Last checked at 9 Nov 2012 07:00
Condor Gold plc
7th Floor 39 St. James's Street London SW1A 1JD Telephone +44 020 74081067 Fax: +44 020 74938633 |
9th November 2012
Condor Gold plc
(''Condor'' or "the Company")
7,000m Drilling Programme Starts on La India Project, Nicaragua.
Mark Child, Chairman and CEO commented:
"Condor has commenced a 7,000m drilling programme on La India Vein Set with the prime objective of increasing the Indicated Category Mineral Resource within the current Whittle open pit to circa 900,000 oz gold from the current 534,000 oz gold at 3.9g/t by converting Inferred to Indicated resources and the second objective of increasing the size of the open pit to the north. The 3 rigs on site have each commenced their initial drill hole
The NI 43-101 technical report released on 5th November 2012 provides significant detail of La India Project gold mineralised resource. La India vein has an average true thickness of 2.07m and the California vein has an average true thickness of 8.20m, both within the open pit resource for a combined average thickness of 10.27m contributing to the very robust open pit resource of 954,000 oz gold at 3.6g/t using at 1g/t cut off. Both veins are open along strike to the north and south and to depth"
Condor (AIM:CNR), a gold exploration company focused on delineating a large commercial reserve on its 100%-owned, CIM compliant Mineral Resource of 2,375,000 oz gold at 4.6g/t at La India Project in Nicaragua, is pleased to announce that drilling has resumed on the La India Project in Nicaragua.
Three diamond core drill rigs have started a 7,000m drilling programme on the La India Vein Set with the primary aim of converting zones of Inferred Category mineral resource that fall within the bounds of the current Whittle open-pit to the Indicated level of confidence. The current in-pit resource is 8.21 million tonnes at 3.6g/t for 954,000 oz gold of which 534,000 oz gold at 3.9 g/t is in the Indicated Category and 420,000 oz gold at 3.3g/t in the Inferred Category. Most of the Inferred Category is targeted for conversion. A second aim of the drilling programme is to extend the open pit to the north.
The drilling is at a maximum of 50m by 50m spacing to infill between and along strike of existing zones categorised as an Indicated Mineral Resource. Drilling is targeting zones such as the sparsely drilled Northern third of the 1,800m strike of India-California vein trend where the India-California veins are intercepted at right angles by the Teresa-Agua Caliente-Arizona (TACA) veins. The current drilling programme is also targeting underexplored zones between the recognised high grade shoots such as a 200m strike length between the South and Central high grade shoots.
All three drill rigs are capable of drilling the wide diameter PQ core. Trials earlier in the year showed that initiating drill holes with the wider diameter drill core improves recovery, improves the chances of successfully drilling through old mine voids and allows the option of reducing to the standard but narrower HQ diameter core if difficult ground conditions are encountered.
The drilling programme is expected to bring the most of the open-pitable part of the La India Vein Set Resource to the Indicated Category in order to provide the level of confidence required for future advanced mining studies.
Mineral Resource Summary
A NI 43-101 technical report of La India Project CIM standard mineral resource was made available on the Company's website www.condorgold.com on 5th November 2012. The current mineral resource for La India Project is 2,375,000 oz gold at 4.6g/t with the largest component of the resource contained within La India Vein Set with 1,484,000 oz gold at 4.0g/t. The 1,800 metre strike length on the India-California vein trend is the most thoroughly sampled part of the vein set and has sufficient data to allow differentiation into an open pit and underground resource component. The open pit resource of 954,000 oz gold at 3.6g/t was reported within a US$1,400 per ounce gold optimised Whittle pit shell above a cut-off grade of 1.0g/t gold. Deeper mineralisation of 530,000 oz gold falling outside of the pit shell was reported as an underground resource using a higher cut-off grade of 2.3g/t gold.
Figure 1. Location of the La India Vein Set drilling within the La India Project area.
Please click on the link below to view the associated map.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7068Q_1-2012-11-8.pdf
Competent Person's Declaration
The information in this announcement that relates to the mineral potential, geology, Exploration Results and database is based on information compiled by and reviewed by Dr Luc English, the Country Exploration Manager, who is a Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a geologist with seventeen years of experience in the exploration and definition of precious and base metal Mineral Resources. Luc English is a full-time employee of Condor Gold plc and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration, and to the type of activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the June 2009 Edition of the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Luc English consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears and confirms that this information is accurate and not false or misleading.
