May/June 2013 - The ASIA Miner

Malaysia
J Resources to increase Penjom output
PT J RESOURCES Asia Pacific Tbk intends spending around US$82
million to increase production at the Penjom Gold Project in Pahang
state. The planned capital program includes heavy equipment, river
diversion and improvement of existing plant. The river diversion will
enable J Resources to mine under the existing river bed.
The company acquired Penjom through intermediary PT J Resources
Nusantara along with several assets in Indonesia from UK mining company
Avocet Mining plc in 2011. Those assets were placed directly under
J Resources’ control early in 2012. In its last years of operation, Avocet
did not invest significantly in the Penjom mine believing that it would soon
be exhausted. J Resources aims to increase annual output from Penjom
to 57,000 troy ounces this year, up from around 50,000 last year and also
to extend the life of the mine, which is expected to close in 2017.
J Resources’ corporate vice president, New Business Development
& Exploration, Colin Davies, told The ASIA Miner at ozmine 2013 in
Indonesia that the company believes the $82 million investment will
extend the life of the mine and bring more benefits to the local people
and to Malaysia as a whole.
The Penjom operations will supply the bulk of J Resources’ total
gold output of 103,000 ounces this year. J Resources also owns
North Lanut mine in North Sulawesi and expects more production
from the Bakan mine, also in North Sulawesi, and from Seruyung in
East Kalimantan. These three operations are in Indonesia. This year J
Resources is spending $82 million on Bakan and another $74 million
at Seruyung. The bulk of the investment is to build processing plants,
in line with Indonesia’s new regulations regarding value adding.
Mining under way at Buffalo Reef deposit
ASSAY results from Monument Mining’s ongoing drilling program at
Buffalo Reef deposit continue to define and extend the oxide and sulphide
resources located next to its producing Selinsing open pit gold
mine in Pahang state. Delivery of oxide material from Buffalo Reef to
the Selinsing plant started in February 2013 and processing of these
ores began in earnest in early March.
Monument started its Buffalo Reef exploration program in 2010 with
an initial US$800,000 budget for 5700 metres of drilling in 33 holes. As
of December 2012 a total of 13,516 metres in 178 holes had been drilled.
The first 8 drill holes totalling 947 metres were drilled for metallurgy
Tenements owned by Monument Mining at the Selinsing and Buffalo Reefs deposits
in Pahang state.
testing and were completed by October 2011. Drilling since October
2011 has focused on exploration and resource definition adjacent to
and along strike from the known North, Central and South resources,
including the area between Buffalo Reef South and the Selinsing pit.
The 2013 financial year Buffalo Reef drilling, budgeted at US$4.44
million, not including assays and labour, began on July 1 and includes
5171 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and 10,825 metres of
diamond drilling. By the end of December, 50 diamond drill holes totalling
4785.9 metres and 93 RC holes totalling 4611 metres had been
completed. From January 1 to March 31 a total of 26 drill holes totalling
3225.8 metres were completed at Buffalo Reef and sampling
and/or assays for these drill holes are in progress. There are three exploration
drills operating at Selinsing and Buffalo Reef.
The best results from assays received to date are: 9.0 metres from
9.5 metres @ 6.60 grams/tonne gold in oxide and two separate underlying
zones of 2.9 metres from 71 metres @ 3.22 grams/tonne and
7.4 metres from 75.6 metres @ 3.88 grams/tonne; 14.3 metres from
surface @ 4.91 grams/tonne gold in oxide; 3.0 metres from 13 metres
@ 2.56 grams/tonne and 10 metres from 22 metres @ 5.63
grams/tonne in oxide; and7.0 metres from 22 metres @ 3.71
grams/tonne gold in oxide and an underlying zone of 7.0 metres from
29 metres @ 3.63 grams/tonne gold in sulphide. These results demonstrate
that mineralization at the Buffalo Reef deposit continues at
depth along several east-dipping structural zones. Oxide materials
exposed in the Buffalo Reef South resource are being mined.
Buffalo Reef South has been pre-stripped of overburden with mining
beginning in the first quarter of 2013. Long-term planning enabled the
overburden to be used for the nearby TSF upgrade and precluded
the need at this stage to establish a new waste dump. Buffalo Reef
oxide materials are targeted to contribute about 13,000 tonnes of mill
feed to the Selinsing mill on a monthly basis for the remainder of the
2013 financial year. Additional metallurgy test work is in progress on
sulphide refractory mineralization from the Buffalo Reef Central resource
zone to confirm the excellent gold recovery results (using flotation,
bio-oxidation, and CIL processing) achieved at Buffalo Reef
South and North resource zones.
34 | ASIA Miner | May/June 2013