South Pacific explores in Indonesia

Indonesian explorer South Pacific Resources (VSE) will spend US$4.4 million testing its three properties on the island of Kalimantan.

The program, which was fully funded by an equity issue in 1995, will include 19,000 metres of drilling and 15,600 line km of airborne geophysical surveys.

More than half the budget will be used to evaluate nine mineralized targets and five geochemical stream-sediment anomalies at its Masupa Ria project.

Preliminary results from most of the channel samples taken last year on the previously mined Ongkang and 290 zones have been encouraging. Underground sampling in the footwall, parallel to the Ongkang vein, has returned an assay of 20.5 grams gold per tonne over 40 metres in a continuous, 90-metre footwall channel sample. Values in the remaining 50-metre portion have ranged from 2.2 grams over 2 metres to 6.8 grams over 10 metres. The vein was traced previously over a strike length of more than 400 metres.

At the 290 zone, 200 metres to the northwest, mapping and channel sampling have delineated a mineralized area 200 metres long and 50 metres wide. The zone remains open to the west and south, and channel samples from an 80-metre portion have ranged from 2.3 grams over 2.5 metres to 14.3 grams over 7 metres.

Surface and underground channel sampling will be applied to these and other targets prior to a 12,000-metre drill program, to begin in May.

Elsewhere, at the Mandor copper-gold porphyry project, South Pacific will spend US$1.3 million, primarily on a 7,000-metre drill program. Previously, the company drilled 150 auger holes over a 4-sq.-km portion on the northern section of the Mandor dome. The holes were drilled to a depth of 7 metres, or until bedrock was reached. Copper values ranged up to 0.36%, whereas gold values were generally low, ranging up to 2.3 grams.

The company has begun a scout drilling program, with holes expected to average a depth of 30 metres. The 40-hole program should be completed by late February.

At the Sampit Sori-Hill project, South Pacific has begun receiving data from an airborne survey flown over a previously identified, 2.5-km-long gold soil geochemical anomaly. The anomaly appears to be up to 4 km long and has the potential to host a low-grade, bulk-tonnage deposit of gold and base metals.

South Pacific will spend US$300,000 on additional airborne surveys over the project, combined with trenching.