- Ends -
For further information please visit www.condorgold.com or contact:
Condor Gold plc | Mark Child, Executive Chairman and CEO +44 (0) 20 7408 1067
| Luc English, Country Manager Nicaragua +505 8854 0753
|
Beaumont Cornish Limited
Ocean Equities Limited | Roland Cornish. James Biddle +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
Will Slack +44 (0) 20 77864385
| |
Farm Street Media | Simon Robinson +44 (0) 7593 340107
|
About Condor Gold plc:
Condor Resources plc is an AIM listed exploration company focused on developing gold and silver resource projects in Central America. The Company was admitted to AIM on 31st May 2006 with the stated strategy to prove up CIM/JORC Resources in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Condor has seven 100% owned concessions in La India Mining District ("La India Project"); three 100% owned concessions in three other project areas and 20% in the Cerro Quiroz concession in Nicaragua. In El Salvador, Condor has 90% ownership of four licences in two project areas.
Condor's concession holdings in Nicaragua currently contain an attributable CIM/JORC compliant resource base of 2,497,000 ounces of gold equivalent at 4.6 g/t in Nicaragua and an attributable 1,004,000 oz gold equivalent at 2.6g/t JORC compliant resource base in El Salvador. The Resource calculations are compiled by independent geologists SRK Consulting (UK) Limited for Nicaragua, and Ravensgate and Geosure for El Salvador.
Disclaimer
Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
Technical Glossary
CIM | Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum whose terminology, definitions and guidelines are an internationally recognised reporting code as defined by the Combined Reserves International Reporting Standards Committee (CRIRSCO) as required by National Instrument 43-101. |
Diamond core drilling | A drilling method in which penetration is achieved through abrasive cutting by rotation of a diamond encrusted drill bit. This drilling method enables collection of tubes of intact rock (core) and when successful gives the best possible quality samples for description, sampling and analysis of an ore body or mineralised structure. |
Grade | The proportion of a mineral within a rock or other material. For gold mineralisation this is usually reported as grams of gold per tonne of rock (g/t) |
g/t | grams per tonne |
Inferred Mineral Resource | That part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence. It is inferred from geological evidence and assumed but not verified geological and/or grade continuity. It is based on information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that may be limited, or of uncertain quality and reliability |
Indicated resource | that part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. The locations are too widely or inappropriately spaced to confirm geological and/or grade continuity but are spaced closely enough for continuity to be assumed |
Intercept | Refers to a sample or sequence of samples taken across the entire width or an ore body or mineralized zone. The intercept is described by the entire thickness and the average grade of mineralisation |
koz | Thousand troy ounces |
kt | Thousand tonnes |
Mineral Resource | A concentration or occurrence of material of economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such a form, quality, and quantity that there are reasonable and realistic prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, continuity and other geological characteristics of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated from specific geological knowledge, or interpreted from a well constrained and portrayed geological model |
Open pit mining | A method of extracting minerals from the earth by excavating downwards from the surface such that the ore is extracted in the open air (as opposed to underground mining). |
oz | Troy ounce, equivalent to 31.103477 grams |
Mt | Million tonnes |
Reverse circulation drilling | A drilling method in which penetration is achieved through a combined hammer and rotary drilling action and pulverised rock samples are transported to the surface through the drilling rods using compressed air. The 1m samples collected for analysis are of sufficient quality to be used in a Mineral Resource Estimation. |
Strike length | The longest horizontal dimension of an ore body or zone of mineralisation. |
True width | The shortest axis of a body, usually perpendicular to the longest plane. This often has to be calculated for channel or drill samples where the sampling was not exactly perpendicular to the long axis. The true width will always be less than the apparent width of an obliquely intersect sample. |
Vein | A sheet-like body of crystalised minerals within a rock, generally forming in a discontinuity or crack between two rock masses. Economic concentrations of gold are often contained within vein minerals. |
Whittle Pit | An open pit mine planning method in which the optimum dimensions of an economic open pit are modelled around a mineral resource constrained by various technical and economic variables. |