The following excerpt is from EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER - What's up in Sweden, No 12 November 2001

Current news on exploration in Sweden. Editor Birger Filén

EXPLORATION NEWS

Spending on exploration in Sweden looks on track to rise for the second year in a row. According to Stockholm based Raw Material Group the exploration expenditure in Sweden during 2000 was 195 MSEK, a rise of 8 % compared with 1999. Estimated exploration for this year is SEK 210 million.

In August Macquarie Bank Ltd agreed to provide Dragon Mining N.L. with $1 million of loan funding to complete the final feasibility studies and environmental permitting of the Svartliden Gold Project in Northern Sweden. Macquarie has also been granted a mandate to arrange and provide US$ 9 million of project finance and gold hedging facilities for the Svartliden Gold Project.
According to an announcement dated 25 October, Dragon has now completed a bankable or definite feasibility study for its Svartliden Gold Project. The study concludes that Dragon’s (80 %) share of project earnings before interest and taxes should amount to A$ 31.0 million to A$ 36.5 million.
The study has demonstrated that a conventional carbon in leach plant will provide a low process risk and economical operation on the Svartliden ore. Crushing and grinding will be through primary and secondary crushers and a conventional ball mill. Detoxification of the process tailings stream will be carried out prior to pumping to the tailings storage facility (TSF). The TSF has the capacity to retain all process water and recycle more than 90 % for a project life up to 7 years. Metallurgical investigations have indicated that over 95 % recovery of gold can be achieved from the 5.7 g/t Au head grade. Reagent and power consumption will be moderate.
Depending on the timing and outcome of environmental approvals, a development commitment and commencement of construction could begin the summer next year with first production in late 2002 or early 2003.
The Svartliden mineralization is epigenetic, described by Dragon as being a discovery new to Sweden, with well-defined silica development in greenstone-hosted shear zones.

Drillcore and boulder assay results at Poplar Resources Ltd’s 100 % owned Bottenbäcken polymetallic project in Jämtland County has been announced. Borehole BB-5 was drilled into the Storuggen South IP anomaly. Prior to sampling the entire core it was decided that a test section would be assayed first. A particular zone of interest with visible bornite mineralisation from 41.90 to 42.50 m was chosen. The assay gave 0.96 % Cu, 1.42 g/t Pd, 0.86 g/t Au, 0.06 g/t Pr, and 5.7 g/t Ag.
Fieldwork in the western portion of the license area has identified a cluster of large mineralised boulders. The boulders are described as mcdium-grained, greenish metavolcanic rocks that are equally mineralised. The visible mineralisation appears to be mainly chalcopyrite that is evenly distributed throughout each boulder. Assay results for two of these boulders are:

Cu % Pd g/t Au g/t Pt g/t Ag g/t
BO-1 2.07 5.04 0.73 0.45 15.4
BO-2 2.64 7.71 0.75 0.60 14.8

Diamond drilling at Bottenbäcken is ongoing.

Works completed to date on iron-oxide-hosted copper-gold deposits in Norrbotten County confirmed concepts and models proposed by Equinox Resources Ltd. BHP Billiton has elected to proceed to the next stage of the Norrbotten Joint Venture with Equinox and target definition fieldwork is underway for a drilling program at the end of 2001.

The Djuragruvan Project is a priority target following Tertiary Minerals’ discovery of a 3 km long high-grade ore-boulder train (18 boulders averaging 10.6 % Zn, 3.9 % Pb, 0.3 % Cu) to the south-south-east of the historic Gruvberget mining centre.
An orientation geophysical exploration programme was carried out in the main mining centre to test the response of known mineralisation to various geophysical exploration techniques.
Results have become available from a till geochemical survey. These results show strong geochemical anomalies associated with known mineralisations as well as parallel anomalies and a large geochemical anomaly coincident with the 3 km strike length of the ore-boulder train. A 30 line km magnetic survey has recently been completed.
In the Windfall Project integration of the Boliden and Tertiary Minerals drill databases has been completed and a thorough reevaluation of the data has been carried out. Whilst this review has confirmed that significant zones of zinc mineralisation occur at both Windfall and Sörtärnan, the geology and geometry of mineralisation is complex. A reliable interpretation of the geology and an estimation of resources have been hampered by differences in logging and sampling protocols between the Boliden and Tertiary data sets.
A review of the surrounding geology has highlighted a corridor of prospective geology, which will be targeted with renewed exploration in the Spring of 2002.

