Aussie high-grade buoys Committee Bay (January 21, 2008)

Vancouver — Joint-venture partners Committee Bay Resources (CBR-V, CBYRF-O) and Focus Minerals (FML-A) have cut significant gold intercepts at the Perseverance deposit, in Western Australia’s Coolgardie greenstone belt.

Grade control drilling on the advanced-stage project, part of the Redemption JV land package, delivered up to 9.1 metres (from 91.5 metres down-hole depth) grading 87.3 grams gold per tonne — including a 1.3-metre section of 273 grams gold.

All of the first 20 holes in the latest underground drill program cut mineralization — confirming known widths and intersecting some wider sections of gold-hosting structure.

Drilling also verified a new gold-mineralized quartz-sulphide zone in the footwall — about 10 metres below the main lode. Although the new zone is narrower than the main zone and not as continuous, it has potential for some high-grade portions. Significant gold mineralization was also encountered in a deeper dioritic unit, showing potential for added tonnage.

Committee Bay says the results from the southern end of the main mineralized zone are coming in at higher grades than previous drilling.

“This could be a reflection of either the ‘nuggetty’ nature of the orebody, or the existing exploration drill holes do not truly reflect the grade of the quartz-sulphide lode at the southern extremities,” said company president and CEO John Williamson in a statement.

Production from the Perseverance orebody is planned in early 2008, following delivery of a bankable feasibility study, expected shortly. Results from the latest drilling are not being incorporated into the report.

Perseverance is the first planned mine for the JV partners in the Tindals mining centre, with several other deposits being evaluated for development. The JV also owns the fully permitted Three Mile Hill mill — a 1.2-million-tonne-per-year processing facility that is currently being refurbished.

The 210-sq.-km Redemption land package hosts measured and indicated resources of 9.1 million tonnes grading about 2 grams gold for about 595,000 contained ounces gold in several deposits. Another 11.5 million inferred tonnes at 2.8 grams gold (1.04 million contained ounces gold) has also been reviewed on the claims.

The JV also has an agreement in place to process up to 480,000 tonnes of ore annually through Higginsville Mining’s nearby Greenfields mill at a toll fee of A$22 per tonne.

Shares of Committee Bay rallied 23% on the news, gaining 7.5 to close at 40. The stock has a 52-week trading range of 27-73.

The company is also active on its large Committee Bay greenstone belt project, in Nunavut, where it holds more than 2,500 sq. km of ground along the 300-km-long gold belt. Its Three Bluffs project hosts an inferred resource of 1.9 million tonnes at 8 grams gold for about 487,000 contained ounces gold.