GIP Gippsland

RNS Number:8924U
Gippsland Limited
16 April 2007


2007-04-16

Gippsland Limited ("Gippsland" or the "Company")

To view graphics associated with this release, please refer to the Announcements
section of the Gippsland website www.gippslandltd.com

COMMENCEMENT OF COPPER-NICKEL EXPLORATION


Previous exploration results from shaft and cross-cut sampling returned 8m at
1.77% Ni & 4.11% Cu and 10m at 1.53% Ni & 1.87% Cu.


Gippsland Limited today announces that it is mobilising electromagnetic ("EM")
and induced polarisation ("IP") equipment to commence exploration at the Abu
Swayel copper-nickel prospect in Egypt.

The Abu Swayel copper-nickel prospect was one of two known major sources of
copper in ancient Egypt. This ancient mine is situated 160km southeast of Aswan
35km to the northeast of the Company's western group of Wadi Allaqi gold
deposits.

Copper at Abu Swayel was mined by the ancient Egyptians during the Twelfth
Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (1991-1786 BC) from shallow open cut workings
which can be traced over a length of 180m. In the early part of the 1900s the
Nile Valley Company Limited sank a shallow shaft with a cross-cut at the 22m
level to test the vertical continuity of the mineralisation. This shaft was
deepened to 69m in the 1960s in conjunction with a diamond drilling program of
ten holes to test the down dip continuity of the mineralisation over a strike
length of 200m. Of the 1,205m of drilling completed, only 21 samples ranging
from 1-2m in length were assayed. Three of the holes (DH01, DH02 & DH14)
returned significant Cu and Ni values.

Sampling of the cross-cut in the 1960s gave an average 4.11% Cu, 1.77% Ni,
17.81% Fe and 9.94% S over 8m.

Table 1: Abu Swayel - Best Cu & Ni intersections
Location      From (m)       To (m)   Interval (m)     Cu (%)        Ni (%)
---------    ----------  -----------  -----------     ----------    ---------
DH01             21.00        23.60        2.6          1.16         0.24
DH02             25.70        29.95       4.25          1.58         0.23
DH14             48.55        49.85       1.30          2.23         0.20
Shaft            30.00        40.00      10.00          1.87         1.53
Cross-cut         7.50        15.50       8.00          4.11         1.77

The mineralised host unit is an elongated, lenticular amphibolite body which can
be traced for some 500m along a northwest-southeast strike and enclosed by a
garnet-mica schist. Copper-nickel mineralisation occurs both in the amphibolite
body and in enclosing host. The mineralisation contains chalcopyrite, pyrite,
nickel-bearing violarite, and ilmenite. The relict textures of the pyrite and
the violarite show the primary ores to be pyrrhotite, pentlandite and
chalcopyrite. The drilling intersected a persistent, apparently stratiform,
sulphide-bearing zone of variable thickness, that hosts the mineralised
amphibolite body.

Except for geological mapping undertaken by Gippsland there has been no
exploration outside of the immediate vicinity of the ancient workings since the
early 1960s. The results of the previous exploration clearly show that
mineralisation is present at grades and over widths that would be readily
detected by geophysical methods such EM and IP techniques.

The Abu Swayel licence covers 16km2 of favourable stratigraphy along strike from
the old workings which have not been tested for Cu-Ni mineralisation. Much of
the area is covered by thin wadi sediments which can be readily explored by
means of ground geophysical methods.

The previous exploration results clearly show that copper and nickel
mineralisation is present at substantial grades and a programme of exploration
is required to quantify the contained tonnage of mineralisation. The exploration
programme will include geological mapping, geochemical sampling, EM / IP
together with follow-up drilling of the geophysical anomalies.

Gippsland Executive Chairman stated "Assuming the historical Cu & Ni grades the
mineralised material has an in-situ value of approximately US$1,060 per tonne.
This value, together with a potential platinum credit, presents a very exciting
opportunity for the Company".

RJ (Jack) Telford
Executive Chairman

For further information please contact:

Jack Telford
Gippsland Limited
www.gippslandltd.com
Tel: +61 (0)8 9340 6000
jtelford@gippslandltd.com

Les Polden / Luke Cairns
Hoodless Brennan Plc
Tel: +44 (0)20 7538 1166
L.Polden@HBcorporate.com
L.Cairns@HBcorporate.com

Laurence Read / Ed Portman
Conduit PR
Tel: +44 (0)20 7429 6605 / 6607
Laurence@conduitpr.com
Ed@conduitpr.com

Fiona Owen
Grant Thornton Corporate Finance
Tel: +44 (0)20 7383 5100
Fiona.Owen@gtuk.com

Note:

In accordance with Listing Rule 5.6 of the Australian Stock Exchange Limited and
Part 2 of the AIM Guidance Notes for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies, the
geological information in this report that relates to Exploration Results,
Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves is based on data compiled by Dr John
Chisholm, a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Dr
Chisholm who is an Executive Director of Gippsland Limited with over 25 years
experience in the mineral industry including the evaluation of exploration data,
mineral resources and ore reserves, has consented to the issue of the
information in this report in the form and context in which it appears.


                     This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
MSCOKAKNFBKKCQD

Gippsland (LSE:GIP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024

Gippsland (LSE:GIP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024