The complication of foreign exchanges when on line trading keep me from venturing out of North American listed stocks but that is an interesting orebody. Others may be interested so please feel free to discuss it here. I see you joined SI yesterday. Welcome
BTW...I note its a copper/moly deposit
Cheers
C
eurekamining.co.uk
Shorskoye Molybdenum Project
The deposit referred to as the Shorskoye Molybdenum/Copper Project was first discovered in 1993 and is located about 90 km south-west of Semipalatinsk in north-eastern Kazakhstan near the Kishken gold occurrence and the Charsk gold belt. The region has existing road, rail and power infrastructure providing the project with low cost power and direct rail access to the Chinese and Russian markets.
Molybdenum is a metallic element which is most commonly used as an alloying addition in alloy and stainless steels. It enhances strength, hardenability, weldability, toughness, elevated temperature strength and corrosion resistance. Although molybdenum is primarily used in steels, its complex and unique properties have proved invaluable in a constantly expanding range of other alloy systems and chemical compounds. One of the unique features of molybdenum, as distinct from other heavy metals, is that laboratory tests have shown its compounds to be of low toxicity. Current annual world molybdenum consumption is approximately 130,000 tonnes and demand is increasing due to its versatility as an alloy. Over the past 12 months the molybdenum price has risen from US$3.38 as at 1 December 2002 to US$5.70 per lb in November 2003.
The Shorskoye deposit is a molybdenum porphyry with mineralisation contained in stockworks and has been subject to prospecting and detailed exploration. The mineralisation was first defined by geochemistry and surface trenching which identified a surface anomaly extending 4.5 km by 2 km. Previous exploration work has included geological mapping, geophysical and geochemical surveys, trenching, pitting and diamond drilling resulting in 26 holes averaging 200 metres in depth. Two benchmarking studies were completed in 2000 by St Barbara Consultancy Services which concluded that the molybdenum grades encountered to date would rank the Shorskoye deposit amongst the highest grade molybdenum deposits in the world.
The Exploration Licence is 100 per cent. owned by Ar-Man LLP, 65 per cent. of which was acquired by Celtic on 24 June 2002. Upon Admission, Eureka will acquire Celtic’s interest of 65 per cent. pursuant to the Principal Sale Agreement and the remaining 35 per cent. from the minority interest pursuant to the Ar-Man Sale Agreement.
Preliminary resource estimates by Celtic indicate potential tonnages in excess of 300 million tonnes. Celtic’s estimates indicate approximately 750,000 tonnes of molybdenum and 180,000 tonnes of copper at estimated grades of 0.24 per cent. molybdenum and 0.6 per cent. copper. Based on these indications, St Barbara Consultancy Services states that if these early indications of grade and tonnage are substantiated the deposit would be ranked between second and sixth by grade and first on tonnage on a global basis. The proposed indicative annual production is expected to be approximately 10,000 tonnes of molybdenum and 3,000 tonnes of copper with feasibility studies scheduled to be completed by quarter 1 2005 and production is intended to start late 2006.
Eureka intends to commence work at Shorskoye with a detailed resource drilling campaign in quarter 1 2004 and will then progress to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study. During this period Eureka will initiate discussions with offtake participants, particularly in Russia and China. As part of the development strategy for the Shorskoye deposit, Eureka intends to:
define an internationally acceptable resource for the deposit and establish the extent of the mineralised zone;
digitally compile all the existing geological data;
complete mining studies and metallurgical test work;
complete environmental baseline studies;
commence negotiations with potential offtake participants; and
complete the Pre-Feasibility Study by quarter 3, 2004 and Feasibility Study by quarter 1 2005. |
