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Avonlea Minerals upbeat on 1 billion tonne magnetite exploration target at Thresher prospect

Last updated: 21:23 30 Nov 2009 AEDT, First published: 22:23 30 Nov 2009 AEDT

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Namibian explorer Avonlea Minerals (ASX: AVZ) has announced an initial exploration target range of 1 to 1.9 billion tonnes for the comany's magnetite rich iron ore mineralisation at its Hammerhead, Thresher and Nail Prospects with an average 20% Fe grade.

The newly formed Thresher Prospect is part of the original Hammerhead prospect and has been renamed to properly distinguish it as a separate, significantly higher grade prospect within the larger original Hammerhead prospect area.

The additional Initial Exploration Target at the Thresher prospect contains between 140 to 160 million tonnes of magnetite graded at 25 to +30% Fe.
 
The Exploration Target was derived from interpreting the strike continuation of the iron rich magnetite units at the Hammerhead, Thresher and Nail Prospects as defined by the reported assay results, photo geological mapping compiled from LandSat7 data, surface mapping, and aeromagnetic data.

The surface expression of these mineralised zones was then imported into Micromine modelling software and used to generate a range of values for the Exploration Target based on different combinations of lower limits of the mineralisation, taking into account what would be considered realistic development scenarios.

An ASX Announcement on 26 November 2009 has confirmed the extension of iron rich mineralisation into the Bronzy Prospect for an additional 4km strike length however sampling and assay results at Bronzy remain incomplete and have therefore not been incorporated in the current exploration target.

Avonlea managing director David Riekie said the recent surface assay results at Nail had enabled the company to confirm an Exploration target range and large scale Fe potential at both Hammerhead and Nail, which also encompasses the significantly higher grade Thresher Prospect.

"With initial results received and additional results pending for Bronzy, we anticipate that further scope exists to be able to revisit the scale of our exploration potential," Mr Riekie said.

"Being able to outline an exploration target of such significant proportion allows Avonlea to start to deliver on some of the expectations held prior to the commencement of our surface channel sampling program."

A drilling program is scheduled to commence during the first half of 2010, which will include a mixture of diamond and RC drilling totalling approximately 5000m.

The objective of the drilling program is to determine the nature of mineralisation below surface, confirm the depth potential and will include Davis Tube Recovery tests to assess magnetic separation and liberation characteristics of the mineralisation.

Shares in the Perth-based company, which is currently in a trading halt, last sold on the Australian Securities Exchange for around 4.7c.

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