US iron ore – global expertise
Richmond Mining is focused on the development of the Company’s 100% owned Buena Vista magnetite project. Located in the mining friendly state of Nevada in the United States the project offers investors a low risk entry into an emerging steel mill feedstock.
The United States provides mining companies with well situated and established infrastructure with road, rail and port facilities all in place. For Buena Vista, this established infrastructure reduces the development costs by well in excess of a billion dollars and significantly shortens the time taken to get the project into production.
Richmond has already completed the definitive feasibility study and is now engaged in discussions with banks and other potential providers of finance for the development of Buena Vista. In conjunction with an active programme to secure the remaining mining and environmental permits Richmond anticipates that production will commence within 12-15 months of the securing of final finance. At this stage the first half of calendar 2013 is the targeted date for the commencement of production.
Inclusive to the many advantages inherent in BuenaVista are the low capital cost, the very low risk political environment, the cash costs which are equivalent to or better than the majority of emerging magnetite producers and the relatively short time to production. The project also represents a much lower operational risk than most emerging producers because of the proposed scale of production.
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Loongana - Western Australia
The exploration licences cover what the Company believes to be the largest under-explored mafic/ultramafic intrusion in Australia, which has been interpreted from geophysical surveys and the geology confirmed by five reconnaissance drill holes.
The principal exploration model at Loongana is for intrusive style nickel sulphide mineralisation associated with ultramafic-mafic rocks. The target rocks are defined by an elongated, northeast trending intense gravity and magnetic anomaly that lie beneath 250-350 metres of Tertiary limestone and Mesozoic sediments of the Eucla Basin. The anomaly comprises a broad head (15km wide and 40km long) to the south west, with a thin tail extending at least 60km to the northeast.
Richmond initially planned to drill test five coincident, magnetic and gravity anomalies for nickel sulphides. Each anomaly was to be drilled with a vertical reverse circulation (RC) hole to an estimated 300-450 metres depth and test a potential standalone company making target.
Three vertical drill holes (LONRC 1, 2 & 5) have been completed in the programme before drilling was suspended.
The assay results support the current mineralogical study that has identified the majority of the rocks intersected in the drilling as being ultramafic. Although some variance in the nickel and copper values were seen within similar rock types, no results that could be described as anomalous were received.
However, assay results from the third hole LONRC 5 confirm it intersected gold mineralisation with associated elevated copper values. The best intercept is 1m @ 2.67 g/t Au from 368m in a quartz– feldspar vein. Further quartz veining between 370 – 372m contained on average 0.13% Cu and the interval from 371 – 372m also contained 0.74 g/t Au.
The intersection of gold mineralisation and anomalous copper opens up the potential for IOCG-style mineralisation at Loongana.
The primary objective for the Company is still to test the potential of the Loongana ultramafic – mafic intrusion to host nickel sulphide mineralisation. Richmond remains confident about the potential given the three holes completed to date confirm the intrusion is both mafic and ultramafic in composition and it is sulphide rich, historical drilling has confirmed that nickel sulphides are present in the ultramafic rocks, and only three targets have been tested within the +600km2 intrusion.
Richmond intends to resume the drilling programme at Loongana in October and test an additional three priority targets. Numerous stand alone targets remain untested and all present high exploration potential.
Virgin exploration targets such as at Loongana are rare within Australia and Richmond believes the complex holds exciting potential for a major precious metal or metallic deposit.