In the ongoing program to add to the success of the Storliden discovery in the Skellefte district, ground geophysical surveying continues on the targets identified by North Atlantic Natural Resources AB (NAN) in the 2000 airborne geophysical survey. Testing of the targets interpreted to be potential base-metal or gold deposits is expected to begin on a limited scale during the fourth quarter this year.
TheArctic StarJoint Venture— Ground surveying has been completed on targets identified from the 2000 airborne survey and are being selected for possible testing by drilling. At least one target, Smalaken, is expected to be tested by drilling before the end of 2001.
The Norrliden Project— A prefeasibility study conducted by Boliden Mineral AB is in progress. Mining methods and costs are being compared and optimised. A final decision on how to proceed is not expected before January 2002.
The Vargbäcken Project — Management con-
tinues to study various alternatives for advancing this project. So far the gold resources are estimated to be 589,000 tonnes grading 3.74 g/t gold at a cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t gold.
The Scanex Joint Venture— This joint-venture was officially terminated on August 4, 2001.

New appointed CEO for Lappland Goidminers AB is Karl-Åke Johansson.

A helicopter-borne, geophysical survey was carried out in southern Jämtland and south-western Västernorrland Counties early this year. Three areas of totally 500 km2 were covered with mag, VLF, EM-S channels, and radiometrics. The result is available for copy costs on two CD’s from Jämtlands Mineral, Ösrersund (e-mail:xminerals@minmail.net) and soon from SGU (raw data + maps).

MINING NEWS

NAN’s Storliden underground copper-zinc mine 8 km north-east of the town of Malå is currently under construction. The orebody will be accessed by a 960 m inclined ramp extending from the surface. Completion of the ramp is anticipated during December 2001. Underground development will subsequently take place allowing for commercial production of ore anricipared in MarchApril 2002.

Boliden’s Laisvall mine was shut down on October 31. The mine operations begun in 1943 during the Second World War. The mine has produced some 60 million ronnes of ore with 4 % lead.

DIAMOND EXPLORATION

Alcastone Diamond Exploration AB has continued its till sampling programme. The company holds the largest diamond exploration licence ever granted in Sweden, at about 9,200 km2.

GEORANGE

Georange is a non-profit organisation in Sweden.
The clear objective of Georange is to promote new techniques and technologies in exploration, mining, and related activities in the Norrbotten-Väsrerbotten areas in Sweden, building on existing expertise and introducing new methods. Another objective is to support efforts dedicated to the mitigation and remediation of environmental concerns related to mining. A major focus of Georange activities is in the funding of applied research applicable to Georange terms of reference. Georange will initiate research projects through a prescreening procedure in order to select appropriate research activities. Prospective universities and independent researchers are encouraged to submit “letter of intent” for Georange funded research. A scientific council will select suitable proposals. The applicants will then be invited to submit a full proposal to Georange. The committee shall review those proposals according to defined criteria and the selection is also a subject of the Board for available funds. Ask for more information on Georange from info@georange.nu.

SGU

A list of new publications and maps can be found on SGU’s website:
www.sgu.se/aktuellt/nypub_index.htm

Some new maps and publications with special emphasis on exploration are listed below.
— Description of the geological and geophysical maps of northern Norrbotten County (east of rhe Caledonian orogen). SGU Ba 56.
— Regional geological and geophysical maps of northern Norrbotten County:
1. Bedrock geology (including geophysics), scale 1:250 000. SGU Ba 56:1.
2. Metamorphic, structural and isotope age map, scale 1:250 000. SGU Ba 56:2.
3. Mineral and bedrock resource map, scale 1:250 000. SGU Ba 56:3.
4. Magnetic total field map, scale 1:250 000. SGU Ba 56:4
5. Gamma radiation map, electromagnetic map (VLF), topographic relief map and Bouguer anomaly map, scale 1:650 000.
SGU Ba 56:5
— Description to the Bedrock Map of Central Fennoscandia (Mid-Norden). Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper 28.
— Regional berggrundsgeologisk undersökning. Sammanfattning av pågående undersökningat 2000. Serie Rapporter och meddelanden nr 105. Regional bedrock geological surveys. Introduction in English.

MEETINGS

The 3rd Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining, Rovaniemi, Finland
December 3—4, 2001
www.lapinliitto.fi/

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. You are of course welcome to visit us and have a closer look at the information that we can offer you.

© 2002 Geological Survey of Sweden - Mineral Resources Information Office.

The content of this newsletter is entirely based Upon public information gathered from newspapers, press releases, and web sites on Internet.