Newmont sells Ontario mine to Orla for $850 million
The addition of the Musselwhite mine to its portfolio more than doubles Orla Mining's gold output to 300,000 ounces per year.
African Queen Mines announced on Friday that it has now commenced its 2011 core drilling program covering approximately 3000m at its King Solomon Project, which is located within the central parts of the Mesoproterozoic Fingoe Belt N of Lake Cahorra Basa in western Tete Province, Mozambique. The project is the subject of the Earn-in and Joint Venture Agreement dated July 10, 2009 with Swiss-based Opti Metal Trading Limited, covering exploration, development and exploitation of Prospecting License No. 884L held by Optimetal’s Mozambique subsidiary.
The License covers an area of approximately 230 km2 in the center of the Fingoe Belt and is now valid through May, 2015. The Company has thus far earned an interest of 51% in the Project and may earn up to 85% by funding additional prescribed stages through feasibility.
After cessation of the rains in late April, the Company engaged the services of Remote Exploration Services of Cape Town, S.A. to prepare the campsite, core storage facilities and the necessary access roads and drill sites. The group mobilized to site in early May and completed all necessary preparations. The drillers from Mozambique-based Resource Drilling Lda. arrived on site on May 25 and after the necessary bulldozer work, including construction of a new water storage dam, roads for access and drill pads, have now commenced drilling of the first hole (MW07). This hole has been sited approximately 50 m down dip from holes MW01 and MW02 which encountered some of the most encouraging mineralization in our 2010 reconnaissance core drilling program at the Project. The purpose of this hole is to test down dip continuity of that gold-copper-silver mineralization.
Interpretation of the detailed IP geophysical data collected late last year over the Project area is being conducted by Dr. Branco Corner of Corner Geophysics in Namibia, and these results are being utilized in connection with targeting and technical planning of the drill program by providing better characterization of the mineralization. Approximately 3 000 m are planned for drilling in the immediate program and will be focused upon the Mankombiti West, Mankombiti East, Ntumba and Bulasho targets. The holes are planned to be drilled to depths typically between 120 m and 200 m. Further information on these targets can be found on the Company’s web site and various Press Releases released over the past year. The drilling is largely focused to the west of the 2010 Program, where geophysics, mapping and sampling results suggest the potentiality for better mineralization and thickening of the zone. That sets the stage for potentially more robust results down dip and along strike in that direction. In excess of 3 km of untested strike still remain to be evaluated at Mankombiti while the new gold targets Bulasho and Ntumba hold considerable promise as well.
The host rocks are generally of the Fingoe Group, a Mesoproterozoic age package of metasediments, metavolcanics and various intrusives ranging from mafic to granitic in composition. These rocks have all experienced greenschist facies metamorphism and at least two intense structural deformational events. Tightly plunging folds with a strongly developed stretching lineation are a feature of all the lithologies mapped to date. The mineralisation identified to date consists of gold-copper-silver with associated zinc, lead and iron (mainly magnetite). Anomalous content of bismuth is also a characteristic of nearly all mineralization observed. The main mineralization is hosted at the contact of intrusive granites and gabbros with generally calcitic marbles and is considered to represent various forms of skarn related alteration assemblages. Later deformation has structurally deformed and tectonised both the host rocks as well as the mineralization itself, which appears to be concentrated in shoot-like structures. These shoots comprise the main target for the newly commenced drilling 2011 drill program.
The planned 3000 m drill program will be expanded later this year as appropriate on a result contingent basis. The same standard operating protocols (SOP) will be utilized for the 2011 Program as were utilized in the initial 2010 Program. Genalysis Laboratories of Johannesburg, S.A. will provide analytical services. The work program at King Solomon, including logging and sampling, is being conducted by RES under the direction of C. Ocker on behalf of the joint venture partners. RES has been conducting field programs for the Company on the Fingoe Regional Gold Project from the initiation of the program in 2006. The Project is being managed on behalf of the Company by Senior Consulting Geologist Mr. Pete Siegfried (M.Sc., MAusIMM), a qualified person, who has reviewed and approved the contents of this Press Release. Drilling activities are being carried out by Mozambican contractor Resource Drilling Lda.
According to Irwin Olian, CEO of the Company, “We are very excited to be resuming drilling at King Solomon at this time, as we look forward to building upon the encouraging results already generated by our initial reconnaissance drill program last year. The exploratory and geophysics work we have recently completed suggests that the area to the West may host significantly richer copper, gold and silver mineralization over wider zones and we are looking forward to results from upcoming drill testing of this area along strike and in several new zones which we have identified.”
The Company is an exploratory resource company with diversified mineral properties in Southern and West Africa. It is exploring its properties in Mozambique, Kenya and Ghana for gold and other metals and it is undertaking exploration in Botswana and Namibia for diamonds, gold and other metals. The Company’s licenses in Botswana comprise approximately 2890 sq km of diamond prospects. In Mozambique it has approximately 230 sq km of gold and other metals licenses under an agreement with another company. In Kenya it has approximately 850 sq. km. under license for gold and metals, and a further 737 sq. km. of gold and other minerals licenses under agreements with two other companies.
Its operations in Botswana are carried out through its operating subsidiary, PAM Botswana (Pty) Ltd.; its operations in Namibia are carried out through its operating subsidiary PAM Minerals Namibia (Pty) Ltd.; its operations in Mozambique are carried out through its subsidiary PAM Mocambique Limitada and its operations in Ghana are carried out through its subsidiary AQ Ghana Gold Limited. Its operations in Kenya are being carried out through its operating subsidiary AQ Kenya Gold Limited. The Company has its executive offices in Vancouver, Canada.
