By Nevsun,
NEVSUN Resources Ltd. (TSX: NSU) (NYSE MKT: NSU) (“Nevsun” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the updated mineral resource estimate effective December 31, 2014, for the Bisha and Harena deposits.
These updated resources form the first part of the annual year end mineral reserve and mineral resource statement for 2014. The updated mineral reserve estimate will be released in our year end disclosure.
The Bisha primary indicated resource grew by 0.9 million tonnes and primary inferred resource grew 0.6 million tonnes. This primary zone growth added indicated resources of 83 million pounds of zinc and 40 million pounds of copper and inferred resources of 96 million pounds of zinc and 21 million pounds of copper.
Of even greater significance, was the exceptional growth due to the 2014 exploration drilling of the Harena primary deposit. The Harena open pit indicated resource grew by 1.4 million tonnes adding 113 million pounds of zinc and 32 million pounds of copper and primary inferred resources increased by 6.1 million tonnes for an addition of 498 million pounds of zinc and 156 million pounds of copper.
Cliff Davis, Nevsun CEO, commented,
“Our drilling at Harena has produced a substantial increase in the total resource available for the Bisha operations and demonstrates the success of the 2014 drilling program. Since the restart of exploration here last year, the estimated cost of discovery at Harena has been approximately 2 cents per pound copper and 1 cent per pound zinc. This tremendous cost efficiency speaks to how we approach our business practices. As exploration continues at Harena, excellent potential remains for additional resource expansion not only at Harena, but also at our three other deposits within the Bisha VMS District. The same methodology that was applied to Harena is now being applied to the Bisha deposit as we further explore Bisha along strike and at depth. During 2015 we will begin the scoping of underground mining at Bisha and Harena.”
Highlights
• Measured and indicated resources of our deposits now contain 1.2 billion pounds copper, 3.4 billion pounds zinc, 750 thousand ounces gold, and 42 million ounces silver
• Inferred resources contain an additional 237 million pounds copper , 757 million pounds zinc, 311 thousand ounces gold, and 11 million ounces silver
• Harena indicated resources approximately doubled in size
• Harena inferred resources grew eighteen fold to 6.4 million tonnes with grades of 1.1% Cu and 3.7% Zn
• Bisha remains open at depth, Harena remains open at depth and along strike
• Drilling is underway at Bisha and Harena with an accelerated exploration plan for 2015
• Underground scoping assessment to begin at Bisha and Harena
