12th Apr 2013 07:00
KEFI MINERALS PLC - Exploration UpdateKEFI MINERALS PLC - Exploration Update
PR Newswire
London, April 11
KEFI Minerals, the AIM-quoted gold and copper exploration company with projectsin the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is pleased to announce additional trenchchannel sampling and drilling results from the second drilling programme at theJibal Qutman Licence and the second phase drilling at the Selib North Licence.Kefi Minerals is the operator for both projects under the Company's 40%-ownedGold & Minerals Joint Venture ("G&M").
HIGHLIGHTS
* Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling, targeted to extend the resource at Jibal Qutman, returned encouraging intersections, including: 13m at 4.08g/t Au, 32m at 1.14g/t Au, 8m at 2.71g/t Au, 9m at 1.98g/t Au and 27m at 0.86g/t Au. * Trench channel sampling results at Jibal Qutman returned impressive intersections, including 95m at 1.69g/t Au, 44m at 1.56g/t Au and 5m at 3.33g/t Au. * New "shear zone hosted" gold mineralisation discovered in the Western Zone at Jibal Qutman.Jeff Rayner, Managing Director of KEFI Minerals, commented:
"The results of the on-going RC drilling and trenching at Jibal Qutman continueto increase the size of the mineralised system. We are very excited about thepotential to develop a significant resource in the region and once more thedrilling results have vindicated our team's efforts.
"Our drilling is continuing to find more gold and we have yet to close off themineralisation along strike of any of the drilled areas. Additional drillingcapacity is being sought to step up the work rate at Jibal Qutman with thecontinued focus on moving towards a pre-feasibility study. We look forward tofurther developing our drilling programme and updating the market in duecourse. "
JIBAL QUTMAN
Following the initial phase of 50 diamond drill holes in late 2012, RC drillingcommenced in mid January 2013 and trenching commenced in February, to expandthe newly defined gold resource, which should be amenable to shallow open cutmining.
The gold mineralisation is primarily hosted in vein sets that dip approximately20-45° to the East. The vein sets are comprised of massive quartz veins up to6m wide with a halo of lower grade parallel stringer veins in zones up to15-30m wide either side of the main vein.
In addition to the vein style mineralisation, drilling has intersected new,wide zones of low grade gold associated with shearing and fine fracturing.These zones dip shallowly to the East and range from 10m to 50m in width.
Both trenching and RC drilling are ongoing and all of the three zones, theMain, South and West remain open along strike.
The best results from the first 18 RC drill holes include:
Hole No From (m) To (m) Interval Au g/t Zone (m) JQRC 1 41 62 21 0.82 West Structure JQRC 4 18 51 33 0.51 West Structure JQRC 8 45 69 24 0.57 West Structure JQRC 9 3 10 7 1.25 South Zone 42 45 3 2.17 JQRC 10 39 66 27 0.86 West Structure JQRC 12 48 57 9 1.98 West Structure 78 105 27 0.59 JQRC 13 15 39 24 0.71 South Zone JQRC 14 65 77 12 1.06 West Structure JQRC 16 35 37 2 1.13 West Structure 48 56 8 2.71 JQRC 17 11 43 32 1.14 South Zone JQRC 18 1 14 13 4.08 West Structure 87 90 3 1.31RC drilling is being carried out on 50m x 40m grid on the South and West zones.Mineralisation at the West Zone has extended by trenching and drilling to over300m to the North and 300m to the South of the previous work completed in Phase1. Exploration work is ongoing and the mineralisation remains open both to theNorth and South.
In addition to the quartz vein style mineralisation, a new zone of low gradegold (0.5-1.5g/t Au) in a shear zone up to 50m wide has been discovered in thisphase of trenching and RC drilling. The shear zone was not mined by the ancientminers and is "listric" in shape, dipping shallowly (10-20°) to the East.
In the South Zone, trenching and RC drilling has extended the quartz veinmineralisation to over 400m to the South. Mineralisation is masked by shallowsand cover (1-2m) going Northwards and further RC drilling is planned.
Further RC drilling and trenching to extend the Main Zone is also planned.Currently, two RC rigs are operating on single shift.
Trenching is continuing along sections spaced 50m apart in the Main, Westernand Southern Zones and most samples are still being processed in thelaboratory. A list of best intersections received to date includes;
Trench Number Sample interval Au g/t Zone
(m) 38 6 1.19 South 41 15 0.66 South 43 2 5.55 West 20 14 0.64 Main 21 12 0.55 Main 88 5 3.33 West 89 95 1.69 West 90 44 1.56 WestThe lengthy intercepts in trenches 89 and 90 are due to a series of stackedquartz veins which dip shallowly to both the East and West. RC drilling underthis area is underway and trench results further to the North of these twotrenches are awaited.
Within the area drilled up to end 2012 and also within a conceptual shallowopen cut pit shell to 40-60m below surface, a preliminary first pass estimateof a combined mineralised zone of approximately 90,000oz Au was calculated atan average grade of 1.25g/t Au, using a 0.2g/t Au cut-off. This is a verypreliminary estimate only and does not represent a JORC compliant resource atthis stage.
As announced on 23 January 2013, there is very good potential to significantlyincrease the above drilled resource, which was estimated at the conclusion ofPhase 1 diamond drilling to a target resource in excess of 200,000oz Au and theresults from the first batch of RC drill holes and trench sampling arecontinuing to support this.
SELIB NORTH
The second phase of diamond and RC drilling aimed at testing several IP(Induced Polarisation and resistivity) and SP (Self Potential) anomaliesidentified in the geophysical survey completed in December 2012 and the goldmineralisation intersected in the first phase diamond drilling at the CamelHill prospect has been completed.
Results from the drilling showed that the IP anomalies were mostly attributedto graphitic shales and pyrite mineralisation, not associated with the goldmineralising event.
A limited number of diamond and RC drill holes were drilled into the Camel HillProspect, best results being SND 18, 23-31m, 8m at 1.40g/t Au and SNRC 6,25-30m, 5m at 2.50g/t Au.
KEFI Minerals' Strategic Plan in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
İn 2009, KEFI Minerals formed the Gold and Minerals Joint Venture ("G&M") inSaudi Arabia with local Saudi partner Abdul Rahman Saad Al-Rashid & SonsCompany Limited ("ARTAR"), to explore for gold and associated metals in theArabian Shield. To date, the G&M has conducted preliminary regionalreconnaissance and lodged 23 Exploration Licence Applications (ELAs), of which4 have been granted.
The ELAs were initially applied for and granted to ARTAR. Incorporation of G&Mhas been completed and any granted Licences will be transferred into G&M in duecourse.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has instituted policies to encourage mineralsexploration and development and KEFI Minerals supports this priority by servingas the technical partner within G&M. ARTAR also serves this Government policyas the major partner in G&M, which is one of the early movers in the modernresurgence of the Kingdom's minerals sector.
-Ends- Enquiries KEFI MineralsJeffrey Rayner +90 533 928 1913 Fox-Davies CapitalSimon Leathers / Susan Walker +44 203 463 5010 Bishopsgate CommunicationsNick Rome +44 20 7562 3395References in this announcement to exploration results and potential have beenapproved for release by Mr. Jeffrey Rayner. Mr Rayner is a geologist and hasmore than 25 years' relevant experience in the field of activity concerned. Heis a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) andhas consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in whichit appears.
Further information on KEFI Minerals is available at www.kefi-minerals.com
KEFI Minerals Plc Doğu Akdeniz MineralleriSan. Tic. Ltd. Şti.Cemal Gürsel Cad.Yalı Apt. No:304K:4 D:9 Karşıyaka İZMİR Tel: +90 232 381 9431Fax: +90 232 381 9071Email: [email protected]Related Shares:
Kefi Gold & Copper