www.selwynresources.com
Selwyn with its 50% joint venture partner, Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co. Ltd., is advancing the Selwyn Project in Yukon and Northwest territories to bankable feasibility and development. Chihong is funding the next $100M of exploration and development activities. Chihong is a fully integrated mining and smelting company based in southern China. Together the partners will seek project financing from Chinese banks.
Selwyn Project hosts perhaps the largest undeveloped zinc-lead deposit in the World. Initial mine development will focus on 16.06M tonnes of high grade Indicated mineral resources grading 10.06 % zinc and 4.23% lead and 26.70M tonnes grading 8.81% zinc and 2.81% lead. Initial mine production is forecast at 255,000 tpa of zinc and 65,000 tpa of lead in concentrate; commencing as early as late 2013, coinciding with forecast shortfalls in mine supply.
Selwyn Resources confirms deep, thick zone of zinc-lead at Don, potential to boost resources
Vancouver-based Selwyn Resources (CVE:SWN) announced Tuesday the deepest known results yet from the Don deposit in the Yukon, confirming a thick zone of high grade zinc-lead mineralization at depth, which has the potential to connect with another similar target at the property.
The find promises a large potential boost to existing resources at the Don deposit, which is comprised of three lenses in the underground, the 61-lens, 62-lens, and the 63-lens, each of which is structurally bounded by faults.
The Don deposit, which is host to 2.36 million tonnes of indicated resources, is part of the giant Selwyn zinc project in the eastern Yukon, a joint venture owned by Selwyn and Chihong Mining Canada, a subsidiary of Yunnan Chihong Zinc and Germanium Co.
The results reported today at Don hail from the 63 lens of the deposit, with hole DON-180 intersecting 29.85 metres of 9.27% zinc and 3.48% lead, including 4.70 metres of 24.56% zinc and 13.10% lead - stellar grades hosted within a much broader envelope of zinc-lead mineralization.
In addition, the company said that hole 180 co-related well with the nearby DON-192, which returned a whopping 43.15 metres of 8.94% zinc and 3.16% lead, including 12.58 metres at 12.86% zinc and 4.91% lead.
Other notable intercepts included hole DON-173, which intersected 15.25 metres at 9.88% zinc and 3.01% lead, including 3.16 metres of 14.53% zinc and 4.90% lead.
According to Selwyn, the new drilling results represent the deepest known extensions of the Don deposit, and suggest a flattening of the dip of the 63-lens at depth.
"The further confirmation of a thick zone of gentle dipping high grade mineralization at depth in the Don deposit is very encouraging," said president and CEO, Dr. Harlan Meade.
"The potential that this mineralization connects with similar gentle dipping thick zones of high grade mineralization in the adjacent Don East deposit makes this an attractive target for early development and provides an additional attractive alternative for underground mining at the Selwyn Project."
Indeed, based upon a preliminary analysis, Selwyn said the mineralization in the 63-lens could dip more gently away, and extend from the Don deposit, towards a similar, thick zone of mineralization in the Don East target, located just 500 metres to the southeast.
"This is important because if this interpretation is correct, then the lowest elevations of both deposits are at the same relative depth below surface," added the company in a statement.
Selwyn plans on conducting additional drilling to define the mineral potential of any possible extensions of these thick, gently dipping zones, which have now been confirmed at depth at both Don and Don East.
Currently, no mineral resource has been found between Don and Don East, which means the company stands to benefit from this discovery immensely. One drill is now working at the Don deposit, with two at the XY West area of the project.
Just last week, Selwyn completed its $10 million acquisition of ScoZinc, which owns the 1.58 million tonne Scotia lead-zinc mine in Nova Scotia, an operation which the company plans to restart by early 2012. Cash flows from this project are expected to help fund the development of the Selwyn property in the Yukon.
