With another US$5 million in the till,
The junior is exploring a gold-copper-molybdenum porphyry in Mongolia and high-grade gold systems in each of Myanmar and South Korea. Over the past two months, the company has raised US$10.25 million to fund these activities by issuing 5 million shares (the most recent financing) and 5.25 million share-purchase warrants at US$1 apiece.
The work is mostly focused on the Turquoise Hill project in southern Mongolia, where a 16,000-metre drill campaign is under way. The property covers 238 sq. km of the Gobi Desert, where it overlies a Silurian-Devonian sequence of bedded andesitic and basaltic flows interbedded with fine-to-coarse-grained volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks. Several feldspar porphyries intrude the sequence as stocks and dykes, as do syenitic granitoids and rhyolitic-to-andesitic dykes.
Exploration over the past five years by Ivanhoe and others has resulted in the discovery of four gold porphyry prospects in an area measuring 3 km long by 2 km wide. This year’s program is focused on the Southwest, Central and South Oyu areas, particularly their potential for hypogene mineralization to depths of 500 metres below surface.
Earlier this year, hole 150 intersected an impressive 508 metres in the Southwest Oyu area averaging 1.17 grams gold per tonne, plus 0.81% copper and 0.01% molybdenum. The interval, which began 70 metres below surface, included 278 metres averaging 1.5 grams gold, more than 1% copper and 0.02% moly.
More recently, holes 160 and 161 have confirmed the target’s potential by returning similarly long intervals of mineralization. The former, collared 120 metres northeast of hole 150, in the updip direction, intersected 288 metres (starting at a down-hole depth of 46 metres) grading 0.8% copper. Stepping out 100 metres laterally to the southeast, hole 161 returned 358 metres (starting at 70 metres) grading 0.71% copper and 1.7 grams gold.
The two recent holes, like hole 150, passed through quartz-sulphide stockworks in an andesite porphyry host. Follow-up holes are reported to have encountered similarly encouraging mineralization, though results are pending.
Ivanhoe can earn a 100% interest in the project by spending US$6 million on exploration over seven years and paying US$5 million to
Meanwhile, in South Korea, drilling and trenching are evaluating mineralized systems and delineating other prospective areas. The most prospective system discovered so far has a known cumulative strike length of 3.2 km and carries up to 120.13 grams gold and 680 grams silver over 3.05 metres.
Mineralization is epithermal in nature and characteristic of a low-sulphidation environment. Gold and silver occur in quartz veins, breccias, stockworks and zones of quartz flooding in flat-lying volcanic sediments that are crosscut by rhyodacite to rhyolite dykes.
Ivanhoe holds a 90% interest in the project through a Korean subsidiary. A resource estimate is expected once the current program is complete.
Modi Taung
In Myanmar, work at the 83%-held Modi Taung project is focused on a gold vein system discovered late last year. The prospective area, some 150 km southeast of Mandalay, measures 3 km long by 2 km wide and carries up to 3,475 grams gold across 1.3 metres.
At last report, five parallel vein structures had been identified in the area. All are hosted by a mesothermal slate said to be similar to the gold fields at Bendigo, Australia.
Underground development at Modi Taung is to be followed by drilling.
Ivanhoe’s other interests include: a half-interest in the Monwya copper mine, also in Myanmar; full interests in the Savage River iron-ore mine and related Port Latta pellet plant in Australia; a 70% stake in the Bakyrchik gold mine in Kazakstan; and an 18.1% stake in Emperor Mines, owner of a producing gold mine in Fiji.
The Bakyrchik mine is expected to resume production in the fourth quarter, at the annual rate of 20,000 oz.
Be the first to comment on "Ivanhoe Mines tops up treasury"