Asa Resources Regulatory News (ASA)

24 Sep 2007 07:02

Mwana Africa PLC24 September 2007 GOLD PROJECTS UPDATE: Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana Positive results of gold drilling programmes in the DRC and Ghana London, 24th September 2007 - Mwana Africa, the pan-African resource company, ispleased to update shareholders on the latest results from two of its goldexploration projects, Zani-Kodo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the"DRC"), and Konongo in Ghana. Drilling at Zani-Kodo is ongoing, and a RCdrilling program at Konongo was recently completed. In each case drilling hasdemonstrated the potential for large scale deposits of a type that could supportsubstantial production operations. Zani-Kodo, DRC. Zani-Kodo, located in the Ituri Province, of the DRC, is part of a 3,239 km2which Mwana explores in a joint venture with Office des Mines d'Or de Kilomoto(OKIMO), in which it has an 80% stake in the gold exploration rights. The areacontains a series of highly prospective greenstone belts of Kibalian age whichare considered to have high gold potential. The Zani-Kodo project represents theinitial focus of exploration for Mwana in the licence area. Drilling istargeting a mineralised shear at the contact between a footwall sandstone andgraphitic schist-Banded Iron Formation sequence. The drill programme aims todefine an open pittable resource. Mineralisation occurs in broad pyrrhotite-richzones containing discrete quartz veins and shoots. To date a total of 4,750m ofa 7,000m diamond core programme has been drilled over a strike length ofapproximately 700m. To date assays have been received for 16 of 34 holes. Best intersections to date are as follows (N.B. all widths cited are downhole) Hole ID From Width/GradeKDODD007 67-72m 5m@3.13g/tKDODD010 35-38m 3m@4.15g/tKDODD010 79-82m 3m@2.41g/tKDODDO11 115-118m 3m@7.05g/tKDODD019A 44-46m 2m@5.70g/tKDODD019A 59.2-61.2m 2m@8.20g/tKDODD019A 70-73m 3m@2.79g/tKDODD020 115-119m 4m@3.99g/tKDODD020A 92-95m 3m@4.22g/tKDODD020A 110-116m 6m@7.26g/tKDODD023 95-98.6m 3.6m@14.01g/tKDODD025 42-50m 8m@3.49g/tKDODD026 70-86m 16m@2.27g/tKDODD026 74-83m 9m@3.00g/t Mwana is currently in the process of assessing the assay and geological resultsin order to further clarify the geological setting of the mineralised zone andplan future drilling. The mineralised zone is open along over 10 kms strike and further drilling isplanned to test the full extent of the structure. A regional aeromagnetic surveyhas allowed the identification of a series of additional regional target areaswhich will be followed up during 2007/8. Konongo, Ghana A 2,600m RC programme was recently completed at the Konongo project in thenorthern Ashanti belt, owned 70% by Mwana, 20% by Talos Ghana Limited and 10% bythe State of Ghana. The Konongo project covers an area of 125km2 and is situatedin Birimian metavolcanics and sediments close to the western margin of theprolific Ashanti belt. The JV area contains the historical Konongo Mine whichproduced 1.65Moz gold at 15.7g/t. Mineralisation is associated with quartz veinsand shear zones within a predominantly metavolcanic sequence. Drilling wasdesigned to target extensions of known mineralisation along theOdumase-Boabedroo and Awere trends and aimed to define an open pittableresource. Best intersections are as follows (N.B. all widths cited are downhole), Hole ID From Width/ Grade07PARC004 28-32m 4m @ 21.30g/t07PARC004 44-60m 16m @ 2.29g/t07PARC005 20-32m 12m @ 0.70g/t07PARC005 40-52m 12m @ 1.01g/t07PARC009 4-8m 4m @ 0.99g/t07PARC010 68-80m 12m @ 0.56g/t07AWRC002 4-8m 4m @ 0.99g/t07AWRC003 28-40m 12m @ 4.44g/t07AWRC007 0-4m 4m @ 6.20g/t07AWRC009 4-8m 4m @ 1.52g/t07AWRC013 0-8m 8m @ 1.07g/t07BDRC002 84-92m 8m @ 0.76g/t07BDRC006 4-8m 4m @ 2.01g/t07BDRC006 12-16m 4m @ 2.76g/t Additional drilling is planned to delineate the full extent of the mineralisedzones. A further 2500m RC drill programme is planned for Konongo to more accuratelydelineate the high-grade intersections. Drilling at Zani-Kodo is ongoing andwill test strike extensions to the north and south of the Kodo Mine area. Kalaa Mpinga, CEO of Mwana Africa, commented, "I am very pleased with our doublegood fortune to be making rapid progress with our gold mining operations in theDRC and in Ghana. We should be proud that within two years of the merger ofMwana Africa and African Gold we can now consider the possibility of twosubstantial new gold projects in two different parts of Africa. The progress atZani-Kodo and Konongo shows that the Mwana gold exploration programme during2007 has made substantial progress and all those involved should becongratulated." Charl du Plessis, Vice President Exploration of Mwana, who holds a PhD and is aMember of the AusIMM, is a "Qualified Person" as defined in the AIM Rules, andhas reviewed the information disclosed herein. Enquiries: Oliver Baring, Executive ChairmanKalaa Mpinga, Chief Executive Tel: 020 7654 5588Mwana Africa plc Tom Randell / David Simonson Tel: 020 7653 6620Merlin Mark Williams Tel: 020 7050 6500Canaccord Adams This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange