East Asia Minerals and Centurion Site Visit
I just completed a site tour of East Asia Minerals Corp. and Centurion Minerals Ltd. The visit improved my understanding of the area and geology and I view both companies as strong buys. Located in the mountainous regions of Aceh province, northwestern Indonesia, East Asia's Miwah is a high sulphidation, epithermal gold system with about 10 million ounces outlined. The respective interests of East Asia and a local company PT Bayu Kamona Karya on the project is 85% and 15%. East Asia's drill program is designed to aggressively expand the aforementioned resource with significant blue sky potential. Centurion will spend $5 million on exploration and begin drilling in the new year. Centurion has accumulated an enviable land package surrounding Miwah and has already identified a number of choice targets.
Miwah has an impressive batting average and to date all drill holes have encountered mineralisation. East Asia has traced a large 1,200 metre by 450 metres by 250 metre thick envelope grading (1.2gt) with vertical diatreme breccias feeder zones that could augment the resource material, both at surface and depth. There are three satellite deposits. The main Miwah zone is flat lying but our site visit leads us to believe that there is much more resource potential at depth to the north, east and.
I was greeted by three geologists, Henry Wong, Darryl Clarke newly appointed VP of Exploration from Australia and Marcilinus PHS. The group showed me four sections of drill holes (#33, #19, #24 and #3). EMD # 33 was the deepest hole at 349.6 metres grading 1.4 grams. The sections were consistent and noteworthy was that grade tapered off when the vuggy silica changed to clay,. I was also shown hole EMD #24 which got better at depth with free gold, bottoming at 209 metres. Most exciting was recently completed drill hole EXD # 3, drilled with a due south azimuth and 55 degree dip about 100 metres north from EMD 24. The results of EXD #3 are important because they give a good indication of higher grade mineralisation down dip and in a northerly direction linking to Moon River. EXD #3 intersected favourable mineralisation at 160 m downhole continuing to 220m with the bottom 3.5 metres grading 11.78 g/t. This hole was drilled with the shallow 200 metre rig.
East Asia has three active drill rigs. Since most holes bottomed in mineralisation, another deep machine will be swapped with a shallow machine shortly. East Asia moved the shallow rig to drill 100 metres to the east (#4), which would be the most easterly hole, following up Highland Pacific's MWD #7 which ran 9.7 m @ 0.88 g/t . There is potential to add another 400 metres towards the east, which if successful would extend East Asian's strike length to 1,600 metres. This drill campaign continues to show promise.
East Asia samples every metre and splits core in house where they check SG (specific gravity) every 10 metres. I saw two cutting machines and East Asia ships core in sealed bags, half to Medan, where the Intertek labs prep and send core to Jakarta to be assayed. East Asia currently has a 100 person camp, surrounded by barbed wire and 10 guards. The geologists are on rotation and supplies are brought in by helicopter and porters. East Asia has three core shacks but with increased drilling, there are plans to build another shack, likely where the helicopter pad is situated . East Asia also has a radio station, needed since it rains about four metres a year. In our opinion, the project is well organized and managed.
Centurion Minerals Corporation
Centurion will have a NI 43-101 technical report on Banda Raya and Halimon which have IUPs on the two northerly blocks, adjacent to East Asia's Miwah. Management reviewed historic work by other companies and like East Asia acquired the concessions which had promising work and targets. All high sulfidation and porphyry copper-gold showings in Centurion's blocks and Miwah were discovered by the same company in the 1990s. Both properties are located in the Pidie Regency, Aceh and total 20,000 hectares. Access is by foot and helicopter. Mineralization on both is epithermal and belongs to high and low sulphidisation as well as being porphyry related. Both properties host favourable volcanic and structural geology similar to Miwah. An exploration contract was signed with a local Indonesian company, PT Sigma Mineral Exploration that is conducting field work with the objective of choosing two or three targets to be drilled early next year. Two camps, one field office and an office in Jakarta have been set up. There are at least two high sulfidation epithermal targets on Banda Raya - Leuping is about 5 northeast of Miwah and Lee Cuko, north of Sipopok.
I visited Centurion's Leuping site which was an extinct volcano. I was met by Centurion's two local geologists, Tjandra and Abraham and about 18 locals. Leuping is higher in elevation than Miwah, but on trend within the east-northeast trending Miwah-Menawan structural-mineralized corridor. I visited an outcrop and took samples. The Company has begun exploration with geochemical exploration work to date already uncovering a number of outcrops where they have taken samples. Vug-bearing silica or silicified rocks was evident and it appears that this is lithogenic in origin, as opposed to structural controlled and is similar to the Yanacocha system in Peru. Preliminary assays from the two prospects returned assay up to 0.4 g/t Au. Drilling is expected early next year, likely concentrating on Lee Cuko (Sipopok north) and Leuping. It's worthwhile to state that previous explorers reported the presence of altered and pyrite-bearing diatreme; similar rock type that hosts the higher gold grade Miwah bluff zone of the Miwah deposit. Centurion continues to pursue other properties to augment is well located property portfolio.
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