CONQUEST MINING LIMITED - ASX: CQT

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Description

ASX-listed Conquest Mining Limited is a growth oriented mining company with projects in Queensland, Australia. The recently acquired Pajingo Gold Mine (100%-owned) is located in a high-grade epithermal district that has produced more than 3 million ounces of gold. Pajingo has recently been producing 50,000 to 55,000 ounces of gold per year and Conquest is reviewing strategies to increase Pajingo's gold production.

The development of the Mt Carlton Gold-Silver-Copper Project (100%-owned) was approved in December 2010. Mt Carlton hosts Mineral Resources containing a total of 1.4 million ounces of gold, 36.7 million ounces of silver and 71,200 tonnes of copper.

Optimisation and feasibility studies have confirmed that the deposit is mineable as two separate open pits. Ore is planned to be processed by conventional crush-grind-float processing to produce a polymetallic concentrate which will be shipped to China.

Conquest believes that there is an opportunity in the Australian gold industry to create a genuine mid-tier gold producer with significant production scale and upside. Through a combination of organic growth and future acquisitions, Conquest’s long-term goal is to become an Australian-based company with assets that are capable of producing 500,000 ounces per annum.

Mount Carlton Gold-Silver-Copper Project

The Mt Carlton Gold-Silver-Copper Project is located 150 km south of Townsville and is centred on the V2 and A39 deposits,which were discovered by Conquest in 2006. The high-sulphidation epithermal style of mineralisation occurs within felsic volcanic rocks on the northern margin of the Permian Bowen Basin.

The Mineral Resources for the Mt Carlton Gold-Silver-Copper Project contain a total of 1.4 million ounces of gold, 36.7 million ounces of silver and 71,200 tonnes of copper. The Ore Reserve for Mt Carlton contain a total of 0.8 million ounces of gold, 17.3 million ounces of silver and 34,000 tonnes of copper.

Optimisation and feasibility studies have confirmed that the V2 and A39 deposits are mineable as two separate open pits and can be processed via conventional crush-grind-float processing to produce a polymetallic concentrate. The Board of Conquest Mining approved the development of the Mt Cartlton Project in December 2010. More than 105,000 metres has been drilled at and around the Silver Hill deposit to date and a significant exploration program is underway.

Pajingo Gold Mine

Pajingo is located 53km south of Charters Towers and is a well-established operation mining a large epithermal gold system. More than 2.3 million ounces of gold have been produced at Pajingo at an overage grade of greater than 12g/t gold since the commencement of underground mining in 1996.

Pajingo has recently been producing 50,000 to 55,000 ounces of gold per year at a cash cost of about A$800 per ounce. Conquest is reviewing the plans of previous owners to develop satellite and open-pit sources in order to utilise the spare capacity of the processing facility to lower costs and potentially increase output. Ore is currently mined primarily by simple and well understood underground methods using long-hole open-bench stoping, with ore hauled to surface via a decline. Approximately 300,000 tonnes per annum of ore is currently processes through a carbon-in pulp ("CIP") plant to produce gold doré on site. Metallurgy is simple and gold and silver recoveried are very high. The processing place has capacity to prcess up to 750,000 tonnes per annum.

Twin Hills Project

The Twin Hills project, 190 kilometres south of Pajingo, is under consideration for treatment at Pajingo precessing facility or as a stand-along development. Trial underground mining is expected to commence at Twin Hill early in 2011.

Mining at Twin Hills will be based on extraction of large underground stopes with relatively low mining costs per tonne. Processing Twin Hills ore at Pajingo would provide relatively low milling costs. This means that despite the cost of trucking ore from Twin Hills to Pajingo, the total cost structure at Twin Hills is anticipated to be similar to that currently achieved at Pajingo.

Exploration Strategy

The Central North Queensland Goldfields has historical production and current resources totalling 20 million ounces of gold. The largest deposits were Charters Towers (>7 million ounces), Revenswood (>3.5 million ounces) Mt Leyshon (>3 million ounces) and Pajingo (>3 million ounces). The majority of this production has been from the Ravenswood Block and Drummond Basin to the west. However, the discovery of the significant Silver Hill deposit in the Bowen Basin provided a major shift in exploration concepts.

Conquest has a large, landholding in this tightly held district:

- Mt Carlton Project – ~1,200km2 of contiguous tenements;
- Pajingo Project – ~800km2 of contiguous tenements and
- North Queensland Regional – ~1,200km2 of tenements at various prospects with in 110km of Mt Carlton Project.

Mineralisation styles across these properties encompass porphyry associated stockworks, stratabound replacement, and low-tp high-sulphidation epithermal vein systems. All of these tenements are located in a highly prospective part of northern Queensland that Conquest plans to systematically explore.

Mine For

gold, silver, copper

Location of operation(s)

Queensland

Address

C/- Suite 4 , 213 Balcatta Road
BALCATTA, WA, AUSTRALIA

Phone

(08) 9240 4111

Email

Website

http://www.conquestmining.com.au

Last Updated

15/04/2011