12 Apr 2011 16:29
This announcement replaces the Production & Exploration Update announcement released today, 12 April 2011, at 15.47 under RNS No 7818E. Due to a technical error, Table 3 was omitted on the previous version and is now included. All other details remain unchanged.
AIM: GMA | 12 April 2011 |
GMA Resources plc
("GMA" or the "Company")
Production& Exploration Update for Q1 2011
GMA announces an update on its gold and silver production for the first quarter of 2011 and its exploration activities at the Amesmessa Gold Mine within the Tirek - Amesmessa Concession in South West Algeria.
Highlights
·; Total gold production for Q1 2011 of 3,285oz
·; Recent strong drill hole intercepts in Vein 7 including:
o ARC 209 from 77m- 4m at 10.38 g/t (uncut) and from 91m- 14m at 1.98 g/t
o ARC 212 from 91m- 7m at 34.64 g/t (uncut)
o ARC 213 from 85m- 16m at 2.74 g/t
o ARC 215 from 77m- 11m at 3.27 g/t
·; Previously reported results in Vein 7 also include:
o ARC 23 from 7m- 16m at 4.06 g/t
o ARC 37 from 71m- 11m at 13.25 g/t (uncut)
o ARC 61 from 61m- 7m at 18.48 g/t (uncut)
o ARC 64 from 7m- 14m at 3.07 g/t
·; Other significant intersections returned since the last report are:
o Vein 12; ARC 179 from 53m- 7m at 9.54 g/t (uncut)
o Vein 4; ARC 208 from 34m- 4m at 9.22 g/t
Production Update
GMA announces that from 1 January to 31 March 2011, the Amesmessa gold mine in Algeria produced 3,285oz of gold (Q4 2010: 4,733 oz) and 785oz of silver (Q4 2011: 1,037oz).
The Board believes that the primary reasons for the continuing low production results is the lack of high grade ore feed for the Tirek CIL and crushing performance.
Further to the steps included in the Company's announcement on 11 March 2011, ENOR has continued to takeactions to help improve production, which currently involve;
·; short listing tenders for a short term waste mining contract of 1 million tonnes, targeting access to potential high grade ore zones;
·; finalising an arrangement for extended parts and maintenance support from a mining equipment supplier, on which discussions are well progressed including some suppliers agreeing to put consignment stock on site and;
·; discussing contracting crushing options with contractors
The Board is fully supportive of the actions which ENOR's management has taken to date and is encouraged that suppliers are extending their service to assist ENOR at the mine site level.
More detailed production data for Q1 2011 is set out in the Table 1 below:
Table 1- Production January to March 2011
Parameters | Unit | Jan '11 | Feb '11 | March '11 | Q1 |
Total Gold Production ENOR | oz | 1,399 | 1043 | 843 | 3,285 |
Silver Gold Production ENOR | oz | 356 | 213 | 217 | 785 |
High Grade Ore Tonnes ex-Mine | dmt | 1,560 | 915 | 615 | 3,090 |
High Grade Ore Grade ex-Mine | g/t Au | 9.61 | 13.87 | 10.49 | 11.04 |
Heap Leach Ore Tonnes ex-Mine | dmt | 28,065 | 23,070 | 17,730 | 68,865 |
Heap Leach Ore Tonnes ex-Mine | g/t Au | 1.83 | 1.40 | 2.35 | 1.82 |
Waste Tonnes Mined | dmt | 263,460 | 216,975 | 261,645 | 742,080 |
Total Mined Ex-Pit | dmt | 293,085 | 240,960 | 279,990 | 814,035 |
Total Mined Volume Ex-Pit | BCM | 108,550 | 89,244 | 103,700 | 301,494 |
Strip Ratio | 8.89 | 9.05 | 14.26 | 10.31 | |
Ore Processed CIL Plant | dmt | 3,530 | 2,322 | 2,882 | 8,733 |
Ore Grade CIL Process Plant Feed | g/t Au | 5.01 | 1.48 | 2.43 | 3.22 |
Ore Grade CIL Process Plant Tails | g/t Ag | 0.43 | 0.33 | 0.21 | 0.33 |
Gold Recovery CIL Process | % | 91 | 78 | 91 | 88 |
Ore Crushed | dmt | 19,634 | 26,439 | 16,690 | 62,762 |
Ore Stacked to Heap Leach Pad | dmt | 16,884 | 24,122 | 13,408 | 54,414 |
Crushed Ore Grade | g/t Au | 3.25 | 1.62 | 2.30 | 2.31 |
Stacked Ore Grade | g/t Au | 2.61 | 1.63 | 1.82 | 1.98 |
Exploration Update
Since the last update in March 2011, GMA has received the reverse circulation (RC) drill hole results for an additional 52 holes. A summary of these results can be found in Appendix 1 which will be uploaded to the GMA website (www.gmaresources.co.uk) later today.
Table 2, below, has the significant intercepts and locations of drill holes ARC 165 to ARC 217 excluding those drill holes drilled in Vein 7 which are detailed in Table 3.
