African Eagle Resources Regulatory News (AFE)

14 Jun 2005 07:00

African Eagle Resources PLC14 June 2005 African Eagle Resources plc ENCOURAGING INITIAL DRILLING RESULTS AT MKUSHI PROJECT, ZAMBIA African Eagle Resources ("the Company", ticker AFE) is pleased to announceresults from the first 6 drill holes completed at its Mkushi copper project incentral Zambia. Mineralised intercepts include 12m at 3.2% copper, 33m at 1.9%and 16.7m at 1.5%. African Eagle's Operations Director Chris Davies comments, "These early results are very encouraging, showing substantial widths and goodgrades. They are just the first results from a substantial programme at Mkushi.Drilling is progressing well and we expect further results quite soon andthroughout the coming weeks". African Eagle's Mkushi Project is located 180 km northeast of the capital Lusakaand 160 km southeast of Kitwe, a major mining centre of the Zambian Copperbelt.The project area contains a chain of at least seven known copper deposits alongthe 15 km long Mtuga shear zone. Two of these deposits were mined in the past:Mtuga, which was mined to a depth of 80m from underground during the 1920's andMunshiwemba, which was mined by open pit in the 1960's, but only to a depth of30m. A resource estimate dating from 1990 reported that a global resource of 30million tonnes at 1.2% copper could still exist on the property, containing morethan 350,000 tonnes of copper. African Eagle's current drilling programme isdesigned to check and extend this previous work. The first six holes were drilled at the northernmost deposit, named Coloquo.For a location map, see the Company's web site www.africaneagle.co.uk/projects-mkushi. They are the first of a phase I programme of 23 relativelyshallow diamond drill holes planned at four of the known deposits. Seven moredrill holes have been completed at Zone H and drilling is now underway at Mtuga.The drill samples from these holes are being prepared and submitted for assay. The holes were inclined at 50o and their depths varied between 74m and 119m.All six holes intersected mineralisation. The widths and grades of theintersections were as follows: Drill Hole From (m) Interval (m) Copper % Gold g/t Silver g/tMC1 35.5 16.7 1.5 0.16 4.7including 40.7 7.0 3.2 0.36 10.8and 46.6 1.1 9.7 1.68 40.2MC2 75.6 12.5 0.7MC3 54.0 5.3 0.5and 66.3 9.5 0.8and 87.4 8.7 0.8MC4 42.5 24.3 0.7including 56.9 4.8 2.5 1.9MC5 60.1 33.1 1.9 1.8including 71.2 1.3 6.8 0.12 5.3MC6 51.4 16.8 2.4 0.18 6.2including 49.9 12.2 3.2 0.23 8.6and 57.1 4.8 6.7 0.52 15.7 These copper grades and widths are very promising, and the precious metal assaysshow that both gold and silver are associated with the copper minerals in thesystem. Given the likelihood of high tonnages, the potential value of the goldand silver in the copper concentrate could be quite significant. For example,0.2g/t of gold adds almost 10% to the value of each tonne of 1% copper ore. The drill cores showed that the copper mineralisation at Mkushi occurs in rocksmuch older than the Copperbelt deposits, comprising sheared aplite, pegmatiteand porphyry intrusions within host rocks of the Mkushi Gneiss. This geologicalsetting suggests that the mineralisation may be of porphyry copper style. The Company is also carrying out rotary air core drilling to evaluate thetonnage, grade and mineralogy of copper bearing tailings from the former miningoperations at Munshiwemba and Mtuga. Geophysical surveys including IP andmagnetics covering the entire Mtuga shear zone will also begin shortly with aview to generating additional drill targets. Reports of previous explorationidentified numerous other copper targets, many of which have received little orno assessment to date. African Eagle considers that the exploration potential along the mineralisedMtuga shear is substantial. If the results from the planned programme confirmthe potential, African Eagle will embark on a feasibility study to confirm andexpand on the historical resources. The project area is favourably situated, with a major power line and a goodwater supply within the area and bitumen roads and a rail link nearby. Copperconcentrates could be shipped easily to the nearby smelters in the Copperbelt. In summary, these early results from African Eagle's ambitious 2005 explorationprogramme at Mkushi are promising, showing good grades and thicknesses of coppermineralisation with indications of precious metal credits. Drilling iscontinuing well and the Company expects to receive further assay results overthe coming weeks. John Park ChairmanAfrican Eagle Resources plc 14 June, 2005 For further information Tel MobileJohn Park (Chairman) African Eagle 020 7248 6059 077 7980 1159 or Mark Parker (MD)Leesa Peters or Amanda Harris Conduit PR 020 7618 8708 07979 955 923 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange