Unaly HillCentered on the Ferro/vanadium deposit in the mid west region (Unaly Hill), south of Sandstone. The geographical area is well documented historically, with various operators having successfully extracted gold, identified vanadium (Windamurra) and more recently iron ore, to feed into the ever growing demand from China for that commodity. Indeed, the mid west region is being promoted globally, as potentially the next large exporter of iron ore for Western Australia. Both Government and publicly listed companies are investing enormous amount of resources into seeing this become a reality in the medium to long term.
BRD, in 2009, held discussions with Quest Minerals Ltd. (QNL) in respect of the Unaly Hill tenement and QNL’s Victory Bore tenement immediately north, to investigate the potential for commercially developing the indicated magnetite deposit running through the centre of both companies properties. The strike zone runs for approximately 24 kms over both properties with about 11kms within the Unaly Hill tenement. Whilst there are certain advantages in considering joint approaches, in the immediate future the company decided to concentrate on its own asset for further evaluation. Aeromagnetic analysis and 3D modeling, highlighting certain areas of highest expectations and, a brief diamond drilling program, commenced to establish a path forwards. Since opening these discussions, a short term diamond drilling program has been completed with major intersections of mineralization encountered, as released to the market on December 18 2009. The company is extremely pleased with these highly prospective assays of magnetite, vanadium and titanium and look forward to further developments in 2010. A significant step towards increading the size of the resource has been the proposed joint ventrue with Meteoric Resources for their land immediately to the south of Unaly Hill. A decision to proceed with that venture (E57/760) will be made in the second half of 2010. To help with this programme, it was determined that a more detailed aeromagnetic survey was required and in May 2010, a high resolution airborne magnetic survey was flown with 50m line spacing at a ground clearance of ~30m. The survey area was designed to cover the most magnetic part of the Atley layered intrusive within the exploration tenement and, to include the northern reaches of E57/760 which lies to the south of E57/420; further reference to E57/760 follows in report. The high definition resolution magnetic data was primarily acquired to help plan a drilling programme aimed at delineating an inferred vanadium/titanium-rich-magnetite resource. As reported on June 1st 2010, the survey was completed with 1,124 line kms flown over both tenements and was then to be used for modeling the proposed drilling programme. The extent of the survey and location of previous drilling programmes, is highlighted on the embedded graphic with the survey area highlighted by the magenta colour. Following consultation with both CSA Global and Southern Geoscience, an RC drilling programme commenced in July 2010 designed to achieve areas of inferred resource within E57/420 and at the same time, undertake exploratory holes on E57/760 for initial evaluation. BRD have recently been alerted to the proposed infrastructure options being developed (as a concept), by local businesses backed by overseas investors, in association with the possible developments in the mid west region. Whilst only a concept at this stage, it does traverse the region within 10km of Unally Hill on its proposed path, and if successful, would have a major impact on the region. The accompanying layout highlights the corridors being proposed; it is believed that the current options being considered are advantageous to the Unaly Hill region, and will rely on the support of companies developing mining opportunities along the route. We are encouraged by the level of interest this proposal is receiving at all levels, and will update the data once it is in the public arena. |
Mongolia Rare Earths ProjectOn 2 March 2012, Black Ridge Mining NL announced the signing of a Heads of Agreement to develop a licenced Rare Earths project located in the Tuv Province, 80 kms east of Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city in Mongolia. The Heads of Agreement allows for a 120 day due diligence period, during which time the company will seek to finalise a definitive agreement to jointly develop the project. This is a significant investment opportunity and previous samples indicated not only rare earth elements but, potentially, vanadium, tungsten, chrome and scandium, complementing the Company’s Unaly Hill vanadium project in Western Australia. This agreement has the potential to add a new tenement to the Company's portfolio and underpins its core strategy to identify and develop significant opportunities, close to existing infrastructure, that will meet current and future resource demands. View full details in the ASX announcements below.
Other ProspectsThe Company has additionally begun to broaden the search for high yielding opportunities overseas and in particular, has recently been undertaking studies of various commodities in nearby Indonesia and the Philippines. It is the belief of the Board that we should not limit our scope merely to the local mining areas although, as the opportunities arise, they will be assessed based on the future merits to the Company given the vast amount of resources as yet, undeveloped in Australia. |