Table 2- Amesmessa Weighted Averages Excluding Vein 7 Holes
AMESMESSA WEIGHTED AVERAGES 22nd Feb to 10th April 2011 | ||||||
Hole ID | Total Depth(m) | 0.5 g/t cut* | Vein ID or Aster target ID | |||
From(m) | To (m) | Intercept(m) | Gradeg/t | |||
ARC170 | 83 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.52 | TA48 |
11 | 14 | 3 | 1.41 | TA48 | ||
75 | 78 | 3 | 1.05 | TA48 | ||
ARC176 | 84 | 10 | 17 | 7 | 2.72 | TA48 |
31 | 32 | 1 | 0.74 | TA48 | ||
ARC207 | 52 | 33 | 34 | 1 | 10.10 | Vein 04 |
ARC208 | 51 | 33 | 37 | 4 | 9.22 | Vein 04 |
ARC179 | 84 | 53 | 60 | 7 | 9.54 | Vein 12 |
ARC200 | 54 | 36 | 38 | 2 | 11.11 | Vein 17 |
Note: * no high cut and intervals of up to 2m of internal waste included at the assayed grade
As previously reported, Vein 7 has been identified as a near term opportunity to provide a new source of ore to the existing mining operation. It is located immediately south of the existing Vein 8 mining area and close to the crushing and processing facilities. Table 2 highlights the results of the best drill hole intercepts since June 2010 (holes ARC 23 to ARC 64 previously reported).
Table 3-Vein 7 Weighted Averages of Significant Intercepts
to10 April 2011
Hole ID | Total Hole Depth (m) | 0.5 g/t cut | ||||
From (m) | To(m) | Intercept (m) | Grade g/t (uncut) | Grade g/t (31.1 g/t top cut) | ||
ARC23 | 66.5 | 11 | 27 | 16 | 4.06 | 4.06 |
ARC37 | 71 | 82 | 11 | 13.25 | 9.06 | |
ARC38 | 70.0 | 34 | 37 | 3 | 2.61 | 2.61 |
50 | 57 | 7 | 0.77 | 0.77 | ||
ARC51 | 70.0 | 35 | 37 | 2 | 3.37 | 3.37 |
ARC59 | 89 | 95 | 6 | 2.95 | 2.95 | |
ARC61 | 84 | 50 | 56 | 6 | 1.41 | 1.41 |
61 | 68 | 7 | 18.48 | 5.9 | ||
ARC63 | 90 | 50 | 57 | 7 | 2.81 | 2.81 |
62 | 70 | 8 | 1.28 | 1.28 | ||
ARC64 | 75 | 7 | 21 | 14 | 3.07 | 3.07 |
ARC209 | 115 | 77 | 81 | 4 | 10.38 | 8.21 |
85 | 86 | 1 | 5.34 | 5.34 | ||
91 | 105 | 14 | 1.98 | 1.98 | ||
Incl. | 102 | 105 | 3 | 7.36 | 7.36 | |
ARC210 | 132 | 26 | 30 | 4 | 1.18 | 1.18 |
96 | 105 | 9 | 0.78 | 0.78 | ||
116 | 125 | 9 | 1.12 | 1.12 | ||
ARC212 | 125 | 91 | 98 | 7 | 34.64 | 14.37 |
ARC213 | 76 | 80 | 4 | 1.61 | 1.61 | |
85 | 101 | 16 | 2.74 | 2.74 | ||
ARC214 | 99 | 103 | 4 | 4.76 | 4.76 | |
ARC215 | 77 | 88 | 11 | 3.27 | 3.27 | |
ARC216 | 121 | 131 | 10 | 2.16 | 2.16 | |
ARC217 | 152 | 122 | 128 | 6 | 1.56 | 1.56 |
A further 41 close spaced holes have been drilled along Vein 7 in addition to the 22 holes reported to date. The intention is to infill the very encouraging results of these first 22 holes. Ultimately, the objective is to develop a resource model for Vein 7 and prepare a mine plan to commence production for late 2011 or early 2012. This objective remains dependent on continued exploration success.
Commencing this month, an infill drill program has been planned for Vein 8 and 9. This will update and validate the existing geological model giving a higher degree of confidence of location, grade and tonnage of potential high grade ore sources that previously existed in the now mined out upper zones. This will hopefully benefit mine production for Q4 2011.
Qualified Person
Information in this announcement relating to the Company's exploration activities is based on data reviewed by Mr Geoff Blackburn AOM BSc FAusIMM who has been engaged as Consulting Geologist to the Company. Mr Blackburn is a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and has 40 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Blackburn consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears
Enquiries:
GMA Resources Plc
| Ken Crichton | +20 (0)10766 6118 |
Merchant Securities Limited (Nomad) | Bidhi Bhoma | +44 (0) 20 7628 2200 |
Notes to Editors:
GMA owns a controlling 52% stake in ENOR spa ("ENOR"), the Algerian based operating company for the Tirek-Amesmessa project, with the remainder owned by Sonatrach, the Algerian state-owned oil and gas company.
ENOR holds the exploitation authorisation to the Tirek-Amesmessa property, an area of some 1,417 km2, located approximately 450km south west of the city, Tamanrasset, in southern Algeria. Amesmessa is an open pit heap leach gold mine located in the extreme south of the permit area. The now closed Tirek mine site is located centrally in the northern third of the exploration permit area, some 60 km north of Amesmessa. Research to date suggests that the Zita Zone, which lies between Tirek and Amesmessa, offers considerable potential for the development of additional prospects amenable to open-pit mining. GMA plans to quickly expand upon resources outside of the major 80km Tirek-Amesmessa fault north/south of the concession.
GMA's shares are traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: GMA).
For further information on the Company, please visit: www.gmaresources.co.uk