12 Nov 2013 07:00
12 November 2013
Sovereign Mines of Africa Plc
("Sovereign Mines" or "the Company")
Sovereign Mines adds new adjacent gold exploration concession at Mandiana-Magana
Sovereign Mines of Africa Plc (AIM:SMA) and its subsidiary Sovereign Mines of Guinea Ltd ("SMG") are very pleased to announce that SMG has acquired a new exploration concession contiguous to the south of its flagship Mandiana-Magana gold concession in Guinea, West Africa. The concession area covers the open strike extension of the Yagbelen and Wyondjian gold mineralised trends which form the core of the Company's maiden gold resource released last month.
The new gold exploration concession covers an area of 181 square kilometres but, based on the Compay's current assumptions, has the potential to effectively double the potential strike of the seven-kilometre the Woyondjan-Yagbelen gold mineralised corridor within the Madiana-Magana project area to the south by adding an additional eight kilometres. In October 2013 the Company announced a maiden inferred gold resource of 600,000 ounces of gold for its flagship Mandiana-Magana gold project which includes 420,000 ounces of gold with an average grade of 2.3g/t gold. The new exploration concession was granted to Guiord (which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sovereign Mines of Guinea Ltd).under Arrette No 2013-130 by signature of the Minister of Mines Mohamed Lamine Fofana on 30th October 2013 (the "Arrette" or "Concession"). The Arrette was officially ratified following the payment of the necessary concession fees by the Company on 8 November 2013. Guinea's state-owned mining firm, Soguipami is a partner with SMA through an equity stake in SMG.
The coordinates of the new exploration concession are:
POINTS | LATTITUDE NORTH | LONGITUDE WEST |
A | 11º 00' 00'' | 8º 52' 00'' |
B | 11º 00' 00'' | 8º 41' 11'' |
C | 10º 56' 35'' | 8º 40' 30'' |
D | 10º 55' 00'' | 8º 40' 30'' |
E | 10º 55' 00'' | 8º 51 00'' |
A map of the new concession area can be found on the Company website using the following link: http://www.sovmines.com/mandiana-magana-maps/
There has never been any exploration drilling within this new concession area which was also the case when SMA first acquired the Mandiana-Magana gold exploration concession. The new Concession area covers the extensive Kaninkolenkoun and Madifolo artisanal mining areas which are understood by the Company to be proximal strike continuations of the Yagbelen and Woyondjian gold mineralised trends respectively. These two new artisanal mining zones are obvious priority drilling target-zones for mapping and evaluation. In addition there are other unexplored artisanal mining areas west of the main mineralised trend within the new concession area at Sindara in particular (see map) where there is active mining by the locals on a relatively large scale and several other artisanal mining areas which are priority areas for mapping, sampling and target evaluation.
John Barry, SMA's Exploration Director, stated:
"We are delighted to acquire this key exploration area which now offers the exciting opportunity to explore the interpreted southern extension of the Yagbelen and Wyondjian mineralised corridors. The more we drill on the Mandiana-Magana gold property the more ounces of gold we are adding. To date the Company's discovery cost per inferred ounce is only around $10 but it is the resource grade that is important and with an inferred resource of 420,000 ounces of gold at 2.3g/t we have a superior resource grade in comparison with other gold resources in this major gold region of the Siguiri Basin."
"The addition of this new concession has the potential to be transformational for the project and could well provide the "missing piece" to the jig-saw at Mandiana-Magana."
Qualified Person
The technical information in this release has been reviewed by the Company's Exploration Director, John Barry, P.Geo, a Competent or Qualified Person as defined by PERC, JORC and NI 43-101.
ENDS
Enquiries:
Sovereign Mines of Africa PLC:
David Pearl F.C.A. - Chairman +353 696 8961david.pearl@sovmines.comJohn Barry - Exploration Director +353 8 7669 5608Nathan Steinberg - Finance Director +44 20 7269 7680
Shore Capital - Nominated Adviser & BrokerToby Gibbs / Bidhi Bhoma - Corporate FinanceJerry Keen - Corporate Broking +44 20 7408 4090
Square 1 Consulting LimitedDavid Bick / Mark Longson +44 20 7929 5599
Newgate ThreadneedleGraham Herring / Richard Gotla +44 20 7653 9858
About SMA:
Sovereign Mines of Africa Plc is a mineral exploration company incorporated in England and Wales and headquartered in London
At the end of 2007, the founders of the Company saw an opportunity to pool their collective expertise and experience in order to form joint ventures for mineral exploration with governments in Africa. The Republic of Guinea in West Africa was identified as the first target and this ultimately gave rise to the establishment of the Company in 2010.
The Company has entered into a cooperative joint-venture with the Government of Guinea (the "Sovereign Partnership Structure"), pursuant to which the Government was granted a 40 per. cent. equity stake in Sovereign Mines of Guinea, the operating company of the group. The Directors believe that this collaborative approach gives the Company unusual advantages compared with other small exploration companies and as a result it has been able to acquire early stage substantial and highly prospective properties, any of which could, in the Directors' opinion, become a significant gold asset.