2nd Sep 2009 07:00
RNS Number : 3672Y
Mwana Africa PLC
02 September 2009
2 September 2009
Mwana Africa PLC
Promising Gold Resource defined for Kodo portion of the Zani-Kodo trend
and
Government approval of renegotiated OKIMO JV contract
Mwana Africa plc (“Mwana” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce a promising initial resource estimate for the Zani-Kodo gold prospect in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”). Mwana is also pleased to announce that it has received the approval of the DRC’s Council of Ministers on the terms of renegotiation of its agreement with L’Office des Mines d’Or de Kilo-Moto (“OKIMO”).
SUMMARY
Zani-Kodo trend
The gold-bearing Zani-Kodo trend has been accurately delineated over a strike length of 9km. Initial drilling, focused on the northern 700m of this 9km strike (Kodo Section), has outlined JORC compliant indicated resources of 190,684 oz of gold and JORC compliant inferred resources of 261,192 oz of gold. A single hole at Zani Central, 5km south of Kodo, confirmed the mineralisation model and intersected a broad zone of gold mineralisation. A drill-ready target at Le Badolite has been identified between Kodo and Zani Central. Major linear soil anomalies parallel to the main trend in the south extension of the trend indicates the continuation of mineralisation under cover into this area.
Approval of renegotiated JV contract
Mwana has received notification that, following renegotiation discussions, its agreement with OKIMO has received approval from the DRC Council of Ministers. Mwana will as under the previous agreement, retain its 80%interest in the joint venture. OKIMO will also retain its 20% free-carried interest. In addition:
·; The existing contract (the “contrat d’amodiation”), under which Mwana Africa holds its rights for the exploitation of the Zani Kodo prospect, is to be replaced by a joint venture, whereby Mwana and OKIMO will jointly establish a company (“NEWCO”) which will hold the mining titles.
·; One off payments totalling approximately US$600,000 will be made to OKIMO and the mining registry (CAMI) upon creation of the joint venture, including consideration for the transfer of mining titles to NEWCO and settlement of disputes with the “Cadastre Minier” over surface fees accrued from November 2006.
Exploration update
Mwana Africa, in a JV to be formed with OKIMO, holds gold mining rights over 1,610 km2 in Orientale Province, DRC. The eastern area of the Ituri region is underlain by a series of highly prospective greenstone belts of Kibalian age (the Kilo-Moto Belt) which are considered to have high gold potential. This semi-continuous belt hosts three main deposits currently being developed and explored by Moto Mines, AngloGold Ashanti and Mwana Africa (See Figure 1). The Moto greenstone belt was exploited primarily in the 1950s and 1960s by Belgian charter companies, producing more than 3Moz of a total recorded 11Moz gold production from hard-rock mines in the Moto belt, primarily from surface operations (alluvials, shallow oxide pits).
Mwana’s exploration programme has focussed on the Zani-Kodo prospect, in particular around the historical Kodo mine and on a series of regional targets identified through a high-resolution airborne geophysical survey, and where soil geochemistry surveys have been completed.
In April 2007, Mwana Africa commenced a diamond core drilling programme at the prospect. Initial drilling confirmed the presence of a continuous mineralised shear zone at the contact between sandstones and banded iron formation (“BIF”) / graphitic schists. Gold is associated with increased quartz veining and the presence of pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite. Subsequent drilling focused on testing the downdip extensions of this zone over a strike length of 350m (“Kodo Main”). The latest phase of drilling focused on the Kodo Northern Extension zone.
A total of 152 holes and 27,682m have been drilled to date, covering an overall strike length of 700m. Mineralisation of the drilled portion of Kodo Main is open at depth and to the north. The Zani-Kodo trend continues to the south, covering a total of approximately 9km.
Kodo resource
Two discrete subareas have been identified at the Kodo area (Figures 2,3).
·; Kodo Main Zone: This area has a strike length of 400m and includes the partly mined Kodo orebody (Kodo Main) as well as two distinct hangingwall ore zones (Kodo HW1 and HW2). The Kodo Main ore body is situated in sheared BIF and schists at the upper contact with a competent sandstone where major quartz veining is present. The ore zone is typically 10-15m wide with a maximum thickness of 30m (Figure 4). The Main zone is continuous along strike over the entire drilled length of 700m and contains a high grade shoot, which plunges north-northeast, immediately below historical workings. This shoot extends over a strike of 150m, and contains a lenticular quartz body and increased arsenopyrite mineralisation. The hangingwall ore zones are narrower and are associated with increased shearing along narrow graphitic units within the overall hangingwall schist-sandstone package. The Main zone dips at 60° towards the east and has been drilled to a maximum depth of 220m vertical. The hangingwall zones are less continuous along strike and have been subdivided in HW1, 1A, 1B and HW 2, 2A, 2B during the wireframe construction. They are typically 1-5m in thickness. Higher up in the hangingwall sequence several additional small pockets of mineralisation are present (HW3,4,5,6). A small ore body is also present in the footwall of the Kodo Main area. All ore bodies remain open at depth.
·; Kodo Northern Extension Zone: This area is offset to the north of a north-east trending fault zone which marks the northern limit of the Kodo Main zone. Two distinct ore zones are present (Kodo N Extension FW and Kodo N Extension HW). These have widths of up to 11m and are approximately 40m apart. The dip in this area is some 30° shallower than the Kodo Main zone with ore zones dipping approximately 35° to the east (Figure 5). Both zones are open at depth. To the north the mineralisation also remains open but appears to be offset by another NE trending fault.
·; Selected intersections from Kodo Main (best widths and grades) include 25m @ 7.7 g/t, 31m @ 6.1g/t, 21m @ 7.2 g/t, 14m @ 10.5g/t, 10m @ 9.0g/t, 4m @ 31.2g/t. Complete assays used for the resource calculation are being posted on www.mwanaafrica.com. All assays were done by the independent accredited SGS laboratory in Mwanza.
·; Densities (5,709 measurements) were measured across all mineralised intersections.
Preliminary resource calculation
An initial JORC-compliant resource calculation has been carried out by BMRE Ltd (an independent consultancy) for the drilled portion of the Zani-Kodo trend. Indicated resources of 2,045,307t @ 2.90g/t and further inferred resources of 3,159,511t @ 2.57g/t have been defined, containing 190,684 oz and 261,192 oz gold respectively. Top cuts of 20g/t and 12g/t were applied to the Kodo Main and Northern Extension zones respectively.
|
Classification
|
Tonnes
|
Au (g/t)
|
Contained Au (g)
|
Contained Au (oz)
|
|
Indicated
|
2,045,307
|
2.90
|
5,930,944
|
190,684
|
|
Inferred
|
3,159,511
|
2.57
|
8,123,992
|
261,192
|
The bulk of the indicated resource is situated in the Kodo Main zone where infill drilling has been completed. Conversion of the inferred resource at the Kodo Northern Extension to the indicated category is expected to require a limited amount of infill drilling. In addition, the open ended nature of the mineralisation and the presence of broad intersections at depth, particularly in the Kodo Main zone, indicate that the resource could be significantly increased by further deep drilling to the east of the current holes.
District scale exploration
An interpretation of aeromagnetic data and field mapping has confirmed that the Zani-Kodo mineralised structure extends over a strike length of 9km (Figures 5, 6). Target areas were identified along the trend in areas bounded by NE striking faults similar to the Kodo prospect. A single hole was drilled at the Zani Central target some 5 km south along the Zani-Kodo trend and identified similar lithologies to the Kodo prospect and a mineralisation intersection of 26m @ 1.3g/t (with peaks of up to 3.3g/t). This supports the structural model for mineralisation. An additional Zani-Kodo trend target (‘Le Badolite’) is drill ready.
