model, reported at a 2.5 g/t Au cut-off. Local mine grid.
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