Maiden independent New Zealand iron sands JORC resource estimate of over 100 million tonnes

Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd is delighted to announce that the world’s first official JORC compliant off-shore iron ore mineral resource has been signed off by Golders Associates, an independent geological consultant.

Chief Executive, Paul Berend, announced that the maiden JORC compliant inferred mineral resource in its licensed area is equivalent to 102 million tonnes of concentrate at 60% Fe. “This provides formal confirmation of our initial maiden resource announcement which was defined as 360 million tonnes @ 60% Fe nearly two years ago.”

This report is based on analysis of sand cores recovered from shallow drilling off the southern Taranaki Coast during summer 2010 and validated from aeromagnetic survey.

Mr Berend said that “while this is incredibly exciting it is very much a preliminary estimate over a very small percentage within the area currently pegged by the company.

“What it does tell us, though, is that the very substantial investment in prospecting for iron ore is likely to prove worthwhile. Given the vast expanse of underwater black sand we can expect to prove an ocean of iron ore.

“Trans-Tasman is confident that the current summer shallow drilling over the 2011 summer will provide further hard data to quantify the resource and its value to New Zealand’s export ambitions,” he said.

Achieving this independent resource estimate is an important step in the growth of Trans-Tasman. The company expanded significantly over the 2010 year and has recently established corporate offices in Wellington, expanded the management team and in April 2010 Denham Capital Management, a global private equity firm that invests in energy and commodities sectors, announced that it had made an equity investment in the company.