Australia's junior explorers - The ASIA Miner

Australian Junior Explorers
REX RAISES $40 MILLION TO BANKROLL HILLSIDE
REX Minerals has raised $40 million to
bankroll its flagship Hillside Copper Project
within the Pine Point copper belt in South
Australia although North American equities
markets are yet to get on board. The funds
will take Rex through the various feasibility
studies to mine development and first pr oduction
by the end of 2015.
The company says it is surprised by a lack of
interest in the project by North American investors.
Rex’s managing director Steve Olsen
says North America’s equities markets, which
are renowned for their knowledge of gold and
copper markets, have yet to get aboar d one
of South Australia’s biggest success stories.
“Most pleasingly, almost three-quarters of
the commitments in the capital raising came
from our major Australian shareholders and the
48 | ASIA Miner | July/August 2011
remaining quarter from London-based equities
players,” he says. “Yet despite a global roadshow
prior to the raising, we have yet to attract
support from the North American equities markets
– even though Hillside on South Australia’s
Yorke Peninsula is a major copper project
now visibly right on the horizon.”
Rex is set to announce a resource upgrade
during July after r ecent successful shallow
and high grade drill intersections were confirmed
within the pit design ar ea. The current
resource is 217 million tonnes @ 0.7% copper,
0.2 grams/tonne gold and 12.4% iron for
a contained 1.5 million tonnes of copper and
1.4 million ounces of gold.
The project is within the Gawler Craton,
which hosts Australia’s largest historical copper
mines including Olympic Dam, Prominent
Hill and Carapateena. The company has confirmed
copper-gold mineralization on three separate
structures at Hillside.
Pre-feasibility studies at Hillside ar e scheduled
to be completed in the September
quarter, backed up by more regional exploration
with the DFS due for completion in the
second half of 2013.
“Our view remains that Hillside is a very robust
copper project with good margins at low
copper prices so that obviously pr ovides for
significant leverage to any tr end higher in
copper price,” says Steve Olsen.
The discovery of mor e copper in the pit
area is expected to r educe the likely strip
ratio, with the estimated cost of mining cur -
rently at $13.50 a tonne. Pr ocessing costs
are estimated to be $10 a tonne.
MAIDEN POTASH RESOURCE AT KARINGA CREEK
RUM Jungle Resour ces and joint ventur e
partner Reward Minerals have announced a
maiden resource estimate for the Karinga
Creek potash project in the central Northern
Territory. Data from 63 drill holes and 73 brine
samples from the project’s 23 salt lakes has
been included in the estimate, with a total of
530,000 tonnes of potash fr om 30 million
tonnes of brine in 16 salt lakes.
The company says the schoenite r esource,
which is expected to be an intermediate pr oduct
from the brine and then treated to extract
potassium sulphate, totals 1.2 million tonnes.
The estimate has been calculated for the
potassium dissolved in brines contained in
drill sediments. Rum Jungle says the total resource
is an inferred and indicated estimate
as the JORC code was not designed in
connection with minerals dissolved in brines,
meaning there is a greater geological uncertainty
with this estimate than other minerals.
No test work has yet been undertaken to
explore the commercial processing of the brines,
with the company believing potash ex-
Drilling at Rex Minerals’ Hillside Copper Project
in the Gawler Craton of South Australia.
traction is technically feasible. However, Rum
Jungle’s managing director David Muller says
recovery and economics will depend on
many factors including the brine chemistry .
“Halite and/or thenardite could potentially be
produced as by-products.
“Work programs now under way at the site
are expected to significantly increase the size
and confidence of the schoenite brine r esource.
A recent archaeological survey and
new access tracks within the area will help to
expand the resource definition.”