TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Cardero Resource Corp on Friday announced a maiden resource for its Sheini Hills iron project in north-east Ghana, estimating the project to contain 1.3-billion tons of ore grading 33.8% iron.
The Canadian National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate, calculated by consulting engineers SRK Consulting, included average grades of 6% aluminium oxide, 37.3% silicon dioxide and 0.27% phosphorus at a 15% cut-off grade, all of which fall within the Whittle optimisation pit with a global strip ratio of 0.93.
Iron mineralisation at Sheini occurs as primary ironstone in banded and granular types with local hardcap development and as detrital iron deposits, located on plains, next to the ironstone deposits.
The company said Phase I drilling defined an inferred mineral resource over a strike length of about 9 km. Airborne geophysical surveys carried out during 2012 defined anomalies over an additional strike length of about 24 km and these anomalies were confirmed with iron mineralisation by reconnaissance mapping. Drill targets over this trend will require about 18 000 m of diamond drilling to be tested.