Flinders Mines (FMS)

Shares / Stock Code

FMS

Stock Exchange / Sharemarket

ax

Flinders Mines (FMS) is an exploration company primarily searching for diamonds, with tenements mainly in Australia. The company's key project is at Springfield in South Australia. FDL also has projects at Adelaide Hills, Leigh Creek and G2 in South Australia, Strangeways in the Northern territory and Skeleton Flat in Northern Western Australia. Exploration companies aim to discover and delineate occurrences of metals and minerals that can be economically mined and extracted. Investors can trade Flinders Mines shares on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

FDL was incorporated on 11 January 2000 and was listed on the Australian stock market in February 2002. Following the listing, the company set about establishing and equipping an exploration base in Adelaide. Field work on the Springfield Project commenced on 21 March 2002. Preparation for target drilling at five of Flinders six projects are in operation. The company's head office is situated in Norwood, South Australia. In May 2008, FDL changed its name to Flinders Mines Ltd (ASX: FMS).

FMS has spread its mining and development operations all around Australia (South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia). The company focuses on four exploration techniques: Heavy Mineral Concentration, Undercover Sampling, Regolith Studies and Collaborative Research with the Primary Industries and Resources SA.

FMS competes with other diamond explorers and producers based both in Australia and overseas. These include Diamonex, Astro Diamond Mines and Diamond Rose. AKD sells its diamonds to the industrial sector, jewellery stores, jewellery wholesalers and private investors.

PILBARA Iron Ore Project

Flinders Mines is currently focusing on iron ore development at its project in the Pilbara region of northwest Western Australia, situated 1,100km north of Perth. Tenement holdings and exploration in the region are dominated by Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals.

Flinders has also acquired the Canegrass Project tenement package in the emerging Mid West Iron Ore Province of Western Australia. In November 2007, Flinders announced the discovery of a major iron ore target at the Flinders' 100% owned tenement E47/882 in the Hamersley Ranges of Western Australia. Since this time Flinders has raised funds to follow up on this discovery, establish a Flinders Iron exploration group and obtain necessary exploration approvals and clearances to commence exploration.

Flinders Mines’ Pilbara iron ore project is located in the Hamersley Ranges approximately 70km northwest of Tom Price in the Central Hamersley CID Province. Access to the tenement is via Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Iron railway access road, which follows the railway north from Tom Price and then via well graded pastoral and power line access tracks.

Exploration on site is supported by the Flinders Mines owned 20-person Blacksmith camp with comfortable air conditioned quarters and full satellite communications. Drilling on the project commenced in July of 2008 and the maiden Inferred Resource of 476Mt at 55.4% Fe was announced on 1 April 2009. Further drilling in the 2009 campaign has extended this resource to 511Mt @ 55.4% Fe.

Adelaide Hills project

The Adelaide Hills project consists of seven exploration licences covering an area of 3,419 square kilometres where the diamond rights are 100% owned by FMS. Maximus Resources is exploring the area primarily for gold and currently drilling the Bird-in-Hand gold mine near Woodside. A review of previously-acquired data was completed in 2007 and results will enable future exploration to recommence.

Although kimberlites are unknown in the southern portions of the FMS tenements, the area is prospective due to the significant number of high quality macrodiamonds (colourless and yellow) found in the Echunga alluvials. Although the primary source of these diamonds remains unknown, there is geomorphological evidence that their provenance is to the north within FMS’s tenements.

However, a number of non-diamondiferous kimberlites have been identified in the Barossa Ranges area. During 2004, FMS flew a 100 metre line-spaced airborne magnetic survey that covered 781 sq km within the Barossa Ranges. Follow-up work by FMS during 2004-2005 resulted in the discovery of two additional kimberlites in the Angaston region – but they also proved to be non diamondiferous.

Some anomalies were followed up, but over 100 targets remain to be tested including 37 of an original 50 identified in the field as first priority targets. A number of techniques were to be employed in the proposed work including additional diamond indicator mineral sampling, ground magnetic surveys and drilling or trenching.

The review of the Adelaide Hills diamond data base also concluded that further sampling of the diamondiferous Tertiary gravels in the Echunga area should be undertaken with the bulk sampling plant. Gem quality diamonds of up to 5.2 carats in weight have been found from the Echunga area, but previous exploration has not been able to locate a diamond indicator mineral trail. It is thought that utilisation of a high quality DMS bulk sampling plant with larger samples may solve this problem.