▲ Thunderbolts EL7184 and Munga EL7185 – northeast NSW

• 100% owned by Anchor Resources

Two Exploration Licences (see Figure) were granted to Anchor (100%) on 31 July 2008, by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, covering two old antimony producing areas. These licences, to be known as the Thunderbolts and Munga Projects, are highly prospective for primary antimony mineralisation.

The antimony focus returned to the New England region of New South Wales over recent years as Straits Resources commenced development of its Hillgrove underground antimony-gold mine.

Antimony Price

Anchor’s belief in the long term prospects for the antimony market is supported by surging global antimony prices.

The antimony price has surged to record levels to August 2010 as traders report a shortage of available material from the largest producing country – China. Since early April prices have leapt from around US$7,000/t with some recent reported trades around $10,000/t, equivalent to ~US$4.50/lb. This is up a staggering 55% since the start of the year.

The graph on the Bielsdown Project page shows the price history for antimony over recent years.

What is antimony?

Stibnite (Sb2S3) is the main ore mineral of the element antimony (Sb). Antimony ores are beneficiated and processed into antimony metal or oxide. Antimony mine production is concentrated very heavily in China (91% of world output in 2008 – USGS). Antimony is primarily used as an enhancer of flame retardants or a hardening and strengthening agent for lead and zinc alloys. These alloys are used in lead storage batteries, solder, sheet and pipe metal, bearings, castings, ammunition and pewter, particularly for use in wet-cell batteries.

The Thunderbolts Project (EL 7184) is located 40km to the north-northeast of the Hillgrove mine or 95 km west of Coffs Harbour. The old Magword antimony mine is contained within this project. The vein/shear filling stibnite mineralisation was mined historically via underground shafts and adits with high antimony grades being achieved. Reports indicate that production between 1941-1969 was over 3,000t of antimony, with average grades around 20.5% Sb. An initial review of the exploration history indicates there has been very little exploration conducted in the area since 1972.

Other historic workings and deposits within the tenement area include the Allingham, Rock Abbey/Magdell, Abroi, Tregaire North, Sugarloaf and Antimony Gully antimony deposits, as well as the Faulkners gold deposit.

The Munga Project (EL 7185) is located 80km to the southeast of the Hillgrove mine or 75 km south-southwest of Coffs Harbour. The Munga Creek antimony district contains 23 known antimony deposits scattered along the length of the application area, most of which consist of historical workings. The Munga Creek deposit was mined in two phases between 1879-1884 and 1970-1974 and was a high producer of antimony in the New England. Over 1,100 tonnes of antimony metal in concentrates were shipped from this mine alone.

Other deposits in the district include Neill and Taylors prospect, Star of Hope, Bolts Reef, Victoria Adit, Q47 shaft, Decline adit, Junction adit and Rowes prospect. The deposits are aligned along an easterly trend and are vein type deposits of quartz and stibnite, with breccia features commonly observed.

These two new projects enhance the strength of Anchor’s antimony portfolio which already boasts the significant antimony resource at the 100% owned Bielsdown Project. Following Anchor’s successful drilling program of 2009, the Bielsdown resource was expanded to 880,000t at 2.0% Sb (17,500t contained Sb metal), using a 0.5% Sb cutoff grade. This resource was categorised by SRK Consulting as Inferred using guidelines as setout in the JORC Code (2004). (see Bielsdown Project page).