African Eagle Resources Regulatory News (AFE)

7 Apr 2006 07:00

African Eagle Resources PLC07 April 2006 African Eagle Resources plc DRILLING UPDATE FROM MKUSHI African Eagle Resources plc ("the Company" or "African Eagle", ticker AFE) ispleased to announce further results from its 2006 drilling programme at theMkushi copper project in central Zambia. Mineralised drill intercepts included: o 57m at 2.0% copper o 155m at 0.4% copper o 24m at 1.3% copper African Eagle's Managing Director, Mark Parker, comments, "Our drill resultscontinue to demonstrate that there is a robust copper mineralised system atMkushi. As our 'nearest market' project, Mkushi offers excellent potential forAfrican Eagle to move into production and positive cash-flow." African Eagle is undertaking an economic scoping and pre-feasibility study onMkushi, scheduled for completion by the 4th quarter of this year. We hope thatthis will lead to a full feasibility study and a commercial production decisionby the end of 2007. The new results are from the Company's continuing drilling programme at Mkushiaimed at defining the copper resources beneath the old mining operation atMunshiwemba, in its southwest extension (known as H-Zone) and at the Coloquoprospect 2.5 km to the northeast. The results of the latest drilling are tabulated below and a map showing all thedrill results to date along this zone can be seen at www.africaneagle.co.uk/projects-mkushi Drill Hole Hole Type Prospect From (m) Interval (m) Copper %MH23 diamond H Zone 46.6 4.0 1.0and 141.0 57.0 2.0including 164.0 22.0 2.4and 192.0 6.0 5.0MH21 diamond H Zone 54.0 155.0 0.4MH13 diamond H Zone 163.0 24.0 1.3MH26 percussion H Zone 29.0 30.0 0.5MC8 percussion Coloquo N 54.0 10.0 1.1 The high grade intersection in hole MH23 occurs 100m along strike from hole MH9which intersected 84m at 1.8% copper. Together, these two holes confirm theexistence of substantial high grade copper zones within H zone. Samples of drill core have been shipped for metallurgical testing and theCompany plans to drain the water from the 30m deep open pit at Munshiwemba, toallow detailed evaluation of the mineralisation beneath the pit floor. John Park ChairmanAfrican Eagle Resources plc 7th April 2006 About African Eagle African Eagle is a mineral resources company with its focus on eastern andcentral Africa. It operates in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, countries withhighly prospective geology and low above-ground risks, which have all beendestinations for successful recent major investments in the metals and mineralsindustries. The Company has a highly motivated team, proven management and an experiencedboard. Its principal operations are the Miyabi gold project in Tanzania and theMkushi and Ndola copper projects in Zambia. It has discovered a large iron oxidecopper gold (IOCG) system at Eagle Eye in Zambia and holds a well-balancedportfolio of promising early stage projects. About Mkushi The Mkushi copper project in Zambia is African Eagle's "nearest-market" asset. Mkushi is a historic copper mining camp which was operated in the 1920s and the1960s. A report commissioned by the Zambian national copper company in 1990estimated that more than 300,000 tonnes of copper metal remained in the groundat Mkushi, at a grade of 1.24% copper. African Eagle has been drilling over thepast months to check this estimate, which pre-dates modern resource reportingstandards, and it appears to be well founded. Moreover, geophysical surveys have indicated that other mineralised zones existwhich were not recognised by previous explorers. The Company believes that thesecould bring the total to 500,000 tonnes of contained copper metal. The local infrastructure around Mkushi is excellent and the past history ofmining should make it reasonably straightforward to obtain government permitsfor renewed operations. The mineralisation has a simple chalcopyrite mineralogy,which should allow the Company to produce a copper sulphide concentrateefficiently at relatively modest capital cost. This product could be solddirectly to the smelters on the copperbelt, or exported on the nearby railwayfor shipment to any smelter in the world. African Eagle aims to generate income from Mkushi as soon as possible. TheCompany has commenced a scoping study which will include metallurgical andgeotechnical test work and preliminary economic modelling based on a modularapproach to project development. It is expected that this formal study willsupport the Company's own preliminary calculations which show that Mkushi couldbe highly profitable. The Company could be in a position to make a productiondecision before the end of 2007. Competent Person Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on datareviewed by Mr Christopher Davies, Operations Director for African EagleResources, who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining andMetallurgy and qualifies as the Competent Person in accordance with theAustralasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources andOre Reserves (the JORC Code, 2004). Mr Davies has in excess of 25 yearsexperience in mineral exploration and consents to the inclusion of theinformation in the form and context in which it appears. For further information, see the Company's web site www.africaneagle.co.uk orcontact one of the following: Mark ParkerManaging Director+44 20 7248 6059+44 77 7980 1159 Chris DaviesOperations Director+44 20 7248 6059+44 78 6672 9959 Leesa PetersConduit PR+44 20 7429 6600+44 78 1215 9885 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange