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Interesting article in Miningnews.net on Bass Metals which INL own 18.5% of.
WITH trial production at its Que River mine now underway, Bass Metals says the project and its other prospects at Tasmania offer plenty of opportunities for a "hungry" company.
Drilling at Bass Metals' Que River polymetallic project in Tasmania
Bass Metals' managing director Mike Rosenstreich examining drill core from the Que River polymetallic project
Speaking at the RIU Explorer's conference in Fremantle Wednesday, Bass Metals managing director Mike Rosenstreich outlined the opportunities the company saw in northeastern Tasmania.
"It's a happy hunting ground for elephants," he said.
Bass Metals' focus to date has been the Que River project, where trial mining recently began.
The Que River area was historically mined by Aberfoyle from 1978-1991 and then abandoned as uneconomic in favour of the Hellyer deposit to the north, a situation Rosenstreich views as good luck for Bass.
"Que River is in some ways a company-making project in its own right … It has never had a hungry geologist looking over it looking to fill up a hungry mill because they had this feast on their hands at Hellyer," he said.
Within the Que River, the S-Lens and PQ South prospects have "significant" exploration upside, according to Rosenstreich.
"[PQ-South] is an extraordinary area, the grades here are nothing short of spectacular - 20 m at 25% zinc … but they are quite consistent from other grades from historical drilling at this intensely mineralised area," Rosenstreich said.
"Our evaluations are based solely on remnant resource material and we're pretty confident that at least one stope area in the mine was abandoned prematurely, and we hope to win that ore out by coming at it in an open pit."
Bass Metals has already hit an unexpected high-grade zone during trial mining.
"It's very selective mining, it's high value material, so when we have unexpected finds like this our whole mining schedule is based around winning that ore and driving value out of it," Rosenstreich said.
Beyond the existing deposits Rosenstreich was hopeful there are significant other, as yet undiscovered, deposits in the Que River area.
"Bass Metals is the first explorer to go over the ground since the early 1970s. We're dealing with a wide zone of alteration … it's a monster. We think that technology has advanced and we have an appetite for drilling and we think there's excellent prospects for finding more lenses, and if we're successful we'll crack it wide open again," he said.
"We have an untested geophysical anomaly down there we're keen to follow up on, we just haven't had the ability to do that yet."
The company also has several other significant prospects in the same region of Tasmania scheduled for more drilling.
These included the Hellyer prospect, which Rosenstreich said would offer new value given the current metal price climate, and Mt Charter, as well as a zinc deposit 4km from Zinifex's Rosebery mine.
Shares in Bass Metals were up 5% to 33c in morning trading today.
WITH trial production at its Que River mine now underway, Bass Metals says the project and its other prospects at Tasmania offer plenty of opportunities for a "hungry" company.
Drilling at Bass Metals' Que River polymetallic project in Tasmania
Bass Metals' managing director Mike Rosenstreich examining drill core from the Que River polymetallic project
Speaking at the RIU Explorer's conference in Fremantle Wednesday, Bass Metals managing director Mike Rosenstreich outlined the opportunities the company saw in northeastern Tasmania.
"It's a happy hunting ground for elephants," he said.
Bass Metals' focus to date has been the Que River project, where trial mining recently began.
The Que River area was historically mined by Aberfoyle from 1978-1991 and then abandoned as uneconomic in favour of the Hellyer deposit to the north, a situation Rosenstreich views as good luck for Bass.
"Que River is in some ways a company-making project in its own right … It has never had a hungry geologist looking over it looking to fill up a hungry mill because they had this feast on their hands at Hellyer," he said.
Within the Que River, the S-Lens and PQ South prospects have "significant" exploration upside, according to Rosenstreich.
"[PQ-South] is an extraordinary area, the grades here are nothing short of spectacular - 20 m at 25% zinc … but they are quite consistent from other grades from historical drilling at this intensely mineralised area," Rosenstreich said.
"Our evaluations are based solely on remnant resource material and we're pretty confident that at least one stope area in the mine was abandoned prematurely, and we hope to win that ore out by coming at it in an open pit."
Bass Metals has already hit an unexpected high-grade zone during trial mining.
"It's very selective mining, it's high value material, so when we have unexpected finds like this our whole mining schedule is based around winning that ore and driving value out of it," Rosenstreich said.
Beyond the existing deposits Rosenstreich was hopeful there are significant other, as yet undiscovered, deposits in the Que River area.
"Bass Metals is the first explorer to go over the ground since the early 1970s. We're dealing with a wide zone of alteration … it's a monster. We think that technology has advanced and we have an appetite for drilling and we think there's excellent prospects for finding more lenses, and if we're successful we'll crack it wide open again," he said.
"We have an untested geophysical anomaly down there we're keen to follow up on, we just haven't had the ability to do that yet."
The company also has several other significant prospects in the same region of Tasmania scheduled for more drilling.
These included the Hellyer prospect, which Rosenstreich said would offer new value given the current metal price climate, and Mt Charter, as well as a zinc deposit 4km from Zinifex's Rosebery mine.
Shares in Bass Metals were up 5% to 33c in morning trading today.