Kefi Gold & Copper Regulatory News (KEFI)

11 Jun 2007 07:00

Kefi Minerals plc11 June 2007 AIM: KEFI 11 June 2007 KEFI Minerals Plc ("KEFI Minerals" or the "Company") EXPLORATION PROGRESS AT DERININ TEPE PROSPECT KEFI Minerals is pleased to provide the following update on recent explorationprogress. The Company is primarily targeting large epithermal gold or porphyrygold-copper systems analogous to several +1 million ounce deposits recentlydiscovered and developed in the Western Anatolia region of Turkey. HIGHLIGHTS • All permits for trenching and diamond drilling have been received for the Derinin Tepe Prospect, and first-phase trenching across ancient workings has commenced; • An initial diamond drilling programme at Derinin Tepe has been scheduled to commence in July; and • Exploration sampling and geological mapping has commenced at the Meyvali and Muratdag Exploration Licences. KEFI Minerals' Managing Director, Jeff Rayner, commented: "Our exploration team is rapidly advancing the Derinin Tepe prospect towards the Company's first drilling program. In addition to systematically progressing exploration on current prospects, our geologists are continuing to evaluate properties identified by the Company's proprietary database for potential acquisition. We look forward to further updating the market in due course." Derinin Tepe Licence The receipt of required permits has enabled trenching to commence at the DerininTepe Exploration Licence, as well as the planned commencement of a diamonddrilling program in July. Initial exploration work has confirmed the licence isprospective for low-sulphidation epithermal gold deposits. Sampling of trenches across the parallel quartz veins at Derinin Tepe willfollow-up previously reported encouraging assay results and test prospectiveextensions along strike. Rock-chip sampling the main quartz vein returned up to152g/t gold and 229g/t silver in an area of ancient workings. Rock-chip samplingof the western quartz vein returned 6m at 3.3g/t gold, 2m at 9.6g/t gold and 1mat 7.2g/t gold. These initial programs sampled only a small portion of thenorthwest-trending quartz veins which have a known strike extent of at least onekilometre within the Company's licence. The areas of ancient workings, comprised of shallow pits and stopes, have beeneither covered or back filled and hence can only be sampled by trenching.Approximately 40 short trenches have been planned to test the quartz veins atDerinin Tepe. Trenches are planned across the workings as well as along strikewhere the veins are poorly exposed. Results from the trench sampling areexpected by late June. Structural mapping has shown that the areas of maximum vein widths are a resultof intersecting vein structures and where the veins change strike direction toproduce dilational zones. The ancient workings are co-incident with these zones. An initial diamond drilling programme of up to 600m has been scheduled tocommence in July. The Derinin Tepe Exploration Licence was acquired in early 2007 and is locatedin the highly prospective Balekisir Province in Western Anatolia, Turkey. Muratdag Licence Geological mapping and soil sampling has commenced in the recently grantedMuratdag Exploration Licence. The area is prospective for Carlin-type golddeposits and nickel mineralisation in laterites. A number of historical workings for mercury are present immediately to the westand north of the prospect areas. Initial modern exploration was carried out bythe Australian company Nuigini Mining from 1989 to 1991. These explorationresults are included the proprietary database purchased by KEFI Minerals andexemplifies how the database enables the Company to rapidly target highlyprospective areas. Gold is hosted in a series of faults and in decalcified and "sinterised"limestone, similar to the sediment hosted, Carlin-type gold deposits of Nevada. The Muratdag Licence is located in the Simav Graben, Western Anatolia, Turkey Meyvali Licence Stream sediment sampling and mapping has commenced at the Meyvali Prospect Theprospect is located 10km to the east of Derinin Tepe and is prospective forepithermal gold mineralisation and polymetallic skarn-type mineralisation.Reconnaissance rock-chip sampling has returned up to 4% lead and anomalous gold. -Ends- Enquiries KEFI Minerals WH Ireland Bishopsgate Communications Jeffrey Rayner Laurie Beevers Maxine Barnes Katy Mitchell Nick Rome +905 36963 0111 +44 161 832 2174 +44 20 7562 3350 www.kefi-minerals.com References in this announcement to exploration results and potential have beenapproved for release by Mr Jeff Rayner, B.Sc. (Honours). Mr Rayner is ageologist and has more than 20 years' relevant experience in the field ofactivity concerned. He is a member of The Australian Institute of Mining andMetallurgy (AUSIMM) and has consented to the inclusion of the material in theform and context in which it appears. Notes to Editors: KEFI Minerals was formed on 24 October 2006 for the purposes of holding EMEDMining's exploration interests in Turkey and Bulgaria with a view to creatingshareholder value through the discovery and exploitation of gold and copperdeposits. In November 2006, KEFI Minerals completed the acquisition of EMED Mining'sTurkish and Bulgarian exploration interests through the acquisition of EMEDMining's subsidiary Mediterranean Minerals (Bulgaria) EOOD. In addition, KEFIMinerals acquired from EMED Mining a database of mining information relating toTurkey. KEFI Minerals commenced trading on AIM on 18 December 2006, following thesuccessful placing of 46,666,667 shares at 3p to raise £1.4 million. A further£0.35 million was raised in a placement at 3p in February 2007. The total of100,583,334 shares are currently on issue. In Turkey, KEFI Minerals has six exploration projects: 1. At Artvin in northeastern Turkey, areas of extensive hydrothermal alteration have been recognised in the project area, and there is evidence of historical workings indicating potential for economic mineralisation. 2. At Gumushane in eastern Turkey, areas of extensive hydrothermal alteration have been recognised in the project area, as well as coincident areas of interest identified through interpretation of Aster data. 3. At Derinin Tepe in the Western Anatolia Region, epithermal quartz veins have been identified with gold and silver mineralisation. 4. At Karalar, in Central Anatolia, highly anomalous gold in stream sediments have been identified in an area of historic base metal mines. 5. Muratdag, in Western Anatolia, is prospective for Carlin-style epithermal gold mineralisation. 6. Meyvali, in Western Anatolia, is prospective for epithermal and skarn related mineralisation. KEFI Minerals also has an extensive exploration database which containsinformation about approximately 100 further prospective sites in Turkey. Thisdatabase provides the Company with a competitive advantage to identifyprospective areas for project generation in Turkey. Monitoring of theexploration licence status of geologically prospective areas will be carried outon an ongoing basis so that KEFI Minerals can acquire further explorationopportunities as soon as they become available. EMED Mining has agreed to provide technical and administrative systems andpersonnel to KEFI Minerals on a cost-recovery basis, thus enabling KEFI Mineralsto reduce overheads and spend more on exploring Turkey and Bulgaria. KEFI Minerals' Board of Directors is comprised of Mr. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams(Chairman), Mr. Jeffrey Rayner (Managing Director), Professor Ian Plimer (DeputyChairman) and John Leach (Finance Director). Further information on KEFI Minerals is available at www.kefi-minerals.com andthe Company's AIM code is "KEFI". This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange