African Eagle Resources Regulatory News (AFE)

18 Sep 2007 07:00

African Eagle Resources PLC18 September 2007 African Eagle awarded Mokambo South Prospecting Licence in the Zambian Copperbelt Highlights * Evaluation of archive data well advanced * Conceptual deposit of approx 6 Mt at 2.4% copper estimated from 1960s drilling * Diamond drilling planned to verify and augment historical resource * Advanced JV negotiations with licence holder at Mokambo North African Eagle's Managing Director Mark Parker commenting today said "The MokamboSouth licence represents a significant exploration target for us as it containsa known copper deposit on the eastern limb of the Mufulira Syncline. TheMufulira copper mine, on the opposite western limb of the syncline, is Africa'slargest underground copper mine." African Eagle Resources plc ("African Eagle" or "the Company"; Ticker: AIM: AFE,AltX: AEA) today announces the award of the Mokambo South Prospecting Licence bythe Ministry of Mines, Zambia. The licence is situated in the ZambianCopperbelt, approximately 90km northeast of Ndola by road, and forms a narrowstrip covering 15 square kilometres along the border between Zambia and theDemocratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The proximity of the licence to AfricanEagle's exploration activities at Ndola means that the Company can easilyconduct work in the area. Much of the licence is underlain by the highly prospective Lower Roan and MineSeries geological sequences, which host most of the world-class copper depositsof Zambia and neighbouring DRC. Mokambo lies on the eastern limb of the Mufulira Syncline. The Mufulira coppermine, operated by Mopani Mines, is situated 15 km west of the licence, on thewestern limb of the Syncline. The Mine has been in operation since 1933 and by2000 had produced nine million tonnes of copper. The Mokambo area contains at least six stratiform copper sulphide deposits,grouped into three separate areas, referred to as the North, Central and Southzones. African Eagle's licence covers the South zone. The mineralisation wasinvestigated by drilling by a Mufulira Mine team in the 1950s and by a Romaniancompany, Geomin, in the 1970s. Geomin reported "probable and possible orereserves" across the three zones of 41 million tonnes at an average grade of1.72% copper, using a cut-off of 1.2%. The company started to sink a shaft nearthe central ore body in 1976, but abandoned development when it hit an aquiferand the workings flooded. Since 1950, 22 diamond drill holes have been drilled within the Mokambo Southlicence area. Of these, 11 intersected significant copper mineralization, todepths of 1400m, over a strike length of 1km. From the results reported fromthese drill holes, the average grade of the mineralisation is 2.4% copper andthe average thickness is about 4.6m, indicating a deposit of about 6 milliontonnes with some 1.4 million tonnes of contained metal. The Company is near to completing a thorough review of all existing dataincluding logging of historical Mokambo core stored at nearby Kalalushi and willthen undertake drilling to evaluate the Mokambo South Zone. This work will alsoassess the potential for copper oxide mineralisation not previously tested bydrilling. The adjacent Mokambo North licence was recently granted to UK-based CopperbeltMinerals Ltd and the two companies are negotiating to explore both licencesjointly. The Mokambo North licence has been estimated to contain a conceptualdeposit of at least 3.85 Mt at 1.69% copper in two separate lenses, based onreports of past drilling. John ParkChairmanAfrican Eagle Resources plc 18 September 2007 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 5640 6899 Nicola MarrinSeymour Pierce+44 20 7107 8000 Ed Portman / Leesa PetersConduit PR, London+44 20 7429 6607 James DuncanRussell & Associates, Johannesburg+ 27 11 8803924 / +27 82 8928052 About African Eagle African Eagle is a diversified mineral exploration and development companyoperating in eastern and central Africa. The Company's principal advancedprojects are the Mkushi Copper Mines project in Zambia and the Miyabi goldproject in Tanzania, which are being fast-tracked towards production. TheCompany also holds a large well-balanced portfolio of promising earlier stagegold and base metal projects, including the Ndola copper project and the EagleEye iron-oxide copper gold project. Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, the sites of African Eagle's projects, are allcountries which have highly prospective geology, relatively low above groundrisks and track records of successful major investments in the metals andminerals industries. African Eagle specialises in project generation and exploration. To take itsdiscoveries into production, it seeks to sign up industry partners with recordsof successful mine development. These joint ventures and, in time, the revenuefrom advanced projects, will finance future exploration and new discoveries. Qualified Person Information in this report relating to exploration results is based on datareviewed by Mr Christopher Davies BSc, MSc, DIC, FSEG, FAusIMM, OperationsDirector for African Eagle, who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute ofMining and Metallurgy, has more than 26 years relevant experience in mineralexploration and is a Qualified Person under AIM rules. Mr Davies consents to theinclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears. Technical terms A glossary of technical terms used by African Eagle in this announcement andother published material may be found at www.africaneagle.co.uk/african-eagle-projects-glossary.html This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange