core sector communique

XSTRATA COPPER ANNOUNCES MINERAL RESOURCE UPDATE FOR THE FRIEDA RIVER COPPER-GOLD PROJECT

IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

 

 

Brisbane, 22 January 2010

 

Xstrata Copper announces a revised Mineral Resource estimate for the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai (HIT) deposit at the Frieda River copper-gold project in Papua New Guinea.  The resource estimate includes significantly increased inventory and improved confidence levels, including a 26% increase in resource tonnage. Measured Resources have been reported for the first time and Measured and Indicated tonnes now total 40% of the increased resource inventory.

 

The new HIT resource estimate indicates a Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of over 1 billion tonnes at 0.53% copper, 0.29 g/t gold and 0.8g/t silver, using a cut-off grade of 0.3% copper.

 

Xstrata Copper Executive General Manager Project Evaluation, Peter Forrestal, said that the latest results confirmed Frieda River as potentially a very significant copper-gold producer in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

“Since assuming management control of the Frieda River Project in January 2007, Xstrata Copper has conducted an aggressive evaluation programme, completing 65,000 metres of drilling as part of scoping and pre-feasibility studies. The increased scale of and confidence in the resource indicated by this revised estimate for the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai deposit underlines the success of this approach.

 

“Our current focus is to conduct various technical studies to support a pre-feasibility study which is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2010. Stakeholder engagement and environmental studies are also under way.

 

“We are committed to moving forward with the Frieda River project in genuine partnership with our joint venture partners Highlands Pacific Limited and OMRD, the project’s host communities and district, provincial and national governments,” said Mr Forrestal.