Atalaya Mining Regulatory News (ATYM)

23 May 2007 07:17

EMED Mining Public Limited23 May 2007 AIM: EMED 23 May 2007 BIELY VRCH GOLD MINERALISATION EXTENDED TO 460 METRES DEPTH EMED Mining Public Limited ("EMED Mining" or "the Company") announces resultsfrom the drilling program at the Biely Vrch Prospect at the Company's DetvaLicence in central Slovakia. Highlights •Drillhole DVE5 intercepted 331m averaging 1.1g/t gold from 228m to the bottom of the hole. This intercept, in conjunction with earlier results (from drill holes DVE1 and DVE4) has established known gold mineralisation from surface to a vertical depth of 460m. •The limited drilling to date indicates a large zone of mineralisation with yet-to-be-tested potential extensions to the north and south. Over the remainder of 2007, EMED Mining plans to undertake the work required to estimate an initial JORC-Compliant Mineral Resource at the Biely Vrch Prospect. •Initial metallurgical testwork of Biely Vrch drill core samples indicates the gold mineralisation is not metallurgically complex. •Drilling budget for 2007 increased from 5,000 metres to 7,000 metres. Drilling to date during 2007 totals 2,580 metres, of which assay results have been received for 830 metres. •Drill rig ordered for start-up of EMED Mining's own drilling team to improve operational efficiencies. •Applications recently made to increase the Company's exploration licence holdings in Slovakia from 490 square kilometres to 1,312 square kilometres. In late 2006, the first four drillholes at Biely Vrch targeted a 500m by 300msoil geochemical anomaly and all four drillholes intercepted gold mineralisationover their entire length. Drilling at Biely Vrch recommenced in mid-March 2007 with a program designed todefine the extent and grade of the near-surface mineralisation as outlined bythe soil geochemical anomaly, as well as testing a deeper target to the westidentified by ground-geophysical surveys. A further six drillholes (DVE5 toDVE10) have now been completed but full assays received for only DVE5. Assay results received from drillhole DVE5 has extended gold mineralisationassociated with the soil anomaly to a vertical depth of 460m, an increase of200m over the previous deepest intercept. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, Managing Director of EMED Mining, commented: "Drillingat Biely Vrch is at a very exciting stage. Even though we have received assaysfrom only five drillholes into this EMED Mining discovery, early indications arethat our Slovakian tenements have good potential for substantial gold deposits.We look forward to working with Gold Fields Limited, which has recently become a10% shareholder in our Company and formed an alliance in respect of EMEDMining's Slovakian interests." Enquiries: EMED Mining Nabarro Wells Fox-Davies Parkgreen Capital CommunicationsHarry Richard Daniel Fox-Davies Clare IrvineAnagnostaras-Adams Swindells+357 9945 7843 +44 20 7710 7400 +44 20 7936 5220 +44 20 7851 7480www.emed-mining.comwww.emed.tv Interpretation of Biely Vrch Drilling Results The dimensions of currently known gold mineralisation at Biely Vrch areapproximately: €200m east-west (DVE1, DVE4 and DVE5); €100m north-south (DVE1 to DVE3); and €460m vertical (DVE5). The average grade of the currently known gold mineralisation is approximately1.0g/t gold based on the intercepts from four drillholes within this block(DVE1, DVE3, DVE4 and DVE5). Average grades in each of the four holes range from0.5 g/t gold in DVE3 to 1.3 g/t gold in DVE1. Subject to confirmation by future drilling, this indicates a potentiallyeconomic tonnage and grade for a bulk-tonnage mining operation. Over theremainder of 2007, EMED Mining plans to undertake the work required to estimatean initial JORC-Compliant Mineral Resource at the Biely Vrch Prospect. Good potential remains to extend economic mineralisation and priority drillingtargets include: •the southern portion of the soil anomaly where an anomalous area measuring 300m by 300m contains only one drillhole (DVE2); and •further to the north where DVE9 has shown, by visual observation, that the mineralisation has been down faulted and covered by unmineralised post-alteration volcanic flows. In response to these positive early-stage results, the Company has: •increased the drilling budget for 2007 from 5,000 metres to 7,000 metres; and •placed an order to purchase a drill rig to improve operational efficiencies. Metallurgical Test Work Initial metallurgical testing of Biely Vrch samples indicate that a highrecovery of gold should be readily achievable with industry-standard cyanidationprocessing. Metallurgical testing was done on a few drill-core samples by cyanidedissolution (method AA-25) by ALS Laboratories in Romania. The lowest goldrecovery was 92% from the ten samples tested. Further samples have been sent toALS for cyanide bottle roll testing and results are pending. Biely Vrch Prospect Drilling: Technical Summary Six drillholes have been completed during 2007 for a total of 2,580m, of whichassay results have been received for only 830m. All drillholes have adeclination of 50degrees to 70degrees. Drillhole DVE5 was sited to drill under DVE4, which intercepted 252m at 1.2g/tgold from surface. DVE5 intercepted unaltered andesite to 228m depth followed bythick zones of brecciated, mineralised andesite over the remainder of thedrillhole. Assay results from 228m to the bottom of the hole at 559m havereturned 331m at 1.1g/t gold. Alteration in DVE5 is similar to that of DVE4,consisting of argillic clays, silicification, and stockwork quartz veins. Drillholes DVE6 and DVE7. These two holes targeted an IP geophysical anomaly atdepth, which is offset by faulting to the west of the soil anomaly. Both holesintercepted argillic altered andesite with the pyrite content averaging 3%.Based on visual observation, this strong pyrite content indicates that the IPanomaly is related to the elevated sulphide content. These holes differ fromholes DVE1 to DVE5 in having a high sulphide content but no stockwork quartzveining. Preliminary assay results for the first 232m of hole DVE6, however are onlyweakly anomalous in gold, with a best intercept of 1.0m at 0.1g/t gold. Assaysare pending for remaining 243m of DVE6 and subsequent drillholes. Drillhole DVE8 targeted to test the ground between the soil and IP anomaly wasabandoned at 258m due to faulted ground. This fault strikes north-south andseparates the IP anomaly from the soil anomaly. Drillhole DVE9 has been sited at the northern end of the soil anomaly anddrilled to a depth of 352m. DVE9 is located just north of an interpretedeast-west fault and the mineralisation appears to have been down-faulted beneathyounger cover rocks. Drillhole DVE10 was sited to test the IP anomaly below DVE6 drilled to a depthof 368m. Weak alteration was encountered. Table - Drilling Completed and assayed to 18 May 2007Hole Declination Total Target From To Downhole GradeNumber Depth (m) (m) Intercept (g/t gold) (m) (m)DVE1 60 degrees 108 Soil 0 108 108 1.3 East Anomalyincluding 86 108 22 1.9DVE2 60 degrees 103 Soil 0 103 103 0.2 East AnomalyDVE3 60 degrees 220 Soil 0 220 220 0.5 East AnomalyDVE4 60 degrees 252 Soil 0 252 252 1.2 West Anomalyincluding 155 252 97 1.8DVE5 55 degrees 559 Soil 228 559 331 1.1 West AnomalyDVE6 70 degrees 475 IP Anomaly 0 232 232 0.03 West Full Assays Pending Further Exploration Near Biely Vrch EMED Mining has applied for new licence areas considered prospective near theDetva Licence containing. The total area of EMED Mining's licences in Slovakiawill increase from 490 square kilometres to 1,312 square kilometres should theseapplications be granted by the relevant authorities. At the Kralova Prospect within the Detva Licence, EMED Mining is planninginitial drilling of an untested geochemical anomaly analogous to the soilgeochemical anomaly which led to positioning the Biely Vrch discovery drillhole. Further technical information and details on work completed by EMED Mining inthe Detva Licence is available in a technical report on the Company's websiteat: http://emed-mining.com/site/dmdocuments/BV_Tech_Info_May_07.pdf Alliance with Gold Fields Limited in respect of Slovakian interests Gold Fields Netherland Services NL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gold FieldsLimited ("Gold Fields"), has become a 10% shareholder in EMED Mining. GoldFields has made available technical support should it be required and has theright of first refusal over the Company's Slovakian interests, should EMEDMining decide to joint venture the project within the next two years. It is notthe current intention of the Company to joint venture the project. Competent Person 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 EMED Mining and has more than 20 years' relevant experience inthe field of activity concerned. He is a member of The Australian Institute ofGeoscientists ("AIG") and has consented to the inclusion of the material in theform and context in which it appears. Sampling and Assaying Procedures All drilling on the Biely Vrch Prospect has been done with PQ and HQ size coresamples. Core recovery has averaged 95% throughout the mineralised zone. Allcore has been logged and separated into 1.0m lengths which have then been cut inhalf by a diamond saw and then sent for assay. Sample preparation has been done by ALS - Chemix in Romania and assayed for goldby 30gm fire assay (method Au-AA25). Both samples and blanks have been used inthe sample batches sent by EMED to ALS - Chemix in line with EMED companyquality control procedures. Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody areappropriately controlled. The Company maintains an archive of half-core samplesand a photographic record of all cores for future reference. Quality controlchecks have determined that all blanks and standards showed excellentcorrelations, with 99% correlation for pulp duplicates. The results of holes DVE1 to DVE4 have previously been reported. For thereported intercept in hole DVE5 of 331m at 1.1g/t gold, 78 assays returnedgrades < 0.5g/t gold (24%) and 136 samples returned grades > 1.0g/t gold (41%).Of these 331 samples within this reported intercept, the minimum grade was 0.07g/t gold and the maximum grade 4.62g/t gold. Glossary of technical terms Andesite Igneous rock with 52% to 66% silicaArgillic Argillic alteration is that which introduces any one of a wideAlteration variety of clay minerals, including kaolinite, smectite and illiteBreccia/ A clastic rock composed of particles more than 2 millimetres inBrecciated diameter and marked by the angularity of its component grains and rock fragmentsJORC Code The "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (2004)" prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of AustraliaMineral The estimated quantity and grade of mineralisation that is ofResource potential merit. A resource estimate does not require specific mining, metallurgical, environmental, price or cost data, but the nature and continuity of mineralisation must be understood to a specific degree of knowledgePyrite The most widespread iron sulphide mineral.Silicification The process whereby silica is introduced into a non siliceous rock either by the filling of pore spaces or by replacement of existing mineralsStockwork A network of veinlets, usually quartz Notes to Editors: About EMED Mining Public Limited EMED Mining was admitted to trading on AIM in May 2005 following a placing ofits shares. In the two years since then the share price has increased from 8p tothe current 16p and market capitalisation has increased from approximately £4million to approximately £20 million. The Company is based in Cyprus and has astrong commitment to responsible development of metal production operations inEurope, with an initial focus on copper and gold. The Company has moved rapidly reflecting the experience of its specialist teamand the clarity of its strategy. The Group's region of interest are the tectonic belts spanning across Europe andover to Iran. The strategy is to evaluate exploration and developmentopportunities in several jurisdictions throughout this quality mineral belt andto promote sustainable development practices through implementation of EuropeanUnion and other leading-edge international standards. EMED Mining recentlyco-hosted with the Green Party of Cyprus an international conference onResponsible Mining and Environmental Management. The Company has, from theoutset, strictly implemented its Environmental & Community Policy whichincludes: • Integrating environmental management into our business, planning and reporting processes. • Promoting a strong environmental ethic throughout the company and the community. • Complying with, as a minimum, all applicable local and European Union laws and regulations. • Communicating with community stakeholders in a responsible and transparent manner. EMED Mining has now established a strong position in the following selectedzones: • Spain/Cyprus The mines at Rio Tinto are probably amongst the best known in the world. They are, with the possible exception of those in Cyprus, the oldest capable of still being worked. It is now EMED Mining's goal to restart production in both of these well-endowed mining districts. Both Spain and Cyprus are progressive members of the European Union and EMED Mining has been made to feel welcome in both host countries. The styles of mineral deposits and of production techniques are similar. • Slovakia/Romania exploration areas are centred on a cluster of volcanic centres in Slovakia and Romania. Low-detection geochemical methods are being applied to these areas for the first time together with open pit bulk mining concepts. The targeted mineralisation styles are high-grade epithermal gold, or bulk-mineable epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold. The company has announced a gold discovery at Biely Vrch in Slovakia which is a major priority for 2007. • Georgia/Central Asia exploration areas form a cluster of gold prospects centred in Georgia. EMED Mining's main prospects are within the Upper Racha Licence, the country's largest minerals licence with many untested prospects. The Company has confirmed Russian Resources of 1.0 million ounces gold at the Zopkhito Prospect and discovered high grade mineralisation at surface at other prospects. (please see full details in Annual Report 2006 announcement from 19 February 2007). • Turkey/Bulgaria exploration areas were vended into 34%-owned KEFI Minerals Plc which was admitted to AIM in December 2006. KEFI Minerals owns carefully selected licence areas in Turkey, as well as an extensive proprietary database of regional and specific exploration data providing a pipeline of further projects to evaluate. The KEFI Minerals team has mobilized into the field to explore the company's tenements and to expand the portfolio of licenses as opportunities warrant. See www.kefi-minerals.com. For further information on the Company's activities, visit www.emed-mining.comor www.emed.tv. -Ends- This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange