Tuesday, April 17, 2018

New Ruby Deposit Discovered in Mozambique
April 17, 2018
Mustang Resources

Rough rubies typical of the Montepuez project. Source: Gems & Gemology, Spring 2015, Vol. 51, No. 1

ASX-listed Mustang Resources has discovered a new ruby-bearing gravel deposit just 3.5 km from its processing plant at the Montepuez ruby project in Mozambique.

The discovery was made during an extensive exploration and test pitting campaign undertaken at Montepuez during the March 2018 quarter, which resulted in the development of 196 test pits during the period.

Preparations have now commenced to restart the exploration bulk sampling program at Montepuez as the rainy seasons ends, and the newly-identified Block D will form part of the upcoming bulk sampling program.

Q1 ruby operations update

During Q1, a total of 29,069.1 carats were recovered from the processing of 43,940 m3 (68,107 tonnes) of material at Montepuez, resulting in an average grade for the quarter of 0.42 carats/tonne.

The Q1 2018 recovery grades were approximately 13.5% higher than Q4 2017, while tonnes processed were approximately 15% lower.

In Q4 2017, approximately 80,658 tonnes were processed with 29,983 carats recovered at an average grade of 0.37 carats/tonne.

Heavy rains during the quarter adversely affected operations and processing of the stockpile.

Preparations have now commenced to restart the exploration bulk sampling program as the rainy seasons draws to an end.

Mustang’s Montepuez ruby project is located in the heart of the globally significant Montepuez gem-field, adjacent to the advanced mining operations of JSE-listed Gemfields and early-stage exploration assets of TSXV-listed Fura Gems.

“The discovery of the Block D ruby-bearing gravels and the success of our ongoing exploration activitites continue to show the significant prospectivity of the ruby project," says Mustang Resources MD, Dr. Bernard Olivier.

"When combined with the recent initial success of our newly-implemented sales and marketing strategy, we are confident that we can continue to steadily build value around this high-quality asset – which is strategically located in the heart of the Montepuez gem-field, currently the world’s leading supply source of rubies.”

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