Carpentaria boosts Hawsons resource

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Carpentaria Exploration has reported a near four-fold increase in the indicated resource at its Hawsons iron-ore project, on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.

Drilling at the Hawsons project has added some 119-million tonnes to the total resource, bringing the resource to 330-million tonnes of contained concentrate, grading 69.7% iron.

MD Quentin Hill said on Monday that the resource upgrade at Hawson had been a major success and had exceeded the target set for the indicated resource.

“The size of the upgraded resource, at 2.4-billion tonnes, is globally significant and the conversion rate of 96% from inferred resource to indicated status is an outstanding result. Importantly, this increases confidence that similar conversion rates to higher categories can be achieved in future drilling.”

Hill noted that the resource provided the potential for a decades-long mining operation, adding that Carpentaria will use the new resource in a prefeasibility study that was due by the end of the second quarter.

“We already have the port, rail, power and water solutions for the project at a prefeasibility level of understanding, in addition to processing and product marketing. Now that the resource has been upgraded, we can focus on delivering a prefeasibility study, and attracting funding for additional development to the benefit of shareholders, end-users and the local community of Broken Hill and South Australia.”