Last checked at 21 Apr 2010 07:00
GOLDSTONE RESOURCES LIMITED
("GoldStone" or "the Company")
JORC COMPLIANT GOLD RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE HOMASE JOINT VENTURE PROJECT, ASHANTI GOLD BELT, GHANA
JORC RESOURCE
The directors of GoldStone are pleased to announce that it has received a mineral resource estimation ("the Estimate") which is compliant with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of Australasia (JORC) reporting code for the Homase Joint Venture Property ("Homase"). The Estimate has been compiled by SEMS Exploration Services Limited, an independent West African based firm of consulting geologists, engineers and surveyors.
The total gold resource is 6.32 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.4 g/t gold, containing 282,608 ounces of gold. Results of the Estimate, for which a cut off of 0.5 g/t gold was applied, are summarised below:
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| Tonnage | Grade (g/t) | Contained Gold (ozs) |
| Measured | 3,032,617 | 1.61 | 157,298 |
| Indicated | 1,699,102 | 1.33 | 72,531 |
| Measured and Indicated | 4,731,718 | 1.51 | 229,829 |
| Inferred | 1,585,282 | 1.04 | 52,779 |
| TOTAL | 6,317,000 | 1.39 | 282,608 |
Approximately 30% of the resource is contained in oxidised ore (see the table below) and the balance within the transitional and sulphide zones. The overall metallurgical recoveries assigned to Homase ore by previous explorers were 93% for the oxide material and 84% for the sulphide zones.
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| Tonnage | Grade (g/t) | Contained Gold (ozs) |
| Oxide | 1,821,244 | 1.48 | 86,542 |
| Fresh | 4,495,757 | 1.36 | 196,066 |
| TOTAL | 6,317,000 | 1.39 | 282,608 |
EXPLORATION POTENTIAL
The Estimate identified high grade shoots which may continue to plunge steeply beyond their currently known extent of 150 metres below the bottom of the Homase main pit, which was mined by AngloGold Ashanti during 2002 and 2003. The Directors believe the Homase License covers the same structure that controlled the formation of the 42 million ounce Obuasi gold deposit which has been exploited at surface and underground to a depth of close to 2,000 metres.
In addition, the authors of the Estimate state that the soil anomaly of the Homase mineralised trend ("the Homase Mineralised Trend") extends for over two kilometres to the north of the current mineral resource and that further exploration work be conducted to investigate the possibility of economic mineralisation extending for the entire strike extent of the anomaly.
In addition to the Homase Mineralised Trend, gold mineralisation has been identified from regional soil survey data and data from historical adits. In the north-eastern part of the Homase property historical adits appear to be located on a structure similar to the Homase main structure. Other gold occurrences have been identified in the western portion of the licence along the margin of the granite intrusion.
The depth and strike potential of the high grade shoots underneath the Homase main pit, the untested strike extensions of the Homase Mineralised Trend and the various regional gold anomalies in the Homase licence area will be the focus of an upcoming exploration programme with the objective of upgrading this gold resource.
COMPETENT PERSON
The Estimate is based on acquired drilling data and exploration work undertaken by previous explorers as well as in depth knowledge gained by the authors of the Estimate. The authors of the report are Messrs Simon Meadows Smith, Joe Amanor and Fred Nimoh of SEMS Exploration Services Limited, West Africa. Mr Meadows Smith has more than twenty years' experience in the mineral exploration and mining industry in Australia and Africa and was Shea Gold's exploration manager when it carried out exploration on the Homase permit. Mr Amanor has over thirty years' experience in the Ghanaian gold mining industry, part of which he served as Chief Geologist with AngloGold Ashanti ("AGA"). He was directly responsible for Mineral Resource estimations on all AGA projects in Ghana, including Homase. Fred Nimoh is an experienced Resource Geologist with advanced Datamine software skills.
BACKGROUND TO THE HOMASE JOINT VENTURE
The Company entered into a joint venture agreement with Cherry Hill Mining, a Ghanaian company, to develop the Homase Prospecting Licence. Regionally the Homase Licence is located within the well mineralised Ashanti Gold Belt in southern Ghana where more than seventy million ounces of gold have been discovered. Ashanti Goldfields ("AG") mined ore from the Homase main pit and a smaller pit further to the north during 2002 and 2003. The ore was trucked to nearby Obuasi mine and approximately 40,000 ounces of gold, mainly from the oxide portion of the mineralised zone were recovered.
The concession is underlain by typical basinal tuffaceous and pelitic metasediments of the Birimian Super Group. A large granitic intrusion lies over the western boundary of the concession. The main Homase Mineralised Trend consists of a wide zone of sheared, occasionally graphitic or silicified, dark grey phyllites. Generally, the shear zone metasediments dip sub-vertically or steeply to the northwest and strike north northeast. High grade gold mineralisation is often associated with five to twenty metres wide, pale green, silicified, occasionally carbonate altered, quartz-chlorite schist units within the sheared metasediments.
GoldStone has entered into a Joint Venture agreement ("the Agreement") with Cherry Hill under the terms of which the Company has the right to earn an interest in the Homase Licence of up to 85%. The Agreement provides that if exploration targets are achieved in less time than the maximum time periods allowed, the surplus will be credited towards subsequent phases. Under Ghanaian law the Government of Ghana is entitled to a 10% free carried interest once mining commences and Ghana's Minerals Act stipulates a mining royalty of not more than 6% or less than 3% of the total revenue obtained from mining operations.
CEO COMMENT
Jurie Wessels, Chief Executive of GoldStone, commented: "We are very pleased with the results of the JORC estimate especially with the measured part of the resource, which makes up the largest proportion. The report also confirms the considerable exploration potential underneath the pit and along the Homase Mineralised Trend, which will be our focus over the foreseeable future in an endeavour to extend and potentially add to the resource."
APPROVAL
Dr. Hendrik Schloemann, who holds a PhD in geochemistry, has reviewed and approved the geological content of this announcement.
In addition, the technical content of this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Simon Meadows Smith, Managing Director of SEMS Exploration Services Limited, which is a West African based firm of consulting geologists, engineers and surveyors. Mr. Meadows Smith is a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), holds a degree in geology and has over twenty years' experience working in the Pre-Cambrian terrains of West Africa and Western Australia primarily in the exploration for gold.
For more information please visit www.goldstoneresources.com
Enquiries:
| GoldStone Resources Ltd | +27 21 551 9009 |
| Jurie Wessels (Chief Executive Officer) |
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| Westhouse Securities Limited | +44 20 7601 6100 |
| Tim Feather / Matthew Johnson |
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| Walbrook PR | +44 20 7933 8788 |
| Ben Knowles / Leah Kramer |
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GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
| "basinal tuffaceous metasediment" | a metamorphosed rock unit formed by compaction and cementation of volcanic ash accommodated by a closed depression. |
| "Birimian Super Group" | a group of metamorphosed primarily sedimentary and volcanic rocks laid down in Ghana during the Palaeoproterozoic (age~2.2Ga). The term has both geographical and chronological significance. |
| "cut-off grade" | the lowest grade value that is included in a resource statement. Must comply with JORC requirement 19: "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" the lowest grade, or quality, of mineralised material that qualifies as economically mineable and available in a given deposit. May be defined on the basis of economic evaluation, or on physical or chemical attributes that define an acceptable product specification. |
| "g/t" | grammes per tonne, equivalent to parts per million |
| "JORC" | The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, 2004 (the "JORC Code" or "the Code"). The Code sets out minimum standards, recommendations and guidelines for Public Reporting in Australasia of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. |
| "JORC Inferred 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 drillholes which may be limited or of uncertain quality and reliability. |
| "JORC 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. |
| "JORC Measured Resource" | that part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a high level of confidence. It is based on detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. The locations are spaced closely enough to confirm geological and grade continuity. |
| "metamorphic rock" | a rock that has undergone chemical or structural changes produced by increase in heat or pressure, or by replacement of elements by hot, chemically active fluids. |
| "metasediments" | a metamorphosed sedimentary rock |
| "Mineral Resource" | a concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge. Mineral Resources are sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories when reporting under JORC. |
| "oz" | Troy ounce (= 31.103477 grammes). Moz = million troy ounces |
| "pelitic metasediments" | fine grained metamorphosed sedimentary rock |
| "quartz-chlorite schist units" | schist consisting largely of quartz and chlorite |
| "schist" | metamorphic rock usually derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock such as shale. Individual minerals in schist have grown during metamorphism so that they are easily visible to the naked eye. Schists are named for their mineral constituents. |
| "t" | tonne (= 1 million grammes) |