Bre-X firms up Busang gold play

Stepout drilling at the Busang project in Indonesia has reinforced the owner’s perception that the Central zone could host a gold resource minable by open-pit methods.

Bre-X Minerals (ASE) drilled six holes on a 3,200-ft. section, four of which, completed on the western extremity, intersected grades consistent with other values encountered in the zone. A previous hole, BRH 46, intersected values ranging from 0.13 to 0.24 oz. gold per ton over 33 to 105 ft. Of the newly reported holes, BRH 49 had the best intersection, averaging 0.16 oz. over 272 ft. Others ranged from 0.06 to 0.26 oz. over 6.5 to 123.6 ft. Two holes on the eastern extremity ranged from 0.18 to 0.3 oz. over widths of 3 to 68 ft. The Central zone remains open along strike and at depth. Bre-X believes the zone could host an open-pit reserve of 1.5 million oz. to a depth of 492 ft. To confirm this, it will carry out a 16,000-ft., 44-hole program of infill drilling on the 3,280-ft.-long core of the zone. The program is expected to be finished by May.

In addition, 49,000 ft. will be drilled on the Southeast zone. The objective here will be to outline an additional reserve of 1.5 million oz. gold along the first 3,280-ft. section of the inferred, 3.3-mile-long zone, to a depth of 492 ft.

Drill fences, spaced at 820-ft. intervals and drilled to a vertical depth of 492 ft., will enable Bre-X to calculate an inferred resource. The property is situated in the province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.