AMN - MOZAMBIQUE: Bulk sampling on new ruby licence

Mustang Resources has taken another significant step in its strategy to ramp-up processing at the Montepuez Ruby Project in Mozambique with the start of bulk sampling on the recently acquired Licence 8245L.

The licence borders the existing Montepuez licence areas held by the company on one side and the lucrative ruby project owned by London-listed Gemfields on the other. Importantly, it lies along the southeast-northwest ruby mineralisation trend, which also transects the adjacent Gemfields licences.

A February 2017 site visit by Mustang consultant Paul Allan confirmed that artisanal miners are recovering, high-quality rubies from this licence area.

Mustang has made a strong start to the bulk sampling, with more than 10,000 tonnes of gravel delivered to the Montepuez processing plant from Pit NT01. Mineralisation within Pit NT01 is shallow with a very low strip ratio.

Initial manual test pitting by Mustang across a broader area of the new licence generated strong results, with 11.75cts (9.45 ct ruby and 2.30 ct of corundum) recovered from 2726kg of gravel from seven manually dug pits processed through Bushman Jigs, highlighting the high-grade potential of the area.

Mustang says commissioning of the upgraded processing plant at Montepuez has been highly successful and processing rates are ramping up. Given this excellent progress, Mustang is confident it will achieve its targeted daily processing rate of 1500 tonnes within weeks.

The increasing throughput means Mustang is also on track to achieve its target of building a ruby inventory of 200,000 carats ahead of its planned initial auction in October this year. This will provide an opportunity to increase the volume of rubies available for sale in the October auction.

www.mustangresources.com.au