Herald Res. drills Indonesian property

Australian-listed Herald Resources is resuming drilling at the Dairi zinc-lead project in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

The program will be attempt to expand the Anjing Hitam zone, which hosts an independently estimated indicated resource of 7.5 million tonnes grading 16.7% zinc and 10.3% lead, plus 14 grams silver per tonne. An additional 2.5 million tonnes grading 11.3% zinc, 6.8% lead and 13 grams silver are categorized as inferred.

The Dairi project is 120 km south of the capital city of Medan and comprises a seventh-generation contract of work covering 220 sq. km and two Kuasa Pertambanggans (land permits) totalling 136 sq. km. Portions of the project area are accessible by road. Herald’s 71%-owned subsidiary, Vancouver-based International Annax Ventures (IAX-V), holds an 80% interest in Dairi, with the remainder held by Aneka Tambang, a partially state-owned, partially privatized company. Aneka holds a one-time right to increase its stake to 30% by paying 15% of all previous exploration costs.

Anjing Hitam is a shale-hosted, massive sulphide, sedimentary-exhalative (sedex) horizon on the southeastern flank of the Sopokomil domal structure. Some 24 holes drilled along 100-metre centres between sections 9,475N and 10,100N demonstrate that the main mineralized horizon extends more than 700 metres along strike and 250-300 metres downdip. The thickness of the zone varies from 3 to 30 metres.

The Anjing Hitam zone consists of two sub-parallel horizons. Most of the lower main horizon is categorized as an indicated resource, with a 100-metre strike and downdip extension at the southern end labelled as inferred. The upper horizon has been intersected in eight holes.

Anjing Hitam remains open along strike to the southeast and downdip. There is also some scope to the northwest. Preliminary metallurgical tests are under way at the Amdel laboratory in Adelaide, Australia.

Drilling will further test the downdip extension at the southern end of the deposit. The first hole of the 2001 program will try to intercept the zone at about 120 metres downdip of hole 41, which cut 6.6 metres grading 15.6% zinc and 9.1% lead, starting at a down-hole depth of 369 metres.

Mineralization, consisting of massive-to-laminated pyrite, along with sphalerite and galena, occurs in the central portion of a 50-to-70-metre-thick silty, carbonaceous shale. Underlying the shale unit is a limestone-dolomite unit, which hosts widespread, replacement-style, lower-grade zinc-lead mineralization that remains a second-priority, bulk-tonnage target.

Anjing Hitam occurs at the southern end of the 3.5-km-long Sopokomil sedex horizon. To date, 45 holes have been completed along this trend. Extensive zinc mineralization in the 2-to-3% range has been encountered in 11 holes along 1,100 metres of strike in the footwall Jehe dolostone unit.

Significant sedex-style mineralization has also been intersected in the Base Camp and Bongkaras areas, north of Anjing Hitam. Based on four holes, the Base Camp zone is estimated to contain an inferred resource of 600,000 tonnes grading 6.3% zinc, 3.7% lead and 4 grams silver per tonne.

The Bongkaras area was tested for the first time by two holes, centred 2.5 km northwest of Anjing Hitam. The two holes intersected multiple, narrow, sedex-type horizons adjacent to the northernmost exposure of the Sopokomil horizon. Most notable was hole 45 (the last drilled in the 2000 program), which cut 5.5 metres grading 14.6% zinc and 8.5% lead.

Most of the holes completed to date were drilled along the eastern portion of the domal structure. The western limb remains largely untested, as do associated geophysical and geochemical anomalies.

Meanwhile, regional trenching has exposed a broad zone of low-grade zinc-lead mineralization at the Lubuk Raya prospect, 15 km north of Sopokomil. Previous work had turned up anomalous soils and a coinciding electromagnetic target.

Herald is trading in the A68-61 range. At the end of December 2000, the junior had 42.6 million shares outstanding and a working capital of A$6.1 million.