VANCOUVER– Kimber Resources (KBR-T, KBX-X) has been drilling the Monterde project in Mexico for almost a decade, slowly adding gold and silver ounces to a growing, three-deposit resource. Now, a new estimate has again lifted the project’s precious metal count.
The Monterde project, in Chihuahua state, roughly 260 km southwest of Chihuahua City, is home to three deposits: Carmen, Veta Minitas, and Carotare. All three are comprised of high-grade gold-silver cores with lower-grade mineralization in an enveloping halo and all are within 2 km of each other.
Carmen is the largest and best defined of the three Monterde deposits. The high-grade core at Carmen, distinguishable by using a cutoff grade of 3 grams gold-equivalent per tonne, now stands at 3.7 million indicated tonnes grading 4.19 grams gold and 165.2 grams silver, plus 1.9 million inferred tonnes averaging 4.4 grams gold and 94.6 grams silver, for a combined total of 765,000 oz. gold and 25.3 million oz. silver.
Lowering the cutoff grade to 0.3 gram gold equivalent to include the lower-grade envelope increases the Carmen resource to 19.5 million indicated tonnes grading 1.12 grams gold and 59 grams silver, plus 10.8 million inferred tonnes averaging 1.09 grams gold and 32 grams silver, for 1.1 million oz. gold and 48 million oz. silver.
The much smaller Veta Minitas deposit is just 250 metres southwest. Kimber recently upped the high-grade resource at Veta Minitas to 34,000 indicated tonnes grading 4.8 grams gold and 303.2 grams silver plus 689,000 inferred tonnes averaging 4.69 grams gold and 182.8 grams silver, for a combined count of 109,000 oz. gold and 4.4 million oz. silver. Including the lower-grade envelope, the contained metal at Veta Miritas climbs to 130,300 oz. gold and 6.4 million oz. silver.
Kimber is currently working to update the resource at Carotare, the third Monterde deposit, which sits 2 km west of Carmen. The last estimate, in 2005, pegged resources at 2.7 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.82 gram gold and 29 grams silver, plus 3.8 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.85 gram gold and 25 grams silver, for 174,000 oz. gold and 5.5 million oz. silver. The updated resource estimate should be complete by January.
Kimber says it is now starting “a formal review of potential economics” at the Carmen and Veta Minitas deposits. At the end of September, the company had just over $2 million available as working capital.
Kimber shares recently traded at $1.41 in a 52-week range of 47¢-$1.83. In the two weeks since announcing the Carmen resource boost, however, the company’s share price shot up $1.05 or 157%. Kimber has 62 million shares outstanding.
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