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Ivanhoe Mines Ltd
Symbol IVN
Shares Issued 782,085,485
Close 2017-03-20 C$ 4.30
Market Cap C$ 3,362,967,586
Recent Sedar Documents

Ivanhoe encounters Cu in stepout 3.8 km from Kakula

2017-03-21 07:41 ET - News Release

Mr. Robert Friedland reports

NEW DISCOVERY HOLE INTERSECTS A SHALLOW, 3.8-KILOMETRE EXTENSION - NOW KNOWN AS KAKULA WEST - OF THE KAKULA COPPER DISCOVERY AT THE KAMOA-KAKULA PROJECT

A new stepout hole -- drilled 5.4 kilometres west of the present boundary of Kakula's current inferred resources -- intersected a relatively shallow, 16.3-metre zone of typical Kakula-style, chalcocite-rich copper mineralization similar to holes drilled in the centre of the high-grade Kakula deposit on Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.'s Tier 1 Kamoa-Kakula copper project.

The DD1124 discovery hole is 3.8 kilometres west of the current limit of Kakula drilling and 4.1 kilometres west of the last drill hole with returned assays -- DD1093 -- that was announced on Jan. 23 this year.

The target area where DD1124 was drilled -- now named Kakula West -- was selected by the Kamoa-Kakula geological team at the intersection of the axis of the interpreted Kakula trend with a southwesterly northeasterly trending anti-form (the Kakula West anti-form). DD1124 intersected 16.3 metres of visually moderate-strong chalcocite copper mineralization, similar to the mineralization encountered within the core of the chalcocite-rich Kakula deposit, beginning at a downhole depth of 422.2 metres (410 metres below surface), which included a 4.0-metre zone of strong to very strong mineralization beginning at a downhole depth of 432.4 metres. Assays for DD1124 are expected in approximately two weeks. Up to five rigs are being mobilized to fast-track the drilling at the Kakula West discovery.

Hole DD1124 now has extended the length of the Kakula mineralized trend to approximately 10.1 kilometres, essentially doubling the previously estimated strike length of 5.5 kilometres contained in Ivanhoe's Jan. 23, 2017, news release. The continuing success also means that the discovery has grown to become six kilometres longer than the deposit's 4.1-kilometre strike length that was used in calculating the initial Kakula resource estimate in October, 2016.

The Kakula discovery remains open along a westerly southeasterly strike. Importantly, the chalcocite-rich zone of mineralization in DD1124 was intersected at a depth of approximately 400 metres, indicating that the Kakula mineralized zone extends significantly closer toward the surface in the area around the new discovery hole.

The Kamoa-Kakula project, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining and the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) government, is near the mining centre of Kolwezi on the Central African copper belt in the DRC.

"In the mining exploration business, the very idea that a crew would drill a stepout hole almost four kilometres away from the last known mineralization is virtually unheard of," said Robert Friedland, chairman.

"Nonetheless, our geologists and independent advisers have become so confident in the proven consistency of Kakula's chalcocite-rich mineralization that they expected we would find more thick, near-surface, Kakula-style mineralization in the vicinity of where it actually was discovered. The remarkable success with DD1124 is further validation of our team's judgment and expertise.

"Bear in mind that the Kakula discovery now is vastly larger and more important than it was last year when Kamoa-Kakula was independently ranked among the 10 largest copper deposits in the world. In fact, the resource estimate that we announced for Kakula last October only covers approximately 40 per cent of the presently defined 10.1-kilometre strike length of Kakula's mineralized trend."

Expanded exploration program now testing Kamoa-Kakula grassroots targets

Continuing studies have highlighted numerous Kakula-style targets to the west and east of the Kakula Dome and elsewhere in the 400-square-kilometre Kamoa-Kakula project area. The Kakula West target was the first of these to be tested.

"The Kamoa-Kakula exploration team is continuing to enhance its understanding of the unique geological controls influencing the project's very high-grade copper mineralization," Mr. Friedland said.

In response to the continuing exploration success, Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining have accelerated the Kamoa-Kakula exploration program with the mobilization of additional contractor drill rigs that has expanded the available fleet to 14 rigs.

Qualified person and quality assurance/quality control

The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen Torr, PGeo, Ivanhoe's vice-president, project geology and evaluation, and a qualified person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Torr has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release.

Ivanhoe Mines maintains a comprehensive chain of custody and QA/QC program on assays from its Kamoa-Kakula project. Half-sawn core is processed at Kamoa-Kakula's on-site preparation laboratory and prepared samples then are shipped by secure courier to Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) Laboratories in Australia, an ISO 17025-accredited facility. Copper assays are determined at BVM by mixed-acid digestion with ICP finish. Industry-standard certified reference materials and blanks are inserted into the sample stream prior to dispatch to BVM. For detailed information about assay methods and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information, please refer to the January, 2017, technical report on the Kamoa-Kakula project titled "Kakula 2016 Preliminary Economic Assessment" on the SEDAR profile of Ivanhoe Mines and on the Ivanhoe Mines website.

About Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

Ivanhoe Mines is advancing its three principal projects in sub-Saharan Africa: mine development at the Platreef platinum-palladium-gold-nickel-copper discovery on the Northern Limb of South Africa's Bushveld complex; mine development and exploration at the Kamoa-Kakula copper project on the Central African copper belt in the DRC; and upgrading at the historic, high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-germanium mine, also on the DRC's copper belt.

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