Vancouver — Recent drilling at Zone A of the Tumpangpitu prospect delivered Intrepid Mines (IAU-T, IAU-a) its best oxide drill results to date from the Tujuh Bukit property, near the eastern tip of Java Island, Indonesia.
Starting from surface, hole 49 hit 488 metres grading 1.34 grams gold per tonne and 28.26 grams silver. About 150 metres away, hole 41 returned 432 metres grading 0.75 gram gold and 21.16 grams silver.
In addition to topping 1 gram gold in 400-metre-long intercepts, both holes cut more than 2 grams gold over significant lengths. Hole 49 hit 212 metres grading 2.26 grams gold and 44.08 grams silver and hole 41 returned 54 metres of 2.34 grams gold and 48.74 grams silver.
The latest results from Zone A suggest there are higher-grade gold and silver areas within the larger mineralized areas.
Intrepid has named three zones within the 8-sq.-km Tumpangpitu prospect of Tujuh Bukit’s southeast corner: A, B and C. Zone A is the most northerly of the three, with Zone C about 500 metres to the southwest and Zone B just over 1 km southeast.
During the summer, Intrepid announced an inferred resource estimate for Zone C of 36.5 million tonnes grading 0.53 gram gold, 25 grams silver and 0.1% copper.
Intrepid expects to release a resource estimate for Zone A in December. In Zone B, the company has a drill turning.
As it stands, Indonesian forestry law forbids development of openpit mines on parts of the Tujuh Bukit property.
In an email, Intrepid CEO Brad Gordon explained that parts of the property above a certain altitude fall under Indonesia’s “protection forest” designation, meaning openpit mines can’t be developed there. Other parts of the property below that altitude fall under “production forest” designation, where openpit mines are allowed, subject to permitting.
The aim of the rule is “to prevent mass clearing of forest and therefore drainage and erosion issues,” Gordon says.
As a result, Intrepid has engaged the government in a process “whereby we move the boundary between the two to facilitate mining in the reclassified production forest,” Gordon says.
The process of reclassification has been applied to other resource projects in the past, he says. For instance, BHP Billiton (BHP-N, BLT-l) is going through a similar process for a couple of their Indonesian coal mines, Gordon notes.
“It involves a two-for-one land swap . . . we are asked to acquire (land) in neighbouring production forest,” he says. “We expect the process to be concluded in the first half of 2009.”
In addition to Tujuh Bukit and numerous other exploration properties, Intrepid operates the Paulsen gold mine in Australia and is developing the Casposo gold-silver project in Argentina.
On news of the drill results, Intrepid’s share price slipped 1¢ to close at 10¢. It has about 414 million shares outstanding.
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