Ivanhoe adds to Mongolian land holdings

Encouraged by the success of recent deep drilling at the Turquoise Hill (Oyu Tolgoi) copper-gold porphyry discovery in southern Mongolia, Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T) has boosted its land position in the region with the acquisition of mining licences covering 15,100 sq. km.

The company says it acquired the properties after extensive field investigations of more than 350 mineral occurrences over the past five years. The newly added properties are situated in the same geological province that hosts Ivanhoe’s Turquoise Hill discovery. Ivanhoe now holds mineral rights to 15,600 sq. km in Mongolia’s Gobi porphyry copper-gold belt.

Ivanhoe’s executive vice-president of exploration said, “We’re convinced that there are other important, Oyu Tolgoi-type, gold-rich copper porphyries within this belt of rocks in Southern Mongolia. The geology and tectonic setting of the South Gobi region compares favourably to gold-rich porphyry copper deposits that have been discovered in other countries. The high gold content and large size of the Oyu Tolgoi porphyry system highlight the potential of our new exploration tenements.”

The three-year mineral exploration licences can be extended to a maximum of seven years at which point they may be converted to a mining licence. Mining licences are granted for a 60-year period and are renewable for up to another 40 years. Mineral rights are maintained by payment of a yearly per-hectare fee.

Last October, Ivanhoe added four properties in the mineral belt — Oyut Ulaan, Chandman Uul, Oyut, Saran Uul and Ovoo. The properties have surrendered encouraging values in rock samples.

Situated in the southeastern Gobi desert region, Oyut Ulaan comprises two separate targets. Both have yielded more than 5% copper, up to 5.45 grams gold and 0.07% molybdenum in chip samples.

The southeastern region of the Gobi also hosts Chandman Uul, a copper-bearing magnetite skarn that props out as a series of prominent hills over a length of 3 km. Chip samples were highly anomalous in copper and gold, surpassing 5% and up to 2.3 grams, respectively.

The Saran Uul area, in the central region of the copper belt, is a known copper system hosted by diorites and syenites. Efforts there will be focused on a stockwork of quartz veins that outcrop. Results from 54 chip samples varied from 0.1% to 5% copper, 0.5 to 4.9 grams gold and less than 0.2% molybdenum.

In the same, central area is the Oyut Ovoo target, which yielded 1-10% copper, 0.3-0.7 gram gold and up to 1% moly. The target measures 4 sq. km and is centred on a group of hills representing magnetite skarns and hydrothermal breccia pipes in granitoid stocks.

Ivanhoe has an option to acquire 100% of the 238-sq.-km Turquoise Hill property from BHP Billiton (BHP-N) by spending US$6 million on exploration and paying US$5 million in cash.

Drilling is continuing on the Southwest Oyu discovery zone at Turquoise Hill and a resource calculation expected later this year.