Southwestern defines gold zones at Boka

Vancouver — Results are in hand for 11 new infill and step-out holes drilled at the Boka project in China’s Yunnan province. The advanced gold project is operated and held 90% by Southwestern Resources (SWG-T), with the remaining interest owned by a Chinese partner.

Highlights from the latest round of drilling include a 40.7-metre intersection grading 3.7 grams gold per tonne, including 2 metres of 14.5 grams, and a 54.55-metre intersection of 3.6 grams, including 4 metres of 16 grams and 3.5 metres of 6.7 grams.

While one hole produced no significant assays, results from other holes were generally in the range of 2 to 5 grams, and up to 16 grams, over minable widths.

Hole 05-93 returned three mineralized intervals: 12 metres of 4.1 grams, 11 metres of 5.6 grams, and 16.5 metres of 3.4 grams. Other notable results include: 20.85 metres of 3.2 grams, 18.2 metres of 4.1 grams, 36.1 metres of 3.8 grams, and 16 metres of 2.7 grams.

Gold mineralization at Boka is associated with quartz-carbonate-sulphide stockworks in carbonaceous slate, sandstone and conglomerate. Southwestern recently started a prefeasibility study to examine potential mining scenarios at Boka. Environmental, metallurgical and other studies are also under way.

Earlier this summer, Southwestern released a “first-pass” scoping study based on 67 holes drilled to late April of this year, which included initial resource estimates for the Boka 1 North, Boka 1 South, and Boka 7 zones. These zones collectively host indicated resources of 10.4 million tonnes averaging 2.88 grams gold per tonne, or almost 1 million contained ounces, plus 45.8 million tonnes at 2.75 grams, or about 4.05 million contained ounces, in the inferred category.

A cutoff grade of 0.5 gram was used for the resource estimates, with high-grade values cut to 31 grams.

The preliminary study examined an open-pit operation capable of producing 200,000 oz. gold annually, at cash costs averaging US$143 per oz. Capital-cost estimates ranged from US$139 million to US$235 million, while the strip ratio was estimated at 6.7:1 waste-to-ore over a proposed 10-year mine life.

The proposed open-pit mine was based on indicated resources of 5.1 million tonnes at 2.93 grams, or about 480,000 contained ounces, plus a further 18.1 million tonnes at 2.93 grams in the inferred category, for an additional 1.71 million contained ounces.

The prefeasibility study will determine optimum production rates, and will also examine potential for underground mining of high-grade resources.