Joint Venture at Lennard Shelf

Rox Resources Ltd has entered into a joint venture agreement with Avalon....

  Rox Resources Ltd has entered into a joint venture agreement with Avalon Minerals Ltd to explore for zinc and lead deposits in the world class Lennard Shelf mineral province in Western Australia.Rox will be the manager of the Lennard Shelf Joint Venture and will initially have a 12 month option during which it will be required to spend $500,000 on exploration. Rox can then earn a 60% interest in the project by issuing $300,000 worth of Rox shares to Avalon and spending a further $1.5 million over three years. Rox's Managing Director, Ian Mulholland, said that he was pleased to find such a prospective project that is so compatible with the company's expertise of exploring for similar style Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) mineralisation in Laos. “The Lennard Shelf is a proven zinc-lead mineral province with a mineral endowment of about 40 million tonnes of zinc-lead resources, that complements our existing project portfolio extremely well,” said Mr Mulholland. “We're always searching for quality new projects to drive further value for our shareholders, but this opportunity really stood out because of the region's mineral-rich history, known MVT deposits and extensive database of research,” he said. The joint venture tenements will represent one of the largest land holdings in the area and cover a 2,600sqkm area in the central and southeast Lennard Shelf, where the largest deposits (Cadjebut and Pillara) are located. The three blocks of tenements are called the Oscar Range, Lawford and Barramundi. Teck Cominco and Xstrata are currently mining Pillara under a 50/50 joint venture with quoted ore reserves at the project of 3.0Mt at 7.3% zinc and 1.8% lead. Teck Cominco is also undertaking exploration to increase the mineral resources. A thorough study of the tenement area has been prepared by consulting geologists, CSA Australia and a number of areas have been identified that warrant immediate follow-up and which will be the focus of Rox’s exploration program at the Lennard Shelf in the next few months. CSA is considered to be a leader in lead-zinc mineralisation and exploration in Australia and has an extensive regional geological, geochemical and geophysical dataset for the Lennard Shelf region.Avalon has already advanced negotiations for land access and field work will commence as soon as heritage clearances are received from the traditional owners. Other standard JV terms such as dilution, tenement maintenance, pre-emptive rights, an area of influence and environmental responsibility apply to the agreement.Meanwhile, diamond drilling designed to test a number of large IP anomalies at Rox’s Pha Luang project in Laos is continuing and first results are expected to be available in the next two weeks.