Austral Resources Australia Ltd. announced the completion of an update to the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Lady Colleen deposit within ML 90170 neighbouring the Mount Kelly treatment plant and Mount Clarke mine. The lady Colleen deposit was defined by CST Minerals and last estimated and reported in 2013. The estimate concentrated on heap leach processing using a lower grade cut-off and large-scale blocks but included significant fresh sulphide material.

Due to elevated calcium and magnesium as carbonate minerals over most of the Mineral Resource heap leach process was not viable and mining never commenced. Austral has undertaken the current drilling program and Mineral Resource estimate to refocus the Mineral Resource on principally a sulphide deposit for toll floatation treatment. Lady Colleen is 120 km north-northwest of Mount Isa by road and neighbours the Mount Kelly treatment plant and Mount Clarke Mines.

The Lady Colleen deposit lies within a granted Mining Lease ML90170 and is held 100% by Austral Resources Operations Pty Ltd. The Lady Annie group of exploration tenements are located within the Western Mount Isa Block which consists of a north-trending belt of Proterozoic rocks (the Kalkadoon-Leichardt Belt), flanked by two belts of Middle Proterozoic rocks, known as the Eastern and Western Succession. The tenements are within the Western Succession with its most distinctive feature being the Mount Gordon fault Zone ("MGFZ"). The MGFZ is a 5 km wide, 120 km long, north-northeast trending, zone of faulting with associated shears, folds and extensive alteration plus localised base metal and gold mineralisation.

In its central section the MGFZ bifurcates to form the subparallel Esperanza Fault while it truncates a series of major east-west fault sets including the Investigator and Redie Creek Fault. The Mount Kelly mining area is dominated by early to mid-Proterozoic siltstones and dolomitic siltstones of the McNamara Group. The rock sequence is folded about north-trending axes and is cut by several late-stage faults including the regional-scale, north-trending McNamara Fault and the north-northeast trending Mount Gordon Fault, which can be traced for over 150 km and 120 km respectively.

Copper mineralisation occurs within units of the McNamara Group and is reportedly related to the northwest-trending Mount Kelly and Spinifex Faults, which intersect and cut the McNamara Fault. The known mineralisation is associated with multiple phases of brecciation and veining along the fault zones. Outside of the fault zones, the degree of fracturing, veining and copper mineralisation decreases, but is still evident up to 100 m away from the controlling faults.

The main copper oxide mineral is malachite, with minor azurite, chrysocolla, cuprite and tenorite. The copper oxide mineralisation appears to be shear and fault controlled. The primary mineralisation consists of chalcopyrite and pyrite, concentrated in the matrix of breccia zones and in quartz-carbonate stockwork veins.

At Lady Colleen the drill holes are on average oriented 60 toward azimuths of predominantly 220. Copper mineralisation at Lady Colleen consists of shallow dipping near surface oxide mineralisation and deeper sulphide mineralisation dipping 35 and striking 145. The Lady Colleen drilling database includes a variety of surface RC and diamond tail drilling over a 4 km2 area.

The earliest drilling up until 2007 in Table 1 includes shallow drilling in peripheral areas with only one RAB drill hole (KB028C) intersecting the Mineral Resource domains. There is little available documentation for the pre 2010 drilling, and it is excluded from the Mineral Resource estimate as it is largely not relevant and alleviates data quality concerns. This removes all RAB and earlier RC drilling leaving only recent CST and Austral drilling to contribute to the Mineral Resource Estimate.

CST and Austral reverse circulation ("RC") drilling used standard face sampling hammers, high pressure compressor and riffle splitting methods while diamond drilling ("DD") was predominately HQ triple tube size. Reverse circulation and earlier percussion methods were used to test near surface oxide mineralisation while diamond drilling was used for evaluating deeper generally sulphide mineralisation. Collar surveys were generally by DGPS using existing mine survey control points and down holes surveys were undertaken on 30 m intervals using a magnetic digital survey tool.

CST and Austral RC and diamond drill sampling and collar and down hole surveys are considered suitable for reliable Mineral Resource evaluation. Lower quality RAB and early drilling with less survey control and quality assurance information have been excluded and are generally peripheral to the deposit drilling. CST and Austral RC samples were collected by cyclone and split using an onboard triple deck riffle splitter to generate a 1 in 8 split of the RC chips.

Some 3 and 4 m composite sampling was undertaken in assumed waste zones, but if significant copper grades were returned, these were reassayed on the original 1 m sample intervals. CST and Austral diamond core were halved for sampling. All Austral core was orientated and reassembled for core cutting.

CST and Austral samples were prepared for analysis by ALS using standard commercial laboratory processes. CST initial assaying was by aqua regia digest and ICP analysis. All assays over 0.3% Cu were reassayed using a three-acid digest and ICP analysis.