The project, located 560km south-west of Sydney, was acquired by Marlborough in late 1998 and the company has plans to mine the deposit as soon as the project clears environmental formalities.

“We now estimate that operating costs are well below $3000 per tonne of tin compared with the net selling price of $7000/t of tin,” managing director Chris Storey said.

“The orebody is about 4km long by 200m wide,” Storey said. “We’ve discovered easily-mined alluvial tin deposits which can be readily developed over the next year because they do not need blasting.”

The bullish noises have been enough to drive Marlborough’s share price rise from 4c to 8.7c over the past year.

Storey said after an extensive 479-hole drilling program, the company was able to classify 65% of its resource as proved and probable.

The company now estimates Ardlethan has a mine life of 10-15 years. These findings have increased the estimated positive cash flow, over the next three years of full operation, from $6 million to $10 million.

Storey said Marlborough’s cash-on-hand position of $592,676 was sufficient for the company to progress to the next stages of development - seeking environmental approval, commencing design of a processing route and test work.

“I don’t expect there will be any problems with the Environmental Impact Statement and we expect to get that sorted out in the next two or three months,” he said.

The company has yet to make a decision about the mining of the project, but may consider owner mining rather than contracting.

Mining of the project is expected within a year. If it does start, Marlborough will become Australia’s second major tin mine after Renison in Tasmania.