Focus Provides Bayovar 12 Drill Update
March 24 2014 - 7:51AM
Marketwired
Focus Provides Bayovar 12 Drill Update
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 24, 2014) -
Focus Ventures Ltd. (TSX-VENTURE:FCV) is pleased to provide a
further update on the drill program underway at the Bayovar 12
phosphate project near Piura in northern Peru. Two rigs are
currently on site carrying out a first phase diamond drill program
in the western end of the 12,575-hectare concession. Drilling is
progressing well, with 10 holes completed to date consisting of HQ
size core. Holes are being drilled on an initial 800m x 800m grid
covering approximately 14 square kilometres (1,400 hectares).
All holes are vertical, targeting phosphate beds within the
Diana Formation, a sequence of horizontally bedded diatomites and
sandstones approximately 50 metres thick. The phosphate units
within the Diana formation are currently being mined at the Bayovar
Mine, a joint venture between Vale, Mosaic and Mitsui, one of the
largest phosphate deposits in South America. This mine is located
approximately 15 kilometres to the west of Bayovar 12
concession.
Core logging has confirmed the presence of the phosphate beds in
all holes drilled to date, demonstrating their continuity within
the concession over a distance of at least 4km west to east and 3
km north to south. The Phosphate mineralization is characterized by
apatite pellets up to 1 - 2 mm in diameter associated with dark,
fossil-rich sedimentary horizons within the diatomite sequence. The
geology observed in drill core is very consistent between holes and
the beds are flat, making it possible to correlate individual beds
from hole to hole, despite the wide drill spacings.
Detailed logging of the first four completed holes in the
central part of the grid shows that they all intersected multiple
beds of visible phosphate with between 13 - 15 individual horizons
measuring equal to or greater than 0.4m in thickness, with
individual widths of up to 3.55m.
The depth from surface to the first phosphate unit ranges from
19m to 46m, depending on topographic elevation. Sampling of these
initial holes is underway and preliminary assay results are
expected within 4 - 5 weeks.
Management is confident that this first stage drilling program
at Bayovar 12 will lead to an initial National Instrument
43-101-compliant resource calculation. The conceptual geological
target size is between 100 million tonnes to 150 million tonnes of
phosphate rock grading between 12 per cent to 18 per cent phophorus
pentaoxide (P2O5) -- roughly in line with the other known deposits
in the Bayovar basin. (The reader is cautioned that the potential
quantity and grade are conceptual in nature, and there has been
insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource. It is
uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being
delineated as a mineral resource. The calculation is based on the
presence of at least six phosphate beds, each averaging 0.75-metre
width, with a specific gravity of roughly 1.7, over an area of
approximately 14 square kilometres.)
Background
The Bayovar 12 concession shows potential to host a large
sedimentary phosphate deposit. The Bayovar district is situated in
the Sechura Desert, a north-trending basin approximately 22,000
square kilometres in area comprising Miocene-aged sedimentary
rocks. Phosphate was discovered in the 1950s during drilling for
petroleum. It occurs as beds of pelletal phosphate within the
Zapallal formation, a thick sequence of diatomites and sandstones.
The phosphate layers are remarkably regular in P2O5 content over
long distances, a typical characteristic of marine phosphate
deposits. At Vale's Bayovar mine, the soft and friable nature of
the phosphate rock and diatomite permits mining by conventional
truck and shovel without the use of explosives.
On January 14, 2014, the Company's Peruvian subsidiary, Agrifos
Peru SAC, signed a formal option agreement for the acquisition of
shares in Juan Paulo Quay SAC, the titleholder of the Bayovar 12
non-metallic mining concession. The terms of the agreement were
outlined in Focus's news release dated September 10, 2013. Agrifos
can earn a 70 per cent interest of the issued share capital of JPQ
by investing in exploration and making a series of cash payments up
to the completion of a positive pre-feasibility study, after which
Agrifos will have the first right of refusal to purchase the
remaining 30 per cent of JPQ.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this release were
prepared under the supervision of David Cass, Focus's President,
who is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and
Geoscientists of British Columbia, and a Qualified Person in
accordance with National Instrument 43-101.
About Focus
Phosphate rock is a raw material for fertilizers and vital to
world food production. Focus is acquiring and developing quality
phosphate projects in Latin America where the discovery and
development of new deposits is becoming increasingly important
given the growing demand and limited local supply of phosphate for
fertilizer production. For further information, please call
604-630-5544 or visit
our web site www.focusventuresltd.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Ralph Rushton, Director
Symbol: TSX-VENTURE:FCV
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry
Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking
Statement
Some of the
statements in this news release contains forward-looking
information that involves inherent risk and uncertainty affecting
the business of Focus Ventures Ltd. Actual results may differ
materially from those currently anticipated in such statement.
Focus Ventures Ltd.Ralph RushtonDirector(604) 630-5544(604)
682-1514info@focusventuresltd.comwww.focusventuresltd.com
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