8 May 2013 07:00
8 May 2013
Sovereign Mines of Africa PLC
("SMA" or "the Company")
Start of third phase drilling at Mandiana-Magana gold project
Sovereign Mines of Africa PLC, the gold mining exploration company with properties in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, is pleased to announce the start of a third phase of drilling at its flagship Mandiana-Magana gold project in eastern Guinea.
Highlights
The programme has two primary objectives:
·; to increase drilling density at the Yagbelen and Wyondjian prospects to support a maiden inferred gold resource for the project; and
·; to drill four additional highly prospective gold prospects within ten kilometres of Yagbelen to demonstrate the scale and economic potential of what is clearly a very large gold mineralising system.
The programme is planned to consist of around eight thousand metres of reverse circulation drilling. The initial batch of assay results from the satellite prospects should be available in June with a regular stream of updates over the summer culminating in release of the maiden inferred resource in Q3 2013.
Drilling programme
The Mandiana-Magana gold property is located within the productive Siguiri Basin which extends into northeast Guinea and hosts Anglogold Ashanti Limited 's (LSE: AGD) Siguiri gold mine, Nord Gold N.V's (LSE: NORD) Lefa gold mine (total resources 7.78 million ounces), Gold Fields Limited's (NYSE: GFI, JSE: GOGOF) Yanfolila advanced gold project just across the Sankarani River in Mali (resource of 750,000 ounces averaging 2.5g/t gold) and Avocet Mining PLC 's (LSE: AVM) Tri-K development-stage property (inferred resource of 3.2 million ounces).
The planned programme is focused on infill and expansion drilling of gold mineralisation within the Yagbelen and Wyondjian gold prospects outlined by earlier programmes with the objective of producing an initial inferred gold resource. The Yagbelen and Wyondjian gold mineralised zones occur as multiple bands of quartz veining and silicification within distinct, northwest trending corridors of deeply-oxidised and weathered meta sediments. These mineralised corridors are each traceable for eight kilometres across the Mandiana-Magana concession and are defined by extensive artisanal gold workings and gold in soil geochemical anomalies. Over 9,000 artisanal pits have been mapped within the property and prospecting for gold, the area's principal economic activity has significantly increased in the past year, using a new generation of highly sensitive metal detectors.
The Yagbelen and Wyondjian zones are currently defined by past drilling for strike lengths of 1,000 and 800 metres with depths up to 150 metres and widths of up to 100 metres and represent only about ten to twelve per cent. of the highly prospective mineralised corridors.
The planned programme also includes additional drilling at the Damantere prospect located one kilometre along trend, north of Yagbelen, where limited past drilling returned encouraging gold values in all drill holes and the first drill testing of four prospects, all characterised by artisanal workings and coincident gold in soil anomalies, elsewhere within the concession. The Foulouni Mount and Sidylamin gold prospects are within the Yagbelen corridor and Massafren is located north and along trend of Wyondjian. Of special interest is the Namatou prospect recently identified within a third mineralised corridor in the extreme west of the concession. The Namatou zone, one kilometre long and two hundred metres wide is the site of intense artisanal gold workings and gold in soil geochemical values up to 5,000 ppm gold.
A Property and Prospect location map is posted on the SMA website at http://www.sovmines.com/mandiana-magana-maps/
David Pearl, Chairman of SMA, said:
"As we build on the encouraging results of the first two drilling programmes announced in 2012, our confidence in the project grows and we believe that an investment in SMA becomes progressively less speculative. By the end of the current programme we will have drilled approximately 100 holes and although this will only cover about 10% of the areas being targeted at Mandiana-Magana we expect it to provide further compelling evidence of the major potential of this highly prospective property."
John Barry, Exploration Director, added
"We are focused on the discovery and exploration of large scale gold systems in the most under-explored gold belts of West Africa. Drilling to date at the Yagbelen and Wyondjian Prospects has established a strong base to build substantial resources within the Mandiana-Magana gold property. In order to continue developing the full potential of this very large mineralizing system, the drill-program will also include the very first drill-testing of four new compelling prospects along the mineralized trend."
See also www.sovmines.com.
- Ends -
Enquiries:
SOVEREIGN MINES OF AFRICA PLC
David Pearl, F.C.A. - Chairman +353 696 8961
david.pearl@pearlcp.com
John Barry - Exploration Director +353 8 7669 5608
Nathan Steinberg - Finance Director +44 20 7269 7680
SHORE CAPITAL - NOMINATED ADVISER & BROKER
Toby Gibbs/Bidhi Bhoma - Corporate Finance
Jerry Keen - Corporate Broking +44 20 7408 4090
SQUARE1 CONSULTING LIMITED
David Bick/Mark Longson +44 20 7929 5599
NEWGATE THREADNEEDLE
Graham Herring +44 20 7653 9858