Minco PLC Regulatory News (MIO)

10 Nov 2005 07:00

Minco PLC10 November 2005 Minco plc ("Minco" or "the Company") Minco announces positive phase 1 drilling results from Santa Cruz project;Mexico LONDON: 10 November 2005: LSE AIM quoted precious and base metals explorer anddeveloper Minco plc (MIO) is pleased to announce positive preliminary drillingresults and provide an update on other exploration activities at the jointventure Santa Cruz silver-gold project, operated and 50% owned by Minco, throughMinera Sisa SA de CV, in Durango, Mexico. Preliminary Results Highlights Results of initial diamond drilling, surface and underground sampling programssuggest the possibility of both large-scale disseminated style silver-goldmineralisation and high-grade epithermal vein silver-gold and copper-zincmineralisation and correlation with historical data. • San Pablo: a 22 metre wide zone of mineralisation associated with a major regional shear has returned values up to 464g/t silver and 1.67% zinc. Gold values as high as 10g/t occur in old workings within the same structure, which may extend for up to 2 km. • La Fragua-Orozco: significant zinc, copper, silver and gold mineralisation has been intersected over a strike extent of 500 metres and over widths of up to 19.0 metres. Historic silver and gold values on the Santa Maria vein include values of 7.68g/t gold, 707g/t silver and 9.40% copper over 2.50 metres. • Zambranena: underground and surface sampling confirms the presence of at least five parallel vein structures each with up to 1,600 metres of prospective strike length. Historical bonanza grade silver and gold values reported from the Zambranena vein systems have been partially confirmed by Minco's limited sampling with values up to 2,030g/t silver and 21.9g/t gold. Commenting on the exploration results, Matthew Dorman, CEO, said "We are pleasedwith the positive results emerging from the Santa Cruz property which clearlydemonstrate the potential for both narrow vein, high grade and larger scale,lower grade silver-gold plus zinc-copper mineralisation within the Sierra MadreEpithermal Belt. We are now busy developing the next phase of exploration, to be implemented inearly 2006, with a view to defining the full potential of the Santa Cruzproperty." Exploration Results San Pablo: Located 1,500 metres east of the Santa Cruz Mine; holes SC-1 and SC-2intersected a wide zone (up to 22.0m) of mineralisation associated with a majorregional shear which has the potential to extend for over 2,000 metres ofstrike. Values up to 464g/t silver and 1.67% zinc were obtained with goldvalues up to 0.27g/t. Gold values as high as 10g/t occur in old workings withinthe same structure. La Fragua-Orozco: Holes SC-5 and SC-8 demonstrate a continuity of significantzinc, copper, silver and gold mineralisation over a strike extent of at least500 metres and over widths of up to 19.0 metres associated with a new structure,parallel and to the north of the previously known La Fragua-Orozco mineralisedstructure. Historic sampling of the Santa Maria vein within the original La Fragua zoneindicates selected values of 7.68g/t gold, 707g/t silver and 9.40% copper over2.50 metres, 5.38g/t gold, 483g/t silver and 3.62% copper over 2.20 metres and20.22g/t gold and 2,073g/t silver over 0.80 metres. Historic values over a 12metre zone in the entrance portal to the La Fragua vein returned an average of4.0g/t gold and 550g/t silver. Historic sampling of the Orozco vein indicatesselected values up to 13.70g/t gold and 1,000g/t silver over 1.50 metres and7.75g/t gold and 432g/t silver over 2.0 metres in a rich ore shoot. Minco's results suggest that the San Pablo mineralisation may extend to the LaFragua-Orozco area, a distance of 1,400 metres, providing an overall strikepotential for this zone of mineralisation of about 2 kilometres. Ofconsiderable importance are significant widths of mineralisation encountered inthe current drilling compared to widths of 0.8-2.2 metres in the original LaFragua-Orozco zone. Zambranena: Extensive underground sampling has been carried out and resultssuggest that the Jesus Maria vein is probably continuous with the Zambranena, LaPerla and El Carmen veins providing over 1,600 metres