Horizonte Minerals Regulatory News (HZM)

25 Sep 2007 08:30

Horizonte Minerals PLC25 September 2007 Horizonte Minerals plc / Index: AIM / Epic: HZM / Sector: Mining 25th September 2007 Horizonte Minerals plc ('Horizonte' or 'the Company') Drilling results highlight gold prospectivity of Brazilian project Horizonte Minerals plc, the AIM listed exploration and development companyfocused on Brazil and Peru, is pleased to announce positive results from thesecond phase drilling at its 100% owned 300 sq km Tangara gold project inBrazil. These results, in tandem with previous work, underpin the Company'sbelief that the Tangara gold project has the potential to contain a number ofsmall to medium size gold deposits which can be developed from a central plantsimilar to the nearby Andhorinas gold project operated by Troy Resources. Highlights: •DDH13 - 12m grading 5.0 g/t Au from 89 m downhole including; 2m grading 18.7 g/t (0.6 oz/t) Au, with 13 g/t Ag •DDH14 - 2m @ 4.8 g/t Au •DDH23 - 2m @ 4.25 g/t Au •DDH24 - 4m @ 2.4 g/t Au •Currently developing 5 further targets within 3.5 km of the Gerson Pit The 14 hole drill programme totalling 1,723m, tested a number of geochemical andgeophysical targets around the Malvinas Zone on the Tangara concession. The mainfocus of the drilling was around the discovery hole DDH-04, drilled in late 2006on the Gerson Pit, which returned 35m grading 2.5 g/t Au. The principle economicgold intersections are highlighted below - all other holes returned elevatedgold, silver and zinc values but only at pathfinder levels. The results from DDH-13 and DDH-14 demonstrate the potential for mineralisationin the Tangara Project area to generate ore zones of significant width for openpit mining and with high grade intervals that that would be amenable tounderground mining. DDH-13 is situated 60m west of DDH-04, the discovery hole. Mineralisation inDDH-13 is similar in style and produced 12m @ 5.0g/t, including 2m grading 18.7g/t, within a 16m wide alteration zone. Drilling has also confirmed theassociation of zinc and silver enrichment associated with the goldmineralisation as indicated by DDH-04. Further analysis will determine the truesignificance of this association. In DDH-13 zinc values averaged 0.24% and reacha peak of 0.55% in the gold zone. Silver over the same 12m interval averaged7.8g/t with a peak value of 17.3g/t. Drillhole From (m) To (m) Int(m) Au (g/t) Zn (%) Ag (g/t) Highlights DDH_13 89.0 90.0 1.0 2.4 0.0 4.1 12m @ 5.0g/t incl 2m @ 18.7g/t 90.0 91.0 1.0 3.5 0.1 6.9 91.0 92.0 1.0 1.1 0.5 4.2 92.0 93.0 1.0 2.5 0.5 6.5 93.0 94.0 1.0 10.4 0.1 12.5 94.0 95.0 1.0 17.3 0.1 13.9 95.0 96.0 1.0 3.7 0.1 5.4 96.0 97.0 1.0 3.7 0.1 4.1 97.0 97.8 0.8 2.3 0.2 5.1 97.8 98.7 0.9 2.4 0.4 6.5 98.7 99.7 1.0 2.4 0.0 4.1 99.7 101.0 1.3 1.6 0.6 17.3 Hole DDH-14, 60m to the west of DDH-13, hit a wide zone of sulphidemineralisation from 38m to 86.4m, cut by a 14.65m wide post-mineralisation dykefrom 58.75m to 73.4m. On the hanging wall side of the dyke, results included a12m zone @ +0.7% Zn with 0.47g/t Au. (This zone includes 4 one metre intervalsassaying greater than the upper limit of detection of 1% Zn. These samples arecurrently being re-analysed). Close to the dyke and in the footwall,mineralisation is weaker. The unexpectedly shallow intersection of themineralised zone and influence of the dyke are still being evaluated. A secondmineralised zone in the hole produced a 2m @ 4.6g/t Au at 106m centred within a15.4m zone averaging 0.5%Zn. The structure remains open to the west. Drillholes DDH-24 & DDH-25, drilled below holes DDH-04 & DDH-13 respectively,intersected the mineralised zones. DDH-24 gave a 17m zone with sulphidesincluding 4m @ 2.5g/t Au at 122m within a 6.5m wide 0.4% Zn halo. DDH-25returned 11.7m zone with sulphides including 4m @ 1.4g/t Au at 128m above a 4mwide 0.3% Zn halo. DDH From (m) To (m) Int(m) Au (g/t) Zn (%) Ag (g/t) Highlights --------- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- DDH-14 106.0 108.0 2.0 4.6 0.9 3.2 2m @ 4.8g/t Au --------- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- DDH-23 12.0 14.0 2.0 0.0 0.6 3.2 --------- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 14.0 16.0 2.0 0.0 0.9 1.9 ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 16.0 18.0 2.0 2.3 0.2 1.4 2m @ 2.3g/t Au ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 150.0 152.0 2.0 4.3 0.0 0.5 2m @ 4.3g/t Au ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- --------- DDH-24 120.0 122.0 2.0 0.5 0.5 1.7 --------- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 122.0 124.0 2.0 2.3 0.1 4.5 4m @ 2.4g/t Au ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 124.0 126.0 2.0 2.6 0.1 3.6 ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 126.0 127.5 1.5 0.6 0.4 5.4 ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- --------- DDH-25 128.0 130.0 2.0 1.1 0.0 0.7 4m @ 1.4g/t Au --------- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 130.0 132.0 2.0 1.8 0.1 1.7 ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- 132.0 133.0 1.0 0.1 0.9 5.3 ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------- ----------- The Troy Andhorinas project represents a benchmark for Tangara. Troy purchasedits project in November 2006 for US$10.14 million cash (Troy PR 16, Nov. 2006).Lagoa Seca deposit contains indicated and inferred resources of 700,000 tgrading 2.8 g/t Au for 64,000 oz. Troy is developing this with other golddeposits on the project. Open-pit modelling on Lagoa Seca has defined a probablereserve of 480,000 t grading 3.1 g/t Au for 48,320 oz (Source Troy QuarterlyReport ended 30 June 2007). It is Horizonte's management's belief that the Tangara project has the equalpotential to define a number of small to medium size gold deposits of between100,000 and 250,000 oz that can be developed from a central plant. Totalresources for example at Andhorinas are 3,997,000 t grading 3.4 g/t Au in 3deposits for total in-situ contained gold of 435,000 oz. (Source Troy QuarterlyReport ended 30 June 2007). Horizonte is currently evaluating the drill results and is developing 5 othertargets within 3.5 km of the Gerson Pit. The Company controls 100% of theTangara project and is well financed to develop these targets to early resourcestatus along with the Gerson discovery. Horizonte CEO Jeremy Martin said, "These drill results are exciting as theydemonstrate that there is continuity to gold mineralisation at the Gerson Pittarget, which is also similar in style to that found at the Andhorinas goldproject. Within the structure, we have identified zones of high grade goldwithin a broader low grade envelope which supports our geological model for thearea. The mineralised system is more complex than originally anticipated andwill require far closer spaced drilling than undertaken to date to take itthrough to resource definition, as currently underway at Andhorinas. To dateHorizonte has tested only 3 of the 8 target areas identified within the 5kmtarget area that forms the Malvinas Trend. There are also several other highpriority targets within the wider project area, for example the Pampeana target10km to the south west of Malvinas that also require follow up." Sampling, assaying, and QA/QC Procedures adopted by Horizonte in the collection, preparation and storage ofsamples from the auger drilling programme, conform to industry-wide bestpractice and with chain of custody being observed for all samples. Analysis isundertaken by ALS Labs at its laboratories in Vancouver, Canada, and the Companymaintains QA/QC on all analytical work via the inclusion of certified referencematerials and field duplicates and blanks, in addition to monitoring of thelaboratory's own internal check-analyses. The above information has been reviewed and verified by Mr. Jeremy Martin, aDirector and Chief Executive of Horizonte, for the purposes of the Guidance Notefor Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in March2006. Mr. Martin, with six years of mining and management experience, graduatedwith a degree in geology from the Camborne School of Mines, and an MSc inmineral exploration from the University of Leicester and is a member in goodstanding with the Society of Economic Geologists and the Institute of MiningAnalysts. * * ENDS * * For further information visit www.horizonteminerals.com or contact: Jeremy Martin/David Hall Horizonte Minerals plc Tel: 020 7495 5446David Paxton Hichens Harrison Tel: 020 7382 7785Hugo de Salis St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477John Frain/Fergal Meegan Davy Tel: +353 1 679 6363 Notes to Editors: Horizonte Minerals Plc is an AIM listed exploration and development companyfocused on gold, silver and base metal opportunities in Brazil and Peru. It aimsto become, through experience and a track record of discovery success, to becomethe preferred exploration partner for Major gold and base metal miningcompanies, in the region. The Group's has two flagship gold exploration projects in Brazil, a onesilver-zinc-lead project in Peru as well as additional gold, zinc and nickelexploration projects in Brazil. The two Brazilian gold projects, Tangara andFalcao, south of the highly prospective Carajas Mineral Province each cover anarea of approximately 300 sq km and are centred over greenstone belts, withknown gold mineralisation. The scale of these project areas, early results, theoverall aerial extent of the mineralised system and the high density andmagnitude of related gold anomalies, indicate the potential for multiple depositdiscoveries. The El Aguila silver-zinc-lead project is located in the historic miningdistrict of Cerro de Pasco in Central Peru. Drilling has demonstrated the highgrade potential of this project. Additional projects include the 4,660 hectareon the prospective Achaean aged Crixas greenstone belt, where multiplenickel-copper anomalies have been defined and the 25,556 hectare Lontra NiProject situated in the Araguaia mobile belt, which flanks the eastern margin ofthe Carajas Mineral Province of northern Brazil. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange