The lead time for delivery of the new rigs is estimated to be about four to six months.
Monument vice president of exploration Zaidi Harun said the two additional drill rigs will allow the company to meet the drilling meter target and add more drill programs in the future.
The company’s board of directors has also approved expenditures of $1m, which is in addition to the $3.4m approved budget for the 12-month exploration program launched in September 2010.
Of this additional budget, $0.17m will extend Monument’s participation in the Centre of Ore Deposit Studies (CODES) program with the Tasmania University of Geology for another three years.
Monument claims that the program aims to research the regional tectonic and metallogenic events of the mineralized fold belt to assist in exploration programs in central gold belt of Peninsular Malaysia.
