CGH.L Regulatory News (CGH)

6 Dec 2007 07:00

Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd05 December 2007 6 December 2007 For immediate release Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd ("Chaarat" or "the Company") Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (AIM:CGH) Announces the Completion of the 2007 Surface Exploration Programme and Continuation of Underground Exploration Operations • 2007 core drill programme completed • Metallurgical test work and underground exploration continues • Three new targets drilled and trenched, individual grades up to 86g/t gold • Known strike lengths on two targets extended from a total of 890 to 1,120 m Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands (06 December 2007). Chaarat GoldHoldings Ltd ("Chaarat" or "the Company") announces that it completed its 2007surface exploration program on 22 November as planned, on its 100% held, 604.6square kilometre exploration licence in Western Kyrgyzstan. The undergroundexploration operations will continue throughout the winter, as will themetallurgical testwork and other studies. During the summer and autumn of 2007 eight core rigs were deployed on theLicence Area and Chaarat have drilled 53 coreholes, for a total of 10,200 m ofdrilling. Most of this work was aimed at in-fill and extension drilling of knownmineralised zones, both down dip and along strike, in five project areas(Projects) where Mineral Resources of 1.9 million ounces at a grade of 4.1 g/tAu, had been delineated at the end of the 2006 drilling programme. These holeswere planned to provide intercepts through the mineralisation at 40-m intervalsboth on strike and down dip. In addition, preliminary drilling was undertakenin 2007 on three new Project areas discovered last year, namely M4400, M5600 andM6000. The spacing of these holes varies between 40 and 80 m. A plan of thelicence area with all the Projects and Targets can be viewed atwww.chaarat.com/Default.aspx?Cont=17 The Company also continued with its extensive surface exploration programmethrough 2007 and a total of 16,100 metres of new roads were completed to provideaccess to drill sites and to expose mineralised zones, of which 6,390 metreswere sampled. These excavations exposed the subcrop of mineralised zones, bothas strike extensions to known mineralisation and on recently discovered zones.Furthermore, a total of 1,996 metres of trenches were excavated in these andother areas, and 14,700 metres of gold geochemical soil sampling traversescompleted over two regional targets known as Ishakuldy and Minteke. Drilling Programme Main Zone The M2400 Project Area was the focus of most of the drilling on the Main Zone in2007 and eight drill holes (1,628 m) intersected mineralisation. Some assayresults are awaited from the laboratory and the full results will be reportedonce these have been received. Based on the 2006 results, Resources of 2.06million tonnes at an average grade of 4.5g/t Au (298,000 oz., JORC compliantIndicated and Inferred) were declared in this project area. The mineralisationhas an average true width of 5 m and the drilling and trenching in 2007 haveincreased the mineralised strike from 570 to 620 m. The M6000 (Karator) Project Area is considered to be a fault-displaced strikeextension to the Main Zone with similar mineralisation characteristics.Bulldozer cuts completed in 2006 exposed a 3 to 5 m wide (true width)mineralised zone with a strike of 320 m. Further work in 2007 has extended thestrike of this zone to 580 m. Nine holes (1,118 m) were also drilled on thisProject Area with the objective of delineating a Resource. Assay results fromthis drilling are pending. Contact Zone Mineralisation in the Contact Zone can be traced for some 10 km with strikelengths of between 300 and 450 m for individual zones. Prior to the 2007drilling, a JORC compliant Indicated and Inferred mineral resource had beendelineated in three of these Project Areas (C5300, C4600 and C4000) as tabulatedbelow: Project Strike Drilling Indicated Inferred Total Total Au Grade Grade GradeArea (metres) to 2006 Resources Resources Resources Resources (metres) Mill Tonnes Mill Tonnes Mill Tonnes Mill Oz Au g/t Ag g/t Sb %C5300 450 3098 2.869 0.939 3.809 0.47 3.88 22 0.47C4600 300 1371 1.22 0.863 2.083 0.24 3.64 22 0.26C4000 300 1291 0.226 0.45 0.676 0.06 2.75 11 0.62Total 1050 5760 4.315 2.252 6.568 0.78 3.69 20.87 0.42(Average) During the 2007 season 19 holes were drilled in the Contact Zone, 12, three andfour holes in the C5300, C4600 and C4000 Areas respectively. The assay resultsfrom this drilling are awaited. Tulkubash Zone The T0700 zone is hosted by quartzites of Tulkubash formation at the southernend of a 5 km long belt of soil anomalies, which are between 40 and 160 metreswide (defined by a 1g/t Au assay threshold). Based on the drilling completed to the end of the 2006 exploration season, aJORC compliant (Indicated and Inferred) Resource of 1.26Mt at 4.88 g/t Au(198,000 ozs) was declared. During the 2007 exploration season an additional 12drill holes (2,375 m) were drilled in the T0700 Project and again assay resultsare awaited. Underground Exploration The Company started excavation of an adit in 2006 to facilitate exploration inthe C5300 Project Area on the Contact Zone. The adit is scheduled to intersectthe mineralised Contact Zone at a depth of 235 m below surface and 290 m downdip from outcrop of the mineralised zone. This work continued through 2007 andis scheduled to be completed in 2008. Underground drilling from drill stationsoff the adit will test the down dip extension of the mineralisation, commencingin February 2008. Competent Person The Competent Person with overall responsibility for this press release isAnthony Martin, PrSciNat, MGSZ, MAuS IMM, PhD who is an employee of SRK(Zimbabwe) (Pvt) Limited. Dr Anthony Martin is an exploration geologist with 35years experience in the resource industry and has been responsible for thereviewing of exploration programmes on various properties internationally duringthe past five years and the Chaarat project since August 2005; he has made foursite visits since that time. Exploration Methodologies Soil Sampling and Trenching In the gold geochemical soil sampling programmes, soil samples are collected ontraverses spaced approximately 200 m apart, with samples taken every 40 m alongthe traverse. Samples of the thin, poorly developed soils are sieved to -80 mesh(180 micron) and analyzed for Au by fire assay. Altogether 14,700 m of traverseswere completed in 2007 and 472 samples collected and analysed. Trenches are excavated to bedrock, mainly to establish the source of the goldsoil anomalies but also for additional Resource data. Continuous channel samplesare taken at 1m intervals with each sample weighing 3 to 4 kg. Samples aresubmitted for Au fire assay and ICP analysis for Ag, As, Cu, Mo and Sb. Resultsof 1,209 trench samples (of 1,542 taken in 2007) have been received with 80 ofthese above 1 g/t and up to 33 g/t. Similar sampling procedures were followed for the bulldozer excavations wherethese intersected visually mineralised zones. A total of 4,663 samples weretaken in 2007 and of 2,596 results received, 325 recorded a gold content above 1 g /t with the highest value at 86g/t. Assaying All samples are sent to a laboratory in Kyrgyzstan, the Central ScientificResearch Laboratory, JSC Kara Balta, (CSRL), accredited by the UK AccreditationService, for sample preparation and initial assays. All samples with gold above1 g/ t are then submitted to Genalysis, Australia, a NATA ISO/IEC 17025accredited laboratory for analysis by fire assay. Only results received fromGenalysis are included in the Mineral Resource database. Assays will be reported once all the results for a specific project area havebeen received and subjected to QA/QC testing. The results for the 2007exploration season will be reported over the next three months. About the Chaarat Gold Project The Chaarat project is situated within the Middle Tien Shan Mountains ofKyrgyzstan which form part of the Tien Shan gold belt. At the completion of the2006 exploration season, a Mineral Resource of 1.87Moz Au (JORC compliant) inthe Indicated and Inferred categories had been delineated. The Company'sexploration programme is aimed at increasing the confidence levels in thisResource through infill drilling and increasing the size of the Resource throughdown-dip and along-strike extension drilling. In addition the company intendsto explore the remaining gold occurrences outside of those currently drilled inthe central 6 km of the 40 km length of the licence. About Chaarat Gold Holdings or the Company Chaarat Gold Holding is an exploration company founded for the purpose ofdeveloping its sole asset, being the Chaarat License Area. Chaarat was admittedto AIM on 8 November 2007. Disclaimer This press release includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-lookingstatements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other importantfactors beyond Chaarat's control that would cause the actual results,performance or achievements of Chaarat to be materially different from futureresults, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on numerousassumptions regarding Chaarat's present and future business strategies and theenvironment in which Chaarat will operate in the future. Any forward-lookingstatements speak only as at the date of this document. Chaarat expresslydisclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisionsto any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change inChaarat's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditionsor circumstances on which any such statements are based. As a result of thesefactors, the events described in the forward-looking statements in this pressrelease may not occur either partially or at all. Enquiries: Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 20 7499 2612Dekel Golan - Dekel@chaarat.comTerry Cross - terry_cross@btconnect.com Canaccord Adams Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7050 6500Mike JonesRobin Birchall Glossary: Au chemical symbol for goldAg chemical symbol for silverAs chemical symbol for arsenicCu chemical symbol for copperMo chemical symbol for molybdenumSb chemical symbol for antimonyAIM the Alternative Investment MarketBVI British Virgin IslandsCGP the Chaarat Gold ProjectCPs Competent PersonsCSRL Central Scientific Research LaboratoryICP Inductively Coupled Plasma method of analysisMAuS IMM Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and MetallurgyMGSZ Member of the Geological Society of ZimbabwePhD Doctor of PhilosophyPrSciNat Professional Natural Scientist (South Africa) UNITS g/t grammes per metric tonne of goldkm a kilometrekm2 a thousand square metresm a metrem2 a square metrem3 a cubic metreMoz a million troy ouncesMt a million metric tonnesoz a troy ouncet a metric tonne This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange