22nd Apr 2005 07:01
Eurasia Mining PLC22 April 2005 Eurasia Mining Plc (the "Company") acquires option over substantial platinum group metals licences The Company is pleased to announce that on 4 April 2005 it entered into anexclusive option agreement with Optium Investments Limited to acquire theexploration licences for the Volchetundra, Monchetundra and West ImandraPlatinum Projects in the Murmansk Region of North West Russia (the "Licences")(together the "Option") . Under the terms of the Option the consideration for the purchase of the Licensesis US$3,000,000 and the issue of 10,000,000 ordinary shares of 5p each in theCompany. The Company believes that acquisition of the Licences would add significantmineral assets to the Company's exploration portfolio and may also lead tofurther joint ventures with suitable partners. The Company is examining a numberof alternatives for funding the acquisition of the Licences, either alone or inpartnership with third parties. If the Option is exercised before the deadlinethe Company hopes to begin a drilling programme as soon as the Licences arefully transferred. This option may be exercised up to midnight 16 May 2005,which may be extended by mutual agreement. As previously announced, the Company has been working for the past two years toacquire an interest in the ground covered by the Licences and together with theCentral Kola Expedition (CKE) has conducted field mapping, trenching and areview of prior work including drilling and extensive sampling. Explorationresults on the areas covered by the Licences have been very encouraging; withdrill core and trench bedrock samples assaying over 1 gram per tonne (g/t) ofplatinum in all Licence areas and higher grade results of up to 12 g/t platinum.Palladium grades of economic interest accompany these platinum values. TheLicences cover several tens of kilometres of favourable horizons for theoccurence of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs). The areas covered by the Licences are located within the Kola region of Russia.The Kola region has a long history of mining and metal refining, principally ofnickel and copper with PGMs as by-product. In 1996 PGM mineralization wasdiscovered in associated ultramafic and mafic intrusive complexes which extendover several hundred kilometres. Exploration has only been carried out in recentyears but with increasingly favourable results. Already Barrick Gold andConsolidated Puma Minerals Corporation, Canadian companies, are carrying outadvanced exploration and feasibility studies on deposits along strike from theLicences. GoldFields Limited is completing feasibility studies on deposits insimilar rocks across the border in Finland. Ultramafic and mafic intrusions arethe main geological host for PGM mineralization worldwide, including the NorilskComplex of Russia and the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. Of the three areas covered by the Licences, the most advanced area isMonchetundra, located close to the city of Monchegorsk. Here drilling in 21holes spaced 400 to 2,500 metres apart, has identified four platinum bearinghorizons with different characteristics. Two are palladium rich while the othertwo carry higher platinum grades and Platinum to Palladium ratios. Resultsinclude intersections of 3.58 to 38.78 g/t combined platinum and palladium, withthe high grades over widths of 0.4 to 2.8 metres. Lower grade intersections atsome points overlap and extend beyond them - for example 35.9 metres and 13.4metres of 1.94 g/t and 2.2 g/t of combined platinum and palladium, respectively.The drilling work completed to date allows the Company to plan a detaileddrilling program to confirm continuity along strike and down dip. There is goodevidence for these zones to be continuous, except in an area where faulting hasdisrupted the geology and the mineralization is already established through thedrilling to extend over several kilometres.The Company new drilling program isplanned to commence in early summer. In the area of Volchetundra covered by the Licence, trenching work hasidentified grades of 0.7 (g/t) of platinum group metals over a thickness of 10metres and 4.7g/t of platinum, 4.6g/t of palladium and 2g/t of gold over athickness of 2.6 metres. The Licence covers a major intrusion with a strikelength of 40 kilometres. The till sampling (a technique applied in glaciatedterrain such as this area), has detected extensive platinum anomalies along thecontinuation of the same horizon. Drilling is planned to commence as soon as theoption is exercised and a drill rig can be mobilised to site. The Licence area of West Imandra covers a further large intrusion hostingimportant layered units of chromitite towards the base and magnetite withanorthosite towards the top, both often associated with PGM mineralization. Adrill hole on one of the chromitite units assayed 1g/t platinum. A recent trenchon one of the anorthosite horizons gave 2.94g/t of PGMs over a 1 metre-thickzone. These horizons are known to extend over several tens of kilometres but thegeology and the extent of the contained PGM mineralization is, as yet, not welldefined. The Company will be using the services of the Central Kola Expedition as themain contractor for exploration work. Christian Schaffalitzky, Chief Executive Officer of the Company said: "This isthe second important announcement that our company has made this week, and itillustrates the major progress that we have made in Russia over the past twoyears. Although I am well aware that the past period has been frustrating forour shareholders, exacerbated by the paucity of information that it has beennecessary to maintain for competitive reasons, it illustrates how importantpatience and persistence is in the context of this vast and well mineralizedcountry and the significance of the position that Eurasia has established there." For further information contact: Michael Martineau/Christian Schaffalitzky, Eurasia Mining PLC: +44 (0) 20 7976 1222Laurie Beevers, W H Ireland: +44 (0) 7903 164 004Allan Piper, First City Financial Public Relations: +44 (0) 20 7436 7486 +44 (0) 7736 064 982 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Eurasia Mining