Jan 10 2011
Adroit Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ADT)(FRANKFURT:A7V)(BERLIN:A7V) - Management has reported that field work resumed in November 2010 on its wholly owned antimony permits in Grosseto Province, Italy.
The on-going program comprises soil and rock sampling, ground geophysical surveying, geological mapping and drilling. Drilling is planned to start in the second quarter of 2011 with the objective of producing compliant resource calculations contained within the Company's exploration permits.
The antimony project covers four permits in the Manciano region (some 50km South of Grosseto, the capital of the Province of Grosseto), by world standards, a historical significant producer of antimony with several deposits mined over the past century. Production in the area ceased in the late 1980s with the closure of the Tafone Mine. Between 1966 and 1986 the area produced repordetly 950,000t of ore yielding over 16,500t of antimony metal.
The programme follows-up on extensive data compilation and interpretation as well as on reconnaissance surveying carried out since the renewal of the permits (see News Release of March 26, 2010). The current programme aims at confirming historical resource data and at testing the extent of the antimony mineralization in all of the four permits to produce compliant resource calculations.
Exploration and resource evaluation, carried out prior to the mine closures, indicated the presence of considerable historic antimony resources in the district and, more particularly, within the Company's 100% owned permits. Work carried out in the 1980s on the Faggio Scritto prospect, astride the Poggio Pietricci and Faggio Scritto tenements, indicated the presence of over 2.8Mt of ore grading 0.77% Sb, yielding over 21,000t of antimony metal, including a higher-grade zone of about 465,000t grading 1.58% Sb. The mineralization, which was never mined, occurs near surface, and remains open in several directions (See News Releases of June 13, 2007 and February 4, 2008). It occurs in close vicinity to the former Macchia Casella mine which reportedly produced over 1,100 tons of Sb metal from high-grade ore (>10%) between 1939 and 1953. Historical workings carried out on the company's other antimony prospects estimated resources of respectively 25,000t grading 1.3% Sb at Poggio Monticchio and 31,500 tonnes at 1.5% antimony on the I Salaioli prospect. These resources remain open in several directions.
The above resource estimates and the historical data are non-conformable with National Instrument 43-101, "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Deposits". These historical reports have not yet been independently verified by the Company and the Company is not relying upon them.
The antimony mineralization occurs in close spatial and genetic relation with the gold mineralization, recognized in the area (see, amongst others, News Release of 22 December 2006). Both occur preferentially in Mesozoic carbonate-evaporitic formations, are associated with regional structural features and are related to recent igneous activity. The idealized prototype of a southern Tuscan antimony deposit can be described as an irregular mineralization situated in the upper part of a highly porous limestone unit, usually the Calcare Cavernoso ("vuggy limestone"), overlain by an impermeable unit, normally a flysch-type rock. The deposits are bound to the edge of horst positions and also to areas of elevated geothermal gradient and resulting hydrothermal activity.
Antimony has many diversified and indispensable uses both for commercial and military applications. Antimony prices recently soared as global demand surges and output considerably declined as Hunan province, China's largest producing region, curbs output to comply with central government restrictions. China reportedly contributes around 90 percent of world output.
Mr. Franceschi, a Qualified Person under the guidelines of National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the geological information contained in this news release.