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Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., and Richard Gosse, Vice-President, Exploration, announced that Ivanhoe and BHP Billiton Ltd. have discovered a new zone of shallow copper-molybdenum-gold mineralization approximately 10 kilometres north of the Ivanhoe Mines Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining complex currently under construction in southern Mongolia.
The discovery, known as Ulaan Khud North, extends the known strike length of the Oyu Tolgoi mineralized system by an additional three kilometres to the north, to more than 23 kilometres. Less than half of the 23-kilometre-long mineralized trend at Oyu Tolgoi has been extensively drill-tested to date. An ongoing exploration program including proprietary, induced-polarization (IP) technology has identified additional exploration and development targets. "The Ulaan Khud North discovery reinforces our longstanding belief that with continued exploration there is excellent potential to discover new porphyry deposits, rich in copper and gold, which are associated with the world-class Oyu Tolgoi mineralized trend," said Mr. Friedland. Ulaan Khud North is located on a 19,625-hectare exploration licence that is part of Ivanhoe’s joint-venture partnership with BHP Billiton, which was formed in 2005. BHP Billiton has earned a 50% interest in the joint venture, which includes the Ulaan Khud North property, by spending US$8 million in exploration costs and conducting an airborne survey using the proprietary FalconTM gravity gradiometer system over the Oyu Tolgoi area. A total of 25 drill holes (UKD031 to 055) totalling 6,561 metres, ranging in depth from 182 metres to 377 metres, defined the new zone of shallow porphyry copper mineralization over an area of 600 metres by 300 metres. Most of the holes are vertical and were drilled on a 100-metre-square grid. The mineralized zone starts beneath 60 to 80 metres of Cretaceous clay and gravels, indicative of a near-surface deposit with open-pit mining potential. Ivanhoe’s geologists believe that the near-surface copper mineralization discovered to date at Ulaan Khud North may be part of a much larger deposit. Mineralization occurs in quartz monzodiorite, similar to mineralized quartz monzodiorites at Oyu Tolgoi. A total of 23 of the 25 drill holes drilled at Ulaan Khud North intersected the mineralized quartz monzodiorite. The mineralization is porphyry-style stockwork, disseminations and massive veins of chalcopyrite, with molybdenite disseminations and veinlets and trace bornite. Many holes encountered 2 mineralization with greater than 1% copper in multiple individual one-metre samples, while almost all holes have longer intervals of mineralization grading greater than 0.3% copper. Numerous post-mineral intrusive rocks cut the mineralized quartz monzodiorite and define the boundaries of most mineralized intervals. (Photos of mineralization found at Ulaan Khud North are attached.) "The presence of intensively mineralized and altered quartz monzodiorite and basalt xenoliths within the moderately mineralized quartz monzodiorite supports the idea that an earlier phase of stronger mineralization exists at depth and along margins of the area," said Mr. Gosse. More information, click here |
