Drilling commences at Kallak

RNS Number : 9095U

Beowulf Mining PLC

25 October 2010

 



25 October 2010

Beowulf Mining Plc

("Beowulf" or the "Company")

Update re Kallak and Ruoutevare Iron Ore Projects

Drilling programme commenced at Kallak South Iron Ore deposit

Drilling campaign for the Ruoutevare project planned for early 2011

Beowulf (AIM: BEM; AktieTorget: BEO), the AIM and AktieTorget traded mineral exploration company, which owns several exploration projects in Sweden, is pleased to announce that a drilling programme has now commenced on the Company's wholly-owned Kallak South Iron Ore deposit, located immediately south of the Kallak North Iron Ore deposit within the municipality of Jokkmokk in northern Sweden. The two deposits form the Kallak Iron Ore Project. The Company also announces that it has signed a new Letter of Intent with respect to a 4,000 metre drilling programme on the Company's Ruoutevare Iron Ore project which is currently expected to commence in February 2011.

Highlights:

·     3,500 metre diamond drilling programme has commenced on Kallak South deposit

·     Initial assay results anticipated to be received by the end of Q4 2010

·     Maiden JORC compliant resource estimate anticipated to be sought following completion of the drilling programme

·     Bench scale metallurgical tests to produce a high grade magnetite pellet feed product to commence on ore material from the Kallak South deposit

·     Letter of Intent signed for planned drilling campaign at the Company's Ruoutevare project in Q1 2011

Kallak South

A grid pattern of 32 holes, totaling 3,500 metres of drilling is planned to cover the entire Kallak South deposit and is currently expected to be completed by the end of December 2010 with all analytical testing finalised in February 2011.  However, in light of the project's location north of the Arctic Circle, severe winter weather conditions may be encountered which could serve to temporarily delay completion of the programme.

The drill programme will be carried out in a similar manner to the programme recently completed on the Kallak North deposit. The drilling operator is the Swedish company Ludvika Borrteknik AB, which is using two light moveable rigs for completion of the programme.  At each drill site, all drill cores will be screened by a handheld magnetic susceptibility meter and all magnetic responding sections will be identified and registered. All the drill cores will be geologically logged and the sections selected for analysis will be prepared and assayed at the ALS/Chemex laboratory in the town of Piteå in northern Sweden. The sampled drill core sections will be assayed for iron and a further 20 metal elements by XRF techniques, as received at the laboratory. Assay results for the initial drill holes are currently expected in November 2010 with the final test results anticipated to be received during February 2011.

The objective of the drilling programme is to further define the quantity and quality of the iron ore already known to be present in the licence area and thereby enable a maiden JORC compliant resource estimate to then be sought.

The size of the Kallak South deposit has been estimated from detailed ground magnetic surveys to have an extension of more than 2,000 metres with a maximum width of 400 metres. As such, the deposit is significantly larger than the Kallak North deposit on which the Company recently completed a major drill programme. Initial assay results from the Kallak North drilling programme were announced on 8 October 2010. The final analytical results are still pending and will be released when received by the Company in due course.

In order to assess the quality of ore, relative to that of the high quality Kallak North deposit, the Company is planning to commence bench scale metallurgical tests, including DTR (Davis Tube Recovery) tests on ore grade material from the Kallak South deposit. The metallurgical tests will be conducted by MINPRO AB's ("MINPRO") research laboratory at Stråssa, Central Sweden on selected large samples of ore grade drill core sections of the deposit. The bench scale tests will be directed towards the production of a high grade magnetite pellet feed product for use by potential clients.

As previously announced, metallurgical tests (including DTR) on ore material from the Kallak North deposit have demonstrated that traditional treatment of the ore material, by fine grinding and wet magnetic separation, can result in a clean magnetite pellet feed product containing 68.0% iron corresponding to a recovery of 85.1%.  Further testing of the Kallak North iron ore material, using conventional flotation techniques combined with wet magnetic separation,  resulted in a final, high grade pellet feed product containing 70.4% iron with low levels of contaminants (other metals). By general industry standards this product is considered by the Company to be of high commercial quality and of potential interest to the international steel market.

Ruoutevare

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that it has signed a new Letter of Intent with Ludvika Borrteknik AB for them to conduct a diamond drilling programme of approximately 4,000 metres on the Company's Ruoutevare project area. This programme is currently planned to commence in February 2011.

The drilling campaign will be supervised by the Company's Swedish technical director, Jan-Ola Larsson, and will be based upon the recommendations of an historic report produced by Mining Technical Solutions Pty Ltd of Perth, Australia in 2008 and the Company's own analysis.

Confirmation of this drilling campaign will be announced in due course.

Clive Sinclair-Poulton, Executive Chairman of Beowulf, commented:

"We are delighted to confirm that drilling has now commenced on the Kallak South deposit where we believe that there is considerable potential. The drilling programme is designed to confirm the quantity and quality of the iron ore in the licence area to then enable a JORC compliant resource estimate to be obtained. The initial assay results from the Kallak North drilling programme were very positive and the Kallak South deposit has the potential to be a significantly larger resource. We look forward to receiving the results."

Dr Jan Ola Larsson (Fil. Kand, PhD, DIC), has reviewed and approved the technical information contained within this announcement in his capacity as a qualified person, as required under the AIM rules. Dr Larsson is Technical Director of the Company and has over 30 years relevant experience within the natural resources sector.

Enquiries:

Beowulf Mining Plc
Clive Sinclair-Poulton, Chairman	Tel: [phone]
Strand Hanson Limited
Matthew Chandler / Simon Raggett	Tel: [phone]
Alexander David Securities Limited
David Scott / Nick Bealer	Tel: [phone]
Lothbury Financial Services Limited
Gary Middleton / Michael Padley	Tel: + 44 (0) 207 686 2010
or visit http://www.beowulfmining.net

 

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