International iron ore company Centaurus Metals Limited is pleased to advise that it has laid the foundations to extend the mine life of its flagship Jambreiro Iron Ore Project in south-east Brazil after reporting an updated JORC Mineral Resource featuring an increase in the Measured and Indicated Friable Itabirite Resource component.
 The overall JORC Mineral Resource (combined Measured, Indicated and Inferred) has increased to 128.0 million tonnes grading 27.2% Fe with the key change being a 6% increase in the Measured and Indicated Friable Itabirite component to 56.9 million tonnes grading 28.7% Fe (previously 53.7 million tonnes grading 28.4% Fe).

It is the Friable Itabirite resource that underpins the current Proven and Probable Ore Reserve of 48.5 Mt at an average grade of 28.1% Fe announced in October 2012 with the completion of the Jambreiro Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS). The increase in the Measured and Indicated Friable Mineral Resource provides the Company with a high level of confidence in the robustness and quality of the Jambreiro Project.  In addition, this increase when considered in conjunction with the recently announced Mineral Resource at the Canavial Project (10km from Jambreiro), highlights the strong potential to extend the mine life at Jambreiro.

Based on the Ore Reserve, the 2012 Jambreiro BFS outlined that the production of 2Mtpa of high grade (+65% Fe), low impurity iron concentrate was capable of generating revenues of A$836 million and EBITDA of A$545 million over its initial 9-year life.  The Company has commenced detailed engineering on the Project and recently received the Installation Licence (LI), a key environmental approval, which allows site work and construction to commence. Centaurus’ Managing Director, Mr Darren Gordon, said the updated Mineral Resource followed a successful in-fill drilling program completed in April this year, which targeted Inferred Resources within the limits of the existing open pit designs that could be converted to Measured and Indicated status.

“We are pleased to have tightened up the Jambreiro resource base with enhanced data ahead of the finalisation of a revised mine plan and new Ore Reserve estimate,” Mr Gordon said. “We have been successfully implementing a number of important enhancements to the Jambreiro Project while we complete negotiations for long-term product off-take, and this new Mineral Resource will provide the basis for a new mining sequence to tie in with other mine optimisation work. “We expect to achieve a high conversion of the Measured and Indicated Friable Itabirite resource to Ore Reserves once this work is completed in October 2013, as was demonstrated at the time of the BFS late last year. “This upgrade to our Mineral Resource inventory is therefore of strategic importance to the Project, and should lay the foundations for an extended mine life along with the other improvements and enhancements that we are currently making,” Mr Gordon added.

The new Jambreiro JORC Mineral Resource estimate is set out in Table 1 below with additional technical details of the Resource provided in Appendix A attached. The new resource update follows a small RC drill program completed in April 2013 that included 26 drill holes for a total of 1,042 metres.  The drilling targeted three areas of the Project where the Company believed that current Inferred Resources could be converted to Indicated or Measured Resources that would then fall within the open pit limits.