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Prospect Hill Tin Project SummarySignificant tin mineralisation has been discovered at Prospect Hill. Given the exploration potential and favourable metallurgy, the project has good prospects for developing into South Australia’s first modern tin mine. HistoryThe Prospect Hill tin project, located in the northern Flinders Ranges, is South Australia’s largest known tin resource and has lain dormant for almost two decades until re-kindling of interest by the current high tin prices. Previous shallow drilling by Marathon Petroleum in the early 1980’s established an inferred resource of 172,000 tonnes of 1.15% tin to a vertical depth of 50 metres and over a strike length of 280 metres on the South Ridge prospect, based in part on some high grade tin intersections, including:
The South Ridge tin mineralisation is associated with anomalous copper, zinc, lead, uranium and silver identified along a strike length of more than 1,200 metres. Havilah entered into a joint venture in September 2007, whereby it may earn up to an 85% interest in the tenement by completing a feasibility study. Thereafter, the vendors may contribute their 15% share of development costs or revert to a net smelter royalty. Havilah ExplorationIn October 2007 Havilah completed a 19 hole, 1195 metre drilling programme with the objective of expanding the published resource and also testing the North Ridge prospect. Economic grades of tin mineralisation were confirmed in several holes on the South Ridge prospect, at comparatively shallow depths, including :
The higher grade tin mineralisation often occurs within broader lower grade tin halos and may be associated with potentially economic grades of copper, lead, zinc and silver. In PRC05, for example, the main tin mineralised interval from 13-16 metres also contains 1% copper, 2.2% lead, 1.76% zinc, 199 ppm uranium and 6.5 ounces silver per tonne. Preliminary metallurgical test work on three composite RC drill chip samples has confirmed that the tin, which is mostly present as free cassiterite grains, can be effectively recovered by gravity methods. For example, for the high grade composite (4.8% Sn) 84% of the tin reported to a 48% tin concentrate, while for the low grade composite (0.5% Sn) 79% of the tin was recovered into an 8.5% tin concentrate (along with abundant sulphide minerals and garnet). A second round of drilling at Prospect Hill will commence in the second half of 2008 in order to follow up the earlier high grade tin intersections. The aim is to expand the presently known tin mineralisation beyond its current limits, with an initial open pit target objective of 700,000 tonnes of 0.8% tin. The eastern portion of the tenement also has considerable potential for the discovery of Tertiary palaeochannel hosted uranium deposits, in a geological setting that is very comparable with the Beverley – 4 Mile area that lies roughly 40 kilometres to the south. The key ingredients of suitable sand and gravel beds flanking basement outcrops that are highly elevated in uranium, are known to occur over a large area, and will also be targeted in a subsequent drilling programme.
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