Central Asia Resources (ASX: CVR) is a gold and base metals exploration company transitioning to producer, with a JORC gold Resource of almost 1.3 million ounces.
The company is focused on the Republic of Kazakhstan, with projects which range from greenfields to near term production.
Dalabai Gold Project to provide early cash flows for Central Asia Resources
Central Asia Resources (ASX:CVR) has announced its Dalabai prospect in the Republic of Kazakhstan is progressing well.
The Company acquired Dalabai in Q4 2008 and immediately commenced work to progress through feasibility study to development. Historical information indicated that the prospect would be a simple, low capex, gold heap leach opportunity with the potential for early positive cashflow. Investigations to date support this position.
27 diamond drill holes for a total of 2000 meters have been drilled since the land was acquired and assay results have started to come in. Results include – o 16.1m at 2.53g/t Au and 8.4g/t Ag from 30m including 9.0m at 4.32g/t Au and 13.3g.t Ag in DDH# 204, zone # 5 o 10.9m at 1.32g/t Au and 6g/t Ag from 14.6m including 5m at 2.36g/t Au and 9.00g/t Ag in DDH# 209, zone # 5
Central Asia’s Managing Director, Jason Stirbinskis said, “The results are encouraging and a little better than we expected based on the inherited historical data. In zone #5 we know that mineralisation is in the old pit floor and the results above are suggesting this extends for 37m below the pit floor.
We also collected a 200kg sample of the old pit wall and floor in zone # 4. After crushing and mixing, 5 samples were taken and assayed resulting in an average grade of 3.4g/t gold. It’s a good start and with around 50 drill holes scheduled in the current drill program, we hope this trend continues”.
Mr Stirbinskis said “Dalabai is an important part of the Company’s strategy. Because it is potentially a low capex heap leach operation capable of achieving quick positive cashflow, it is the sort of project that will get funding in the current market. We are targeting to be in development at Dalabai before the end of the year. Our larger Altyntas project has a correspondingly larger capital requirement. We are targeting to have completed a BFS on Altyntas in late 2010 in the expectation that the market will have regained an appetite for funding projects of this magnitude”.
About Dalabai Project
Dalabai is a gold prospect 180km north of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. The 8km2 licence contains an area that has been mined via several small open pits with heap leach processing on site. As Dalabai has been in production previously, it is expected that the start up process and re-instatement of production permitting will be a relatively quick process.
The Dalabai deposit is composed of volcanic and sub-volcanic rocks, which are spatially and temporally related to an Upper-Paleozoic volcanic caldera located in the northeast of the license area. .The caldera is the origin for several radial fractures stretching out for several hundred meters. The fracture zones are mostly filled with dykes of rhyolites and andesites, which in turn have experienced strong metasomatic and hydrothermal alteration.
The length of the gold-controlling alteration zones ranges from 200m to 2,100m with a combined length over 9km. Width varies from 7m to 50m averaging 20m-25m and the zones are steep dipping from 70 degrees to vertical. Gold mainly occurs as pyrite disseminated in secondary quartzites and propylites.
