Atalaya Mining Regulatory News (ATYM)

29 Aug 2006 07:01

Eastern Mediterranean Res. Pblc LD29 August 2006 AIM: EMED 29 August 2006 DRILLING COMMENCES IN SLOVAKIA Eastern Mediterranean Resources Public Limited ("EMED" or "the Company")announces the commencement of drilling at the Stiavnica-Hodrusa and Detvalicence areas in central Slovakia. Drilling is planned at three of EMED's prospects, the following near-surfacetargets: O At Banska Bela, testing a gold anomaly immediately north of twopreviously mined high-grade gold veins separated by near-surface stockwork goldmineralisation; O At Klokoc Vyhne, following up high-grade gold assays in a magnetiteskarn; and O At Biely Vrh, testing a soil gold anomaly coincident with a majornortheast magnetic lineament. EMED's exploration has defined quality drill targets by: O Geological mapping; O Re-logging and sampling of archived drill core; O Low-detection soil geochemical sampling; and O Interpretation for structure and alteration patterns in airborne andground geophysical data. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, EMED's Managing Director said: "Exploration continues to demonstrate the prospectivity of our licence areas incentral Slovakia for a range of gold, silver and copper mineralisation styles.Furthermore, our consultation with the relevant communities and regulatoryauthorities indicates support for our efforts to re-establish metal productionin these areas. In cooperation with the Slovak National geological bureaus, we have developed alarge geological database and, having systematically evaluated a number ofprospects in the field, EMED has now progressed to the initial drilling of threeof those targets. The availability of extensive historical data and archived drill core in thismajor mining district has enabled EMED to progress rapidly to the selection ofquality targets. We are optimistic that this drilling will provide us with atleast one prospect we can progress to the evaluation stage." Stiavnica-Hodrusa Licence Area EMED's licence covers an area of 106km2 in the central zone of a large,andesitic stratovolcano of Neogene age, within a caldera about 20 km indiameter. The Company's initial focus is on shallow targets prospective forepithermal and porphyry-style gold, silver and copper mineralisation in thismajor precious metals district. It is important to also highlight that EMED willin due course also move on to progressing the Hodrusa-Deeps Project to examinefurther the continuation at depth of the mineralized structures that in ancienttimes yielded over 120 million ounces of silver and 2.5 million ounces of golddown to the valley floors. EMED has established that some of the systems areopen at depth. Highlighted in this announcement are details of the immediate shallow drillingtargets: The Banska Bela prospect in the eastern part of the Stiavnica-Hodrusa licencearea was mined for gold and silver from medieval times until the 1940's.Underground workings are concentrated on two north-northeast trending veins overa strike length of 2-3km. Gold production from these 1-9m wide veins is notknown, but head grades of 5-10g/t gold were recorded in the 1900's according tothe Mining Archive in Banska Stiavnica. Ore shoots on these epithermal veinscommonly assayed 10g/t gold and up to 29g/t gold. During the 1990's, a Canadian company intersected stockwork mineralisation insix inclined diamond drillholes and reported the results tabulated below. Hole Number From Interval Gold Grade Silver Grade (m) (g/t) (g/t)BBNE-13/60 Surface 45m 1.3 6BBNE-12/45 Surface 37m 2.3 12BBNE-11/60 Surface 34m 0.9 33BBNE-11/45 Surface 32m 0.7 68BBNE-9/45 Surface 10m 1.5 24BBNE-9/60 Surface 10m 1.2 20 This stockwork mineralisation is located between the two historically minedveins and the drillholes are on three sections approximately 150m apart. EMED's field work at Banska Bela has concentrated on the mineralized zonesaround and between northern extensions of these veins. EMED has mapped thegeology and sampled numerous historic shallow open-pit workings, focusing on a600m long silicified and brecciated zone in rhyolite. EMED's sampling hasconfirmed gold-silver mineralisation in several parallel structures of brecciasand sheeted veins that define a 20-30m wide mineralised zone around eachstructure. Drilling will test the potential for a significant near-surface low-grade, largetonnage gold resource in this northern area. Six inclined diamond drill holesare initially planned to a depth of 80-100m on three sections approximately 100mapart. At the Klokoc Vyhne prospect in the northwestern part of the Stiavnica-Hodrusalicence area, drilling by the Slovakian State was undertaken in the 1940-50's.Vertical drillholes tested a magnetite skarn on a wide spaced grid over a 1km x1km area but drill core was not assayed for gold at the time. Local geologistscarried out resampling of drill core in the early 1990's and an interval from191m depth returned 35m at 6.3g/t gold. EMED has relogged the archived core from more than 