PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Centaurus Metals has delivered a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource for the Canavial project, located some 10 km from its flagship Jambreiro project, in Brazil.

The Canavial project is estimated to host some 27.6-million tons of resource, at an average grade of 30.5% iron, boosting Centaurus’ resource inventory in Brazil to over 201-million tons.

The miner said on Friday that the new resource estimate included a 15.8-million-ton friable itabirite mineralisation, grading 33.2% iron, of which 6.1-million tons had already been converted to indicated resource.

“This is a great result from a standing start at Canavial, with drilling delivering a solid maiden Jorc resource, which has a significant component of friable itibirite mineralisation similar to what we have at Jambreiro,” said Centaurus MD Darren Gordon.

He noted that while the company still had to complete metallurgical testwork and other studies to progress the project, all indications were that it could be developed quickly as a low-cost bolt-on growth opportunity for the main processing operation at Jambreiro.

“This highlights the significant exploration upside within the Guanhaes region and the opportunities to continue to grow our resource inventory,” Gordon said.

A maiden resource for the Candonga satellite deposit was expected within a month, with Gordon noting that there were several other untested exploration targets within the regional tenement holding.

“We plan to test these in the future, once we have a fully fledged mining operation up and running at Jambreiro.”

Centaurus had started detailed engineering works on the Jambreiro project and recently received the installation licence for the project, allowing on-site construction to start.

First production has been targeted for mid-2014.