JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-quoted multicommodity natural resources company Premier African Minerals on Monday said a recent exploration update from its flagship RHA tungsten project, in Zimbabwe, indicated the potential for development of a low-capital- and low-operating-cost mine in the near term.
A five-hole diamond drilling programme undertaken on site confirmed significant tungsten oxide values.
"This update has revealed significant tungsten mineralisation in the form of very coarse wolframite crystals hosted by quartz veins identified from drillhole intersections, and highlights the exceptional prospectivity of our RHA tungsten project,” Premier CEO George Roach said in a statement.
Drilling had also potentially uncovered three previously unknown, well-mineralised quartz veins in the existing lode system.
Further low-cost surface trenching and sampling would be undertaken in the first quarter of the year to confirm the surface location and extent of the hanging wall lodes, with a South African Mineral Codes-compliant resource on target for completion within the first half of the year.
“In tandem with this, we are also completing a conceptual mine study, which will determine the most beneficial and cost-effective method of exploiting the known extent of the RHA deposit,” added Roach.
The conceptual study would consider the possibility of early and low-cost production from the recently discovered outcropping mineralised quartz veins, as well as from existing tailings dams and dumps.
“Given the availability of water and power at the property, and the relative simplicity of the required processing plant, we believe we will be able to start development with a view to production potentially before the end of 2013," Roach advised.