Medusa hikes resource estimate for Mindanao mining project

MANILA, Philippines - Australian miner Medusa Mining Ltd. has upgraded its inferred resource estimate for its Bananghilig gold deposit within the Tambis district in Eastern Mindanao.

Medusa operates in the country through its local arm Philsaga Mining Corp.

The new inferred resource is estimated at 1.1 million ounces at a grade of 1.63 per ton contained in 21 million tons of ore using a lower cut-off of 0.8 grade/ton of gold. This represents an increase of 69 percent from the previous resource announced on Aug. 12, 2009 of 650,000 ounces at a grade of 1.3 per ton, applying a cut-off of 0.6 grade per ton.

Medusa said infill drilling is nearing completion. Following receipt of all outstanding assays and completion of updated interpretations, an indicated resource estimate will be undertaken.

“It is pleasing that since July 2011, drilling has achieved our objectives of initially validating historical data and then increasing the resource to our target of one million ounces. Infill drilling is now nearing completion with the aim of converting the Inferred Resources to Indicated Resources,” said Medusa managing director Peter Hepburn-Brown.