IGURUBI DRILL RESULTS, MIYABI METALLUGICAL RESULTS, ADDITIONAL PROGRESS IN TANZANIA
News Report
20 January 2006
African Eagle Resources plc ("the Company", ticker AFE) is pleased to announce the results of the recently completed drilling programme at its Igurubi Project in Tanzania.
Gold mineralised intersections from four of the better holes drilled include:
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The programme has confirmed gold mineralisation over a strike length of at least 5.2km and has identified three parallel mineralised structures within 60m of the main zone.
The Company has also received the results of metallurgical testing of gold-bearing diamond drill core and RC chips from its Miyabi project. These show that conventional leaching recovers about 95% of the gold from the ore.
In addition, the Company has posted on its web site summaries of favourable results from its 2005 exploration on 10 early stage gold and precious metal projects in Tanzania.
Igurubi gold results
In mid-December 2005, African Eagle completed a 39 hole, 3865m reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme at its Igurubi gold project, which is located 50km east of Resolute Mining's 2.7 million ounce Golden Pride Mine. The programme supplemented the 17-hole, 1,190m RC drilling of the main mineralised structure reported in January 2005, which produced 6 intersections of more than 3g/t, including 7m at 7.2g/t and 3m at 8.3g/t, and tested strike extent and width.
Twenty one of the holes in the recently completed programme intersected gold mineralisation of 0.5g/t or greater over 3m or more, confirming that the system contains significant gold mineralisation in the form of narrow but high-grade vein-like structures. The drilling also revealed up to three mineralised structures within 60m of the main zone, with up to 2g/t gold over 3m. The main zone has now been confirmed by drilling over a strike length of at least 5.2km and remains open at both ends. Visit http://www.africaneagle.co.uk/projects-igurubi2 to view the mineralised intercepts in full on the Company's web site.
In addition to the drilling, the Company completed extensive surface surveys at Igurubi including geochemical soil sampling and a ground magnetic survey. The results of this work showed that the main gold-bearing structure continues beyond the current drilling and has also revealed a second anomalous gold zone parallel to and to the west of the main zone.
The Company has received interest in the Igurubi project from a number of potential farm-in partners and is considering several options to advance the project, including a proposal to develop the high-grade main zone as a mid-scale mining operation while continuing to explore the wider potential of the property.
Miyabi metallurgical testing
The Company has received the results of metallurgical leach testing on gold-bearing diamond drill core and RC chips from Miyabi. Fifty-one samples were tested, representing a systematic sampling of all of the principal mineralised zones and ranging in grade from 226g/t to 0.3 g/t with a median of 2.8 g/t. The leach tests were conducted by Omac Laboratories in Ireland. The median gold recovery from the 51 samples was 95%.
These results indicate that the gold can be extracted from Miyabi gold ore by standard processing methods, without the need for costly or high-technology processing.
The Company has now delivered all the results from its 2005 drilling at Miyabi to its independent consultant SRK and expects a formal update of the Miyabi gold resource estimate during March. The Miyabi resource drilling programme is scheduled to resume on 21 January 2006.
The favourable metallurgical results from Miyabi, together with the forthcoming resource update, advance this project forward towards pre-feasibility stage.
Early-stage projects
Through its network of contacts in Tanzania, African Eagle is able to take options over many promising new opportunities, giving future upside and leverage on the Company's local knowledge.
The Company plans to farm out, through joint venture agreements, most or all of these early stage projects, once low cost reconnaissance exploration has demonstrated that they have potential, Negotiations to establish joint venture agreements are underway with a number of potential partners.
Over the past 12 months, the Company has undertaken basic early stage exploration over ten such projects and holds two as yet untested properties. All but one of the areas tested yielded encouraging results and the Company considers five of them to be highly prospective.
Project |
Target |
Status |
Kagulamu |
Gold |
Gold geochemical anomaly close to and along strike from Anglo-Ashanti's eastern Geita operations. |
Gloria |
Gold |
Gold geochemical anomaly on granite contact adjacent to Gallery Gold's Buck-Reef / Mawe Meru holdings. |
Mabale Hills |
Gold |
Strategically located in midst of three of the most promising recent gold discoveries in Tanzania. First results awaited. |
Kiwasi Hills |
Gold |
Multiple gold targets identified in this large licence straddling the major Suguti Shear. |
Dutwa |
Gold, platinum |
Gold anomalies over 15km strike within 5 licences covering 500 square km of the productive Kilimafedha gold belt. |
Iramba |
Gold |
Geochemical anomalies and gold-bearing structures within areas of historical gold mining. Grab samples up to 10g/t. |
Ugambilo |
Gold |
Three geochemical anomalies in a licence between Gallery Gold's 480,000 oz gold resource at Kitongo