ANNUAL REPORT - Ashburton Minerals

Review of Operations
two tanks are located in the Tanque Belo area and contain
tailings sands that are visibly coarser than those previously
encountered within the large Ourinhos tailings dams 15 km to
the south. The estimated volume of 60,000 m 3 returned an
average gold grade of 0.21 g/t. While higher than the average
of 0.14 g/t within the fine sands at Ourinhos, these values
remain low. Consequent on these low results, the Company
has downgraded the economic potential of the tailings
reprocessing project in the Cuiaba area.
Brazil - Other
Elsewhere in Brazil the Company has been evaluating various
projects prospective for copper, gold and iron. The Company
is aiming to secure an additional quality project in Brazil with
the demonstrable potential for large tonnage deposits.
Australia
Mt Webb Project (Cu-Ag-Au)
In Australia, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary
Ashburton Gold Mines NL, acquired ground in its own right
and entered into an option agreement with a private company
over the Mt Webb IOCG (iron-oxide-copper-gold) project in far
Australian Project location
eastern WA. The Mt Webb area was last explored in 1999
by Aurora Gold and BHP whose work identified the presence
of surface mineralisation of up to 9.1% Cu, including 3 g/t
Ag and 0.38 g/t Au. RC drilling by Aurora Gold at the Pokali
prospect returned 41 m @ 0.33% Cu which prompted BHP
to joint venture into the project. BHP drilled a hole 250 m
southwest of the Aurora Gold hole and intersected 36 m @
0.42% Cu, including an interval of 6 m @ 1.68% Cu and 0.29
g/t Au. No subsequent work has been completed at Pokali
notwithstanding the fact that Geoscience Australia and the
Geological Survey of WA both regard the Mt Webb area,
based on geological, geochemical and tectonic grounds, as
Mt Webb tenements over regional geophysics, showing prospect locations and summary results
Ashburton Minerals Ltd 2007
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