More high-grade results from Perseverance

  Australian-based gold and nickel company Focus Minerals and its Redemption Joint Venture partner, Canadian-based Committee Bay Resources, have received significant results from an ongoing program of grade control drilling at the advanced Perseverance Gold Project, located in the Coolgardie Gold Belt in Western Australia.Focus said the results, which include high-grade intersections, have further reinforced the production potential of the Perseverance Project, where the Joint Venture is well advanced towards the planned commencement of production in early 2008.According to Focus, a total of 26 drill holes have been completed out of an initial 49-hole program that was designed to test the grade and width interpretations for the Perseverance deposit. The company said all 20 drill holes assayed to date had either confirmed the width of the main quartz-sulphide lode, or intersected wider parts of the lode, with better intersections including 11.7m @ 16.31g/t Au from 83m, including 1.7m @65.97g/t, 11.5m @ 27.09g/t Au from 85.5m, including 2.7m @ 65.64g/t, and 9.1m @ 87.28g/t Au from 91.5m, including 1.3m @ 273.02g/t. Focus said the assay results received to date have been better than expected in some areas, particularly the results from some of the southern extremities of the economic mineralisation at Perseverance. The company said the southern extremities were extremely encouraging, as they are of higher grade than the existing exploration drill holes.This could be a reflection either of the “nuggetty” nature of the ore body, or that the existing exploration drill holes do not truly reflect the grade of the quartz-sulphide lode at the southern extremities.These results have the potential to open up the orebody for further extensions to the south and the Joint Venture intends to conduct further step-out grade control holes to define the extremities of the economic mineralisation.The grade control drilling has also confirmed the presence of a new footwall quartz-sulphide zone approximately 10m below the main lode. According to Focus, the new zone is much narrower and less continuous than the main lode, but results have indicated that there is potential for some high-grade zones. Geology and assay results have also confirmed the presence of the diorite lode, with some results indicating the potential presence of some high-grade zones within the diorite mineralisation.The underground grade control drill program has the potential to further upgrade the Resource at Perseverance Deposit, which will be the first of several key central ore bodies that will be mined at the Coolgardie Project. Focus Minerals’ Managing Director, Peter Williams said: “It’s not only the exceptional grades that have caught our attention, but also confirmation that the southern extremities of the known mineralisation are potentially open along strike and down dip, which may provide additional resources.”