50 of these diamonddrillholes. Preliminary assay results support the high grade gold results inV143 and structural logging suggests that the gold mineralisation is due to alate sub-vertical shear zone superimposed on the skarn host rocks. EMED plans to test this shear zone at the Klokoc Vyhne prospect initially withone inclined (45degrees) diamond hole to 260m depth. The interpreted true widthof the shear zone is 6-8m wide and may represent the northern extension of thepreviously mined "Three Kings Vein", which extends 3-4 km to the south of KlokocVyhne. Detva Licence Area The Detva licence area is located in central Slovakia, about 25km to the east ofthe Stiavnica-Hodrusa district. The geology consists of a caldera-graben complexin the centre of a large stratovolcano. Widespread propylitic and localisedadvanced argillic alteration in the licence area indicate substantialhydrothermal activity. This geological setting is considered analogous to theStiavnica-Hodrusa mineral field and is considered to be a classic geologicalsetting for the formation of large porphyry and epithermal gold orebodies. At the Biely Vrh prospect in the northeastern part of the Detva licence, assayresults from EMED's soil sampling have defined a north-northeast trending goldanomaly with a strike of 400m and width of 200m, remaining open to the south. A series of historic shallow workings are aligned in a north-northeast directionat the western edge of the soil anomaly. Float samples (assaying up to 2g/tgold) of silicified and argillic-altered andesite, vuggy silica and quartz veinswere collected over the prospect area and indicate an epithermal style of goldmineralisation. The soil anomaly is coincident with a major northeast lineament on air magneticsand a large, circular magnetic low lies 500-1000m to the southwest. Assayresults are awaited from soil samples collected over this magnetic low. Two diamond drill holes to 100m depth spaced approximately 250m apart areplanned to test the gold anomaly at Biely Vrh. -Ends- Enquiries Eastern Mediterranean Resources Nabarro Wells Parkgreen CommunicationsHarry Anagnostaras-Adams Richard Swindells Justine Howarth / Ana Ribeiro+357 9945 7843 +44 20 7710 7400 +44 20 7493 3713www.emed-resources.comwww.emed.tv References in this announcement to exploration results and potential have beenapproved for release by Mr Ron Cunneen, B.Sc. (Honours). Mr Cunneen is Head ofExploration for Eastern Mediterranean Resources and has more than 20 yearsrelevant experience in the field of activity concerned. He is a member of TheAustralian Institute of Geoscientists ("AIG") and has consented to the inclusionof the material in the form and context in which it appears. Notes to editors Stiavnica-Hodrusa Stiavnica-Hodrusa is located in central Slovakia and EMED's licence area coversa substantial portion of this world-class mineral district in Slovakia.Underground mines in this district have historically yielded an estimated totalof 2.4 million ounces of gold, 120 million ounces of silver, 70,000 tonnes ofzinc, 55,000 tonnes of lead and 8,000 tonnes of copper. About Eastern Mediterranean Resources Public Limited EMED listed on AIM in May 2005 following an initial public offering of itsshares. The Company is headquartered in Cyprus and has a strong commitment tothe region. The Group's region of interest is the Mesozoic to Tertiary age tectonic beltthat winds over 3,000km from Eastern Europe to Iran. The strategy is to rapidlyevaluate exploration opportunities in several jurisdictions throughout thisquality mineral belt with a high rate of project turnover. EMED has now established a strong position in the following three areas withinits area of interest: • Cyprus/Middle East exploration is centred on the Troodos ophiolitecomplex. The targeted mineralisation style is volcanic-hosted massive sulphidecopper deposits under shallow cover, similar to the larger Cyprus copper mines -three of which exceeded 10 million tonnes of ore, at grades between 1% and 4.5%.EMED is undertaking a pre-feasibility study on mining copper-zinc resources inthe Klirou District. • Eastern Europe exploration areas are centred on a cluster of volcaniccentres in Slovakia. Low-detection geochemical methods are being applied tothese areas for the first time together with open pit bulk mining concepts. Thetargeted shallow mineralisation styles are high-grade epithermal gold, orbulk-mineable epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold. • Caucasus exploration areas and options over additional prospects, forma cluster of gold prospects centred in Georgia. EMED's main prospects are withinthe Upper Racha Licence with reserves and resources (Russian classification) of2.4 million ounces of gold. A field program is in progress and a progress reportwill issue within the next few weeks, as results are assembled and interpreted. For further information on the Company's activities, visitwww.emed-resources.com or www.emed.tv This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange