Southern Arc Minerals Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company with an aggressive exploration, acquisition and growth strategy. The Company's portfolio includes four exploration projects with epithermal gold and gold-copper porphyry prospects on the Lombok and Sumbawa islands in Indonesia, two of which are being advanced in partnership with Vale, the world’s second largest mining company. Southern Arc is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SA" and on the OTCQX under the symbol "SOACF".
Southern Arc's key exploration property is its West Lombok project, with several gold-rich copper porphyry and epithermal gold vein prospects. The West Lombok property comprises a 13km long by 7km wide structural corridor of hydrothermal mineralization and alteration on Indonesia's Lombok Island. Previous exploration by Newmont Mining established the presence of epithermal and porphyry mineralization on a district scale with three large prospects: the Pelangan epithermal gold prospect, the Mencanggah epithermal/porphyry copper-gold district, and the Selodong intrusive copper-gold complex. Southern Arc has completed phase 1 exploration at both Pelangan and Selodong, and in 2011 completed approximately 7,000 meters of phase 2 drilling at Pelangan and 6,000 meters of phase 1 drilling at Mencanggah. Southern Arc continues to explore all three prospects on the West Lombok project with the objective of confirming the strike and depth of epithermal mineralization, identifying and drilling out high-grade gold shoots, and also identifying porphyry deposits.
Southern Arc and Vale S.A. are exploring the Sabalong and East Elang Projects under an option and joint venture agreement whereby Vale can earn a 75% interest (Southern Arc retaining 25%) by funding all project expenditures through to completion of a bankable feasibility study. Southern Arc is the operator at both projects. The Sabalong property is located 30km NNE of Newmont's Elang deposit and 75km NE of Newmont's Batu Hijau copper-gold mine. Ground geophysical and magnetic surveys and IP surveys have identified two high-sulphidation epithermal systems possibly related to near-surface porphyry copper mineralization. Phase 1 drilling commenced in October with a series of deep drill holes to establish the presence of a mineralized porphyry system. The East Elang property is located immediately adjacent to Newmont's Elang copper-gold deposit (25 Moz gold, 16 Blb copper). While the project is certainly prospective based on its location, Southern Arc does not currently have an exploration program outlined for East Elang.
Located adjacent to Newmont’s world-class Batu Hijau copper-gold mine, the Taliwang property covers 31,200 hectares prospective for gold, silver and copper mineralization. Exploration to date has identified a 1.0 x 1.5 km gold-silver bearing epithermal vein system in which 56 drill holes have confirmed both lateral and vertical persistence of the mineralized structures, as well as near-surface porphyry copper-gold targets and some sedimentary gold-hosted targets. Surface exploration activities during 2011 focused on detailed lithological and alteration mapping of epithermal and porphyry prospect areas, as well as clay spectral analysis studies.
