African Eagle Resources Regulatory News (AFE)

9 Mar 2005 07:00

African Eagle Resources PLC09 March 2005 African Eagle Resources plc NEW RESOURCE ESTIMATE OF 400,000 OUNCES GOLD FOR THE MIYABI GOLD PROJECT, TANZANIA African Eagle ("the Company", Ticker: AFE) today announces that independentgeological consultants SRK have completed a technical audit of the Company'sdrilling and assay work at the Miyabi gold project in Tanzania and calculated anew independent resource estimate for the project. The total resource outlinedto date is 8.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.5 grams per tonne,containing 400,000 ounces of gold, of which 75% is in the JORC Indicatedcategory. Mark Parker, the Company's Managing Director, comments "This work, carried outto the widely accepted JORC standard by a respected independent consultant, willpermit future drill results to be incorporated into the data base with a highlevel of confidence and will allow the resource estimate to be upgradedincrementally as drilling progresses. The resource provides a sound footing toAfrican Eagle's 2005 drilling programme which has now started at Miyabi, and weexpect to add to it substantially over the coming months". During early 2004, the Company's geologists carried out a complete re-appraisaland interpretation of the entire Miyabi exploration database and identifiedseveral promising targets. Drilling on the first of these targets, Faida,intersected a wide, consistent zone of gold mineralization. By the end of 2004,African Eagle had demonstrated from geophysical surveys and geochemical mappingthat this zone extended for at least 500m along strike. Although only half ofthis interpreted strike length has been drilled to date, drill intersections,including 58m at 4.03g/t and 60.7 metres at 1.57g/t, demonstrated that the zoneextends to at least 150m down-dip. The discovery of the Faida zone shifted the Miyabi gold project from explorationphase to resource evaluation phase. Consequently, the Company commissioned SRKConsulting of Cardiff, UK to conduct an independent technical audit of thedrilling and assaying procedures used by the Company and to make a formalresource estimate based on all the results to date. Four other mineralisedzones within the Miyabi project area, Kilimani, Shambani North and South, andNgaya, were also included in the SRK audit and estimate. The drill core from Faida has given the Company's geologists a much betterunderstanding of the structural controls on the mineralisation at Miyabi. Thisknowledge will now be applied to the other three zones, where mainly reversecirculation drilling has been carried out so far, and to the other, yetundrilled target zones identified by the data re-appraisal. The Faida core willalso be tested to determine the metallurgical recoverability of the gold in thezone. Diamond drilling to add to these resources is now underway and a reversecirculation rig is expected to mobilise in May. Drilling will continue throughmuch of the next ten months. The table below sets out the Mineral Resources in each of the mineralised zonesdrilled to date. Mineral Resources are above a cut off grade of 0.5 g/t goldand are reported using the terminology and guidelines given in the December 2004JORC Code. Following the table are SRK's notes on each of the zones. Zone Resource category Tonnage (t) Grade (g/t) Ounces Faida Indicated 3,175,000 1.6 165,000 Inferred 375,000 1.8 20,000Kilimani Indicated 1,920,000 1.3 80,000 Inferred 400,000 1.6 20,000Shambani S Indicated 490,000 2.0 30,000 Inferred 120,000 2.0 10,000Shambani N Indicated 640,000 1.4 30,000 Inferred 355,000 1.2 15,000Ngaya Inferred 850,000 1.2 35,000 Total Indicated 6,230,000 1.5 300,000 Inferred 2,110,000 1.4 100,000 Total 8,335,000 1.5 400,000 Note : appropriate rounding has resulted in apparent summation errors In summary, the Miyabi deposits have been interpreted as several similarlyorientated continuous lenses with within a clearly defined structural corridor.Each deposit in the resource model has been interpreted as a tabular,northeast-striking, steep-dipping shear zone. The deposits contain a smallamount of low grade material but otherwise are remarkably continuous ingeometry. Higher grade patches are discernable and these may be more effectivelyoutlined in the future by infill and extension drilling. The current drillingprogramme has been designed, in part, to test the continuity of these highergrade areas. Faida has been modelled to 150m down dip over a strike length of 300m. Thedeposit is mostly over 25m wide. Although only 10 drillholes intersect thedeposit, their results suggest a consistent width and grade of mineralisation,most of which can be classed as an Indicated Mineral Resource. The deposit isopen at depth and to the northeast. The Kilimani resource model has a strike length of 550m and a dip extent of some130m, defined by 43 drillhole intersections. The thickness varies between 5 and20m in the main part of the deposit. Drilling is concentrated in the northeastwhere an Indicated Mineral Resource has been defined whilst wider spaceddrilling in the southwest supports an Inferred Mineral Resource. The deposit isopen at depth and along strike, particularly at depth to the northeast. The Shambani North resource model has a strike length of 450m and a dip extentof some 120m defined by 15 drillhole intersections. The thickness is generallyless than 7m although locally, it swells to 25m. The drilling coverage issufficient to support Indicated Mineral Resource status in the southwest. Thedeposit is open at depth and to the southwest. The Shambani South resource model has a strike length of 450m and a dip extentof 100m. This deposit is situated some 160m to the southeast of Shambani North.The thickness is a reasonably constant 5-8m thinning towards the edges.Drilling, consisting of 24 intersections, has concentrated in two broad areas,which together constitute an Indicated Mineral Resource, whilst wider spacedintersections support an Inferred Mineral Resource. The deposit is open at depthand along strike. The Ngaya resource model extends for 300m along strike and 115m down dip. Thedeposit is relatively narrow but reaches a width of 20m in the central part.Thirteen drillholes intersect the deposit but they are not on a set of regularsections, making interpretation relatively difficult. However, two lenses ofmineralisation with similar strike and dip orientations to the neighbouringdeposits have been interpreted with enough confidence to support an InferredMineral Resource. The deposit is open at depth and to the northeast and willbenefit from a regular pattern of infill drilling. John Park Chairman, African Eagle Resources plc 9 March 2005 For further information Tel Mobile John Park (Chairman) or African Eagle 020 7248 6059 077 7980 1159Mark Parker (MD)Leesa Peters or Laurence Conduit PR 020 7618 8708 07979 955 923ReadMatthew Robinson Durlacher 020 7459 3600 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange