7th Feb 2008 07:26
Rio Tinto PLC07 February 2008 Rio Tinto reports three billion tonnes of additional iron ore Resources 7 February 2008 Rio Tinto has further strengthened its leading position in the Pilbara with a3.0 billion tonne addition to its iron ore Resource base. This came through the discovery of a major new Resource at Caliwingina, andsignificant improvement in confidence of resources associated with knowndeposits. The Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Sam Walsh, said significant technicaland study work has led to increased confidence in Rio Tinto's position in thePilbara. "Rio Tinto occupies the largest mineralisation and land position in the Pilbara,one of the world's great iron ore producing regions. This advantage isstrengthened by addition of the newly discovered Resource at Caliwingina,comprising 875 million tonnes of iron ore only 15 kilometres from our railwayand only 150 km from our ports at Dampier and Cape Lambert, as well assignificant additions around known deposits." Mineral Resource Additions 1. Addition of Caliwingina The newly discovered Caliwingina Resource is within the Mt Pyrton Project areawhich lies 100 km north northwest of Tom Price and is approximately 15 km fromthe Rio Tinto Iron Ore Tom Price to Dampier railway line. The Resource is situated within the Late Archaean to Early Proterozoic(2765-2470 Ma) Hamersley Basin. The Lower Hamersley Group rocks within this areaform rounded outcrops on the edge of the Fortescue River basin with the UpperHamersley Group rocks forming larger steeper hills behind. Lithologies comprisemeta-sedimentary rocks from the Hamersley Group and cover units of the Tertiaryand Quaternary. Rio Tinto initially conducted exploration for Channel Iron Deposit (CID) in thesouthern part of Caliwingina using geophysical techniques and an extensivereverse circulation (RC) drilling programme during 2002-2003 which delineated a6 km continuous length of CID. During 2005/2006 Rio Tinto continued an RCdrilling programme to the north following the CID channel to the out wash areain the Fortescue Valley. The Caliwingina North area now has sufficient drilling coverage (173 RC holesfor 11,503 metres on a nominal 500 by 200 metre grid spacing) to define anInferred CID Mineral Resource. All drilling was sampled at two metre intervalsusing appropriate Standard and Duplicate check sample methods, followed by QA/QCanalysis. A 3D geological block model of the domains, including the CID, withinthe channel was built using 100m by 100m by 2m blocks followed by gradeestimation using Inverse Distance. Caliwingina North CID Deposit Inferred Mineral Resources (for Fe >55%). Caliwingina North Tonnes (Mt) Fe % Density Total 875 Mt 56.9 2.6 Drill evaluation work will continue in the Caliwingina Prospect during 2008/09to update the resource base. Also diamond drilling will be conducted to improvegrade estimation confidence as well as for Metallurgical and density test-work. 2. Reporting of Brockman Process Ore Brockman Process Ore is being reported here for the first time (apart from TomPrice). The additional resource is contained within the mineralisation envelopethat also defines the high grade (HG) for 15 known deposits. Only bedded DalesGorge (DG1 to DG3), Joffre (J1 to J6) and footwall zone Process Ore is reported.All Process Ore is reported as in-situ tonnes and grade. The newly reportedResource only requires application of standard processing technology to be wonfrom material that will be extracted according to the long term mining schedule. Undeveloped Brockman Process Ore (>or=50% Fe or=3% Al2O3or=60% Fe) Hope Downs 4 High Grade Tonnes (Mt) Fe % Indicated 100 62.3Inferred 205 62.4Total 305 62.4 • 195 Mt of Brockman Process Ore for Hope Downs 4. • (>or=50% Fe or=3% Al2O3Related Shares:
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