To the south the controlling structure passes under cover and a soil sampling programme was carried out (Grid 2). This shows three major gold in soil anomalies (Anomalies 2A, 2B and 2C). The geophysical interpretation of this area, combined with field mapping indicates that the area is underlain primarily by easterly dipping BIF’s. It appears that a series of hangingwall structures to the main Zani-Kodo trend are present with stacking of the BIF units. Anomalies 2A and 2B are elongate parallel to these structures, with strike lengths of 3,000m and 2,500m respectively. Gold in soil values consistently in excess of 100ppb are present along the complete strike lengths of both anomalies and their correspondence with interpreted structures indicate the presence of significant mineralisation in bedrock. A further irregular anomaly (2C) is present in the south of the grid (Figures 6, 7)
Kalaa Mpinga, Chief Executive Officer of Mwana Africa, commented:
“We are pleased to be able to announce our first resource estimate based on our initial exploration at the Zani-Kodo gold prospect. Indications are that only limited additional drilling is required to upgrade the majority of the inferred resource to indicated. Moreover, results to date are based on drilling of only 700m of an estimated 9km strike length along the length of Mwana’s prospect the Zani-Kodo trend. Together with the nearby Moto Goldmines and AngloGold concessions, the prospect represents one of the world’s major undeveloped gold resources. The approval by the DRC Council of Ministers of our joint venture agreement with OKIMO is a further step towards realising the potential of this exciting gold prospect.”
Please click on the link below to view Figures 1-7:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3672Y_1-2009-9-1.pdf
A complete version of this press release, together with details of significant intersections and diagrams showing the Zani-Kodo licence and project area, and the location of Kodo diamond core drillholes, is available for download from the Company’s website; www.mwanaafrica.com.
Enquiries:
Oliver Baring, Executive Chairman Tel: 020 7654 5580
Mwana Africa PLC
Tom Randell / Anca Spiridon Tel: 020 7653 6620
Merlin
Mike Jones / Ryan Gaffney Tel: 020 7050 6500
Canaccord Adams Limited
GLOSSARY
Au gold
km kilometres
km2 kilometres squared
oz ounce(s)
Moz million ounces
JORC the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of Australia
CIM Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum
t tonne(s)
g gram(s)
ppb parts per billion
N.I.43-101 National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Canada
Kibalian The Kibalian greenstone belts represent a preserved portion of an Achaean orogen broadly dated at 2500- 3500 Ma
Ma million years
Mineral resource a concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest in or on the Earth’s crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge. Mineral Resources are sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories.
Indicated resource part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. The locations are too widely or inappropriately spaced to confirm geological and/or grade continuity but are spaced closely enough for continuity to be assumed.
Inferred resource part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence. It is inferred from geological evidence and assumed but not verified geological and/or grade continuity. It is based on information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes which may be limited or of uncertain quality and reliability.
This press release includes ‘forward-looking statements’. Words such as ‘anticipates’, ‘expects’, ‘intends’, ‘plans’, ‘forecasts’, ‘projects’, ‘budgets’, ‘believes’, ‘seeks’, ‘estimates’, ‘could’, ‘might’, ‘should’ and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding Mwana Africa’s business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations and acquisition opportunities, are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Mwana Africa or the markets and economies in which Mwana Africa operates to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, political, regulatory and economic factors. Factors that would cause actual results or events to differ from current expectations include, among other things, political risks in the DRC and Zimbabwe (including whether the power sharing agreement will be successfully implemented), changes to regulations affecting Mwana Africa’s activities, and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration industry. Mwana Africa believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Mwana Africa does not assume any responsibility to update any of such forward-looking statements, save as required by relevant law or regulatory authority.
Charl du Plessis, Executive Vice President Exploration of Mwana, who holds a PhD and is a Member of the AusIMM, is a “Qualified Person” as defined in the AIM Rules and in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and the information contained in this press release is based upon information prepared under the supervision of Dr. Du Plessis.
Mineral Resources included herein are presented in accordance with the JORC Code. If presented in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted by the CIM Council, the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource presentation would be materially same.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
Related Shares:
Asa Resources