Avanco earn in deal for Brazil mine

West Perth-based Avanco Resources has reached an agreement to acquire a 75 per cent interest in a nickel platinum project in northern Brazil.

Under the earn in deal, Avanco has agreed to undertake 1,500m of drilling within one year of regulatory approval and generate JORC compliant resources in three years for the Brazilian authorities.

The project comprised four exploration licences and three applications covering an extensive area of approximately 47,000ha.

"Recent due diligence by Avanco has confirmed the existence of mafic and ultramafic outcrops with disseminated nickel copper sulphides," Avanco said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

"To advance the project, comprehensive soil geochemical and ground geophysics surveys are currently being planned by the Company with a view to defining high priority drill targets for 2011," the statement said.

The company is also continuing drilling at its Rio Verde copper project.

See company statement below:

The Company is very pleased to advise that it has agreed to terms where by Avanco can earn a 75% interest in a highly prospective Nickel Platinum Project in northern Brazil. Due diligence has now been successfully completed and significant potential for new nickel platinum discoveries confirmed. Avanco has committed to:

- Undertake 1,500m of drilling within one year of regulatory approval to drill.
- Generate a JORC compliant resource within three years of regulatory approval to drill.
- Prepare a final exploration report for the Brazilian authorities and maintaining the title in good order.

The project comprises of four exploration licenses and three applications covering an extensive area of approximately 47,000ha. Situated northwest of the major town of Conceição de Araguaia, the project is located in the southern part of the Carajas Mineral Province in northern Brazil.

The project has previously been subjected to limited exploration and a number of interesting areas have been identified. No drilling for nickel platinum has been undertaken.

Previous major explorers evaluated the area using airborne magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical surveys. Interpretation of early field mapping results shows that the project covers a series of parallel north west trending mafic intrusive bodies. Historical sampling of surface occurrences of nickel and copper sulphide bearing gabbros and pyroxenites returned coincident nickel and copper values in the order of several thousand parts per million. Previous geochemical soils results also indicated the existence of coincident anomalous platinum and palladium values within the project area.

Recent due diligence by Avanco has confirmed the existence of mafic and ultramafic outcrops with disseminated nickel copper sulphides. This outcome strongly supports the potential for underlying nickel copper platinum rich massive to semi-massive sulphide mineralisation.

To advance the project, comprehensive soil geochemical and ground geophysics surveys are currently being planned by the Company with a view to defining high priority drill targets for 2011.

The Company is moving into an expanded +10,000m drilling programme at its exciting high grade Rio Verde copper project. Strong news flow on the Trindade North Iron Ore Project is expected soon. The Company continues to assess numerous additional copper and nickel platinum opportunities in the World Class Carajas Mineral Province.