With gold prices having soared for the first time to above US$2,000 this week, the prospects for the Borneo Oil Berhad (BornOil) group looks even brighter given its announcement to Bursa Malaysia on 6 August.
BornOil told the stock exchange that the group intends to proceed with excavation and mining on the 1st Zone of Bukit Ibam in Pahang, where it is believed to contain total resources of 22,200 oz / 621,917 gm of gold in 1.66 million metric tons of ore with an average grade of 0.42 g/t.
The findings were made by Dr. Yves Cheze (MAIG, IGM), a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) and qualified as a ‘Competent Person’ as defined in the 2004 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”, and also a member of the Institute Geology Malaysia.
Dr. Yves Cheze has also recommended for the BornOil group to develop the exploration of not only the immediate extension of the 1st Zone but also in several other zones in the mining area that have similar geology as they may hold significant potential for additional gold resources.
To recap, back in May 2010, an Exclusive Agreement had been inked between Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Pahang (“PKNP”) and HDL Global Sdn Bhd (“HDL”) for the prospecting and mining rights to an area covering 1,200 hectares within Hutan Simpan Bukit Ibam in Pahang.
Subsequently in March 2015, BornOil, via an Exclusive Production Sharing Agreement with HDL, was granted sole and exclusive right to prospect, explore, mine, extract, process, sell and collect all revenue of sales with respect to all minerals and precious metals including gold over the said area.
Currently, an area measuring approximately 187 hectares/ 462 acres within the area has been issued with a mining lease on which the BornOil Group is currently carrying out mining works.
The mining area, in turn, is divided into 8 zones on which the BornOil group has been conducting detailed exploration works.
At the conclusion of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the preliminary exploration works on 7 of the 8 zones from A to G, an assessment of potential gold resources dated March 2019 was prepared by Dr. Yves showing potential gold resources of 60,032 oz or 1,866,943 gm (1.866 ton) of gold.
As mentioned earlier, the BornOil group now intends to proceed with excavation and mining on the 1st Zone via an outsourcing business structure with a contractor to be appointed shortly.
BornOil is also continuing with exploration works on the other 7 zones and shall similarly assess the same under the JORC Standard, the resources therein at an interval of 3 to 6 months for each zone.