of prospective veinstructure. In addition, the El Creston, La Perla Este and Salado veins appearto be parallel to the Zambranena-Jesus Maria vein and suggest the presence of atleast five mineralised parallel vein structures. Historical bonanza grade silver and gold values were reported from theZambranena vein systems and have been partially confirmed by Minco's recentsampling. Gold and silver mineralisation has been confirmed over a verticalextent of 500 metres. On the La Cristian ore shoot within the Jesus Maria vein, Minco has obtainedassays from underground sampling of up to 2,030g/t silver and 21.9g/t gold overwidths of 1.0 metre. This is confirmed by surface channel sampling of 1,045g/tsilver and 10.0g/t gold over a width of 1.1 metres and historical values of 800g/t silver and 10.0g/t gold over 1.0 metre, 900g/t silver and 4.0g/t gold over1.5 metres and 2,230g/t silver and 39.55g/t gold over 0.90 metres. On the El Carmen vein, Minco has obtained assay values of up to 550g/t silverand 2.03g/t gold over 1.1 metres. Historical values on the same vein include540g/t silver and 3.75g/t gold over 3.0 metres. In addition to the known deposits of Santa Cruz, La Fragua, Orozco andZambranena, exploration work has outlined a number of new zones ofsilver-gold-base metal mineralisation as well as extensions to some of the knowndeposits. The initial diamond drilling program suggests that these targetsrepresent both large-scale disseminated style mineralisation and high-gradeepithermal vein type mineralisation. Soil geochemical sampling has identified a number of epithermal gold-silvertargets in the Tarantula area which extend for 2km of strike and includesignificant silicification and other features indicative of the "boiling zone"of an epithermal system. Three holes (SC-4, SC-6 and SC-10) tested structuresoblique to the main Tarantula trend but did not intersect any significant silveror gold mineralisation. However, additional drilling is planned. Small-Scale Mining Potential A 50 tonne per day flotation plant at Santa Cruz operated up to 2003 with orefrom underground mining operations at the Orozco and Santa Cruz deposits. Minco plans to complete its own review of potential reserves and resources atSanta Cruz that could support a small-scale processing plant. In light of thedrilling results which indicate further potential within the Santa Cruzproperty, Minco has decided it would be premature to restart operations at theprocessing plant ahead of properly defining the full exploration potential. Itwill therefore continue its focus and resources on further exploration work inorder to evaluate and quantify the silver, gold and base metal potential beforeassessing any small-scale production opportunity. Amended Agreement Minco and its partner, the Salas Family, have made certain amendments to theShareholders Agreement, the most significant of which changes the terms allowingMinco to increase its shareholding to 90% through a sliding scale ofexpenditures and cash payments to the Founding Shareholders. This replaces theoriginal cash and shares agreement allowing Minco to increase its shareholdingin Minera SISA. Note to Editors: The joint venture Santa Cruz silver-gold project, operated and 50% owned byMinco through Minera Sisa Sa de CV, comprises 13,000 hectares of mining andexploration concessions within the Sierra Madre Epithermal Silver-Gold Belt ofcentral Mexico. Bonanza grade silver and gold values together with zinc, copperand lead values occur in the historic mines of Zambranena, Santa Cruz, La Fraguaand Orozco which are located over a 7,000 metre strike length within the projectarea. Further information: Maps, photographs and a full geological update of the Santa Cruz property, areavailable at http://www.minco.ie. For further information contact: Matthew Dorman; CEO, MincoTel: +44 (0) 207 397 8151 Roger Turner; Chairman, Minco,Tel +44 (0) 1273 495 500 Terence McKillen; Director, Minco+1 416 362 8243 Alex Buck and Nick Bias; BuckBias+44 (0) 7932 740 452 / +44 (0) 7887 920 530 MINCO plc is a precious and base metals development and exploration company quoted on the AIM market in London. Ticker symbol "MIO" This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange