Drilling results pump up Sandfire

Sandfire Resources gained more than five per cent today after reporting positive results from last year's diamond drilling programme at the DeGrussa Copper-Gold Project, part of its wholly-owned Doolgunna Project in WA.

The company also announced the appointment of Martin Reed to the newly created position of project manager, to lead the development of the DeGrussa Project.

The entire 2009 drilling database, encompassing 88 diamond drill holes completed between early July 2009 and 22 December 2009, has now been forwarded to Coffey Mining Consultants to undertake a maiden JORC compliant resource estimate.

The calculation of the maiden JORC resource estimate currently underway, and on track for completion by mid-February 2010, will also be independently checked by McDonald Speijers.

The company said the results continue to reinforce the thickness and quality of the three high-grade VMS copper-gold lenses delineated at the DeGrussa Project - namely the DeGrussa, Conductor 1 and Conductor 4 lenses.

Shares in Sandfire closed up 18 cents, or 5.26 per cent, to $3.60.

Full announcement below:

DEGRUSSA PROJECT AND COMPANY UPDATE

FURTHER EXCELLENT ASSAY RESULTS: MAIDEN JORC RESOURCE IMMINENT

HIGHLIGHTS

- More excellent assay results received from Conductor 1 lens:
o 31.4m @ 4.6% Cu, 2.1g/t Au (DGDD-076)
o 26.0m @ 3.8% Cu, 1.4g/t Au (DGDD-079)
o 25.9m @ 4.7% Cu, 2.2g/t Au (DGDD-075)
o 23.7m @ 5.4% Cu, 1.9g/t Au (DGDD-073)
o 21.9m @ 6.3% Cu, 0.9g/t Au (DGDD-077)
o 20.0m @ 4.8% Cu, 0.8g/t Au and 14.9m @ 4.7% Cu, 1.9g/t Au (DGDD-081A)
o 8.9m @ 10.6% Cu, 3.0g/t Au (DGDD-080)
o 6.8m @ 14.8% Cu, 1.7/t Au (DGDD-0085)

- Another high-grade intersection from DeGrussa lens:
o 2.1m @ 17.8% Cu, 7.5g/t Au (DGDD-069)

- Maiden initial JORC resource estimate for the DeGrussa Project (encompassing
DeGrussa and Conductor 1) on track for this month

- Regional exploration drilling targeting highest priority VTEM conductors planned
- Senior Project Manager and Chief Financial Officer appointed

Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR; Sandfire) is pleased to report that final assay results have been received from the 2009 diamond drilling programme at the DeGrussa Copper-Gold Project, part of its 100%-owned Doolgunna Project in Western Australia, with calculation of the maiden JORC resource estimate currently underway and on track for completion by mid-February 2010.

The results continue to reinforce the thickness and quality of the three high-grade VMS copper-gold lenses delineated at the DeGrussa Project - namely the DeGrussa, Conductor 1 and Conductor 4 lenses.

The entire 2009 drilling database for the DeGrussa Project, encompassing 88 diamond drill holes completed between early July 2009 and 22 December 2009, has now been forwarded to Coffey Mining Consultants to undertake a maiden JORC compliant resource estimate. This drilling was completed on a 40m by 40m surface drill-hole pattern (see Figure 2 for drill hole locations).
A full list of material assay results for diamond core drilling completed up until 22 December 2009 is provided in Table 2 attached.

These results will form the basis of the initial JORC compliant resource estimate which will encompass the DeGrussa and Conductor 1 lenses. Further drilling is required to complete a JORC compliant resource estimate for Conductor 4.

The resource estimate, which will also be independently checked by McDonald Speijers, is on track to be completed and announced to the market during February 2010. This resource estimate will represent a key milestone for the Project, providing a strong foundation to progress the DeGrussa Project to a Scoping Study in 2010.

In addition, further significant mineralised intercepts continue to be recorded from the DeGrussa, Conductor 1 and Conductor 4 lenses, as shown in Table 2 below. These will be included in future resource updates for the DeGrussa Project.

Ongoing Program
Diamond drilling resumed at Doolgunna on 4 January with the following key objectives:

- to in-fill high-grade portions of the resource as directed by Coffey Mining Consultants to assist with completion of future upgrades to the maiden resource estimate;
- to in-fill and extend the Conductor 4 deposit with a view to generating an initial JORC compliant resource estimate; and
- to test the potential for additional VMS deposits in the immediate vicinity of Conductor 1/DeGrussa.

In addition, Sandfire will commence regional diamond drill testing to progressively test a series of VTEM targets within the host sequence of the Narracoota Volcanics identified from the regional airborne EM surveys over Sandfire's tenement holdings at Doolgunna. The objective of Sandfire's regional program is to test the potential for the Doolgunna Project to emerge as a new VMS Camp with multiple deposits.

Corporate Update
Sandfire is also pleased to advise that it has appointed senior Australian mining executive Mr Martin Reed to the newly created position of Project Manager, to lead the development of the DeGrussa Project.

Mr Reed is a qualified Mining Engineer with over 30 years experience across a range of commodities and sizes of operations including most recently as Chief Operating Officer for a number of metals companies including St Barbara Limited (2009 and 2004-
07) and Windimurra Vanadium Limited (2008). In 2007, Mr Reed was also General Manager Development & Operations for Paladin Energy Ltd during the final ramp-up phase of its Langer Heinrich Uranium Mine in Namibia.

Prior to these appointments, he held a number of senior executive positions in the mining industry including roles where he was responsible for the planning and development of several large mining operations in remote locations.

The Company has also strengthened its corporate team with the appointment of highly experienced resource executive Mr Matthew Fitzgerald as Chief Financial Officer. Mr Fitzgerald is a Chartered Accountant who commenced his career in the Assurance &
Advisory division of KPMG before joining ASX-listed diamond producer Kimberley Diamond Company NL in 2003 as Chief Financial Officer and Director, a position he held until June 2008.

Mr Fitzgerald has recently held a number of business consulting roles in the resources and aquaculture industries, assisting companies in project development.