Annuncio • Sep 29
CZR Resources Limited Announces Initial Assay Results from Extensional Reverse Circulation (RC) Drilling at the Robe Mesa Iron Ore Project in Western Australia
CZR Resources Limited announced that initial assay results from extensional Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at the Robe Mesa Iron Ore Project in Western Australia have confirmed extensive DSO mineralisation in the lower CID, supporting the Company's plans to increase production and extend mine life. The drilling program, which was completed in August 2022, comprised a total of 94 holes for 5,738 metres, focused on expanding the Resource to the north and infill drilling the lower CID in the south of the deposit. Assay results from the first 39 holes provide further evidence of strong DSO mineralisation below the pit designs modelled in the December 2020 PFS and shows good continuity along strike with particularly strong results recorded on the boundary with Rio Tinto's Mesa F deposit. All drilling has now been completed to a nominal 50m x 50m drill pattern. This will enable CZR to maximise the conversion of Inferred Resources to Indicated Resource category, with Indicated Resources available for conversion to Ore Reserves. Assay results are pending along the eastern flank of the Robe Mesa deposit and from the northern extension, which was drilled for the first time following heritage approval in June 2022. CZR is on track to report an updated JORC Mineral Resource, Ore Reserve and mine plan in the December quarter, 2022. CZR completed an RC program targeting the upper CID in the south of the Robe Mesa deposit in late 2021, with assay results showing extensive DSO mineralisation at surface and supporting plans for a follow-up program to test the lower CID unit. The 2022 RC drill program twinned the southern holes but drilled deeper into the lower CID in areas where there was strong near-surface mineralisation that may support pushing the proposed pits deeper.Significant intercepts from the initial batch of assays are listed, with selected results annotated in Figure 2. At a 53% Fe cut-off (60% Fe calcined)1, the significant intercepts average 55.6% Fe (62.2% Fe calcined), 6.1% SiO2, 3.0% Al2O3 and 0.05% P, similar to Rio Tinto's Robe Valley Fines, FMG's Super Special Fines, and Atlas Iron's Atlas Fines. The depth to base of mineralisation is still very shallow, on average only 51 metres below surface, with a maximum depth of 61m below surface (Appendix A Robe Mesa Cross sections). All mining will be above the water table with all waste back-filled in the mining void, minimising the environmental impact. In addition to the RC drilling, CZR also completed a diamond drill program in July 2022. The core is now being processed and metallurgical and geotechnical test work has commenced. The results will provide process plant specifications, material handling data for shipping and sinter test work for customer acceptance trials, as well as geotechnical pit design and drill and blast parameters. Appendix B Project Background CZR's 85%-owned Robe Mesa deposit sits within the Robe Valley Channel Iron Deposits (Robe Valley CID). The Robe River JV (Rio Tinto 53%, Mitsui 33%, Nippon Steel 14%) has been mining Robe Valley CID since the 1970s and has current mining operations at Mesa A, Warramboo and Mesa J, with rail linking to export facilities at Cape Lambert. Figure 5. CZR's Yarraloola project and Robe Mesa deposit showing local infrastructure and iron ore deposits. Insert map showing regional infrastructure of the West Pilbara, relative to the Robe Mesa deposit The Robe Mesa iron ore deposit currently has JORC compliant Mineral Resource base of 37.5Mt at 56% Fe (62.6% Fe calcined) at a 55% Fe cut-off grade. The JORC Resource increases significantly to 69.6Mt at 54.5% Fe (61.0% Fe calcined) at a lower 50% Fe cut-off grade (Appendix C Robe Mesa Resource and Reserves). The Robe Mesa PFS (ASX announcement 10 December 2020) demonstrated a robust development plan with strong financial returns. However, CZR believes there is significant scope to further improve the project economics, hence its recent focus on expanding the PFS pit designs to extend the mine life and increase production rates from 2Mtpa to a more optimal 3Mtpa. A key recommendation of the PFS was to close the drill spacing from 100m x 100m to 50m x 50m to improve confidence in grade distribution and enable larger, more coherent pit designs. In addition to increasing the size of the pits, the larger mining footprint will enable the new pit designs to extend into the lower pisolite of the Robe Valley CID, which was previously excluded from the PFS and which provides the best opportunity to rapidly increase the mining inventory of the Robe Mesa iron ore deposit. CZR completed a 164 RC infill drilling program in December 2021 and a further 94 holes in August 2022, targeting the upper and lower pisolite units of the Robe Valley CID. The drilling was designed to reduce the drill-grid spacing and improve the Resource categorisation for Reserve conversion, and extend drilling into the previously untested northern extension. The results have also provided valuable data for CZR to assess additional iron ore products and/or adjust cut-off grades to increase mining inventory. CZR is focused on increasing the production profile and mine life above the levels reported in the PFS. The DFS mine plan will target a production rate of +3Mtpa of DSO fines of similar specification to Rio Tinto's Robe Valley fines, produced at the adjoining Mesa A and Warramboo mines. The iron ore quality from Robe Mesa is comparable to other Pilbara fines products that have a strong market presence, having been used by steel mills for decades. The combined silica and alumina levels from Robe Mesa are comparable to its Pilbara peers, and while the iron content is lower, this is due to higher LOI (loss on ignition), meaning Robe Mesa iron ore calcines to similar levels through the sintering process.