Priarie Downs said Abesque specializes in the provision of engineering design, construction and project management services to the resource sector including processing of zinc ores. The most recent examples are the construction and commissioning of the Jaguar base metals project and the engineering of the Angas zinc project, which is also currently under construction by Abesque.

The study, which includes design of the process, plant and all related equipment, follows on from a high level scoping study competed in May this year. It will take approximately six months to complete with construction expected to take a further 12 months.

According to the company, drilling is continuing at Prairie Downs and results to date indicate that the current resource of 4.9 million mt is only limited by drilling and, as drilling is expected to continue for the rest of the year and recommence early in 2008, it may increase in both tonnage and grade. The target is 10 million mt.

The company released an updated mineral resource estimate in late August, reporting 4.9 million mt at a grade of 5.4% zinc, lead and 14 g/mt silver at a nominal lower cut of 1% zinc. This resource contains 269,000 mt of zinc metal, 97,000 mt of lead and 2.3 million oz of silver. It includes a subset of 2.5 million mt at a grade of 7.3% zinc, 1.8% lead and 17 g/mt silver at a lower cut of 4% to 6% zinc. This resource contains 179,000 mt of zinc metal, 45,000 mt of lead and 1.4 million oz of silver.

The Prairie Downs zinc project comprises two Exploration Licenses and is located approximately 100 km southwest of Newman in the Eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. The primary focus at Prairie Downs is high grade zinc-lead-silver deposits in the vicinity of the Prairie Downs Fault, which is a major regional structure.