Asia Mineral steps up work at Ban Phuc

Vancouver — Drilling by Asian Mineral Resources (ASN-V) continues to prove up resources on the junior’s 70%-owned Ban Phuc nickel project in northern Vietnam.

The latest round of infill and exploratory work delivered some significant intercepts, including the following:

— Hole 36 — 8 metres (from 147 metres) of disseminated sulphide mineralization grading 0.91% nickel, followed by a second, 16-metre section (from 165 metres) grading 0.8% nickel;

— Hole 40 — 4.9 metres (from 130 metres) grading 2.13% nickel and 0.79% copper in massive- sulphide vein material, including higher-grade intervals of up to 0.7 metre of 5.15% nickel and 1.66% copper;

— Hole 47 — 4 metres (from 264 metres) of massive-sulphide vein material averaging 4% nickel and 2.67% copper;

— Hole 49 — 7.9 metres (from 228 metres) of massive-sulphide vein material grading 5.16% nickel and 1.67% copper.

Drilling targeted both the Ban Phuc massive-sulphide vein structure and the lower-grade disseminated ultramafic intrusive zone. Results show possible extensions to mineralized zones plunging toward the west.

The footwall shear zone, which has been drilled over 730 metres, strikes east-west and dips steeply northward.

The primary sulphide minerals in the vein structure are pentlandite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite.

A lower-grade zone of disseminated nickel mineralization is hosted in two ultramafic intrusions. A serpentinized olivine-pyroxenite and a partially serpentinized dunite have accumulations of pentlandite, millerite and violarite as the main nickel sulphides.

In September 2004, and following first-phase drilling, Asian Mineral updated the indicated resource estimate to 8.52 million tonnes grading 0.76% nickel. The company also reported an inferred resource of 35.7 million tonnes grading 0.56% nickel.

Ban Phuc is envisioned as an open-pit operation.

Previously, in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, Vietnamese groups carried out some underground development work on the property. As a result, 3 km of accessible adits and crosscuts expose the mineralization, and Asia Mineral is reopening these.

Asian Mineral plans to increase its interest in Ban Phuc to 90% by acquiring a further 20% from its Vietnamese partner.

The company has 37.9 million shares outstanding at trades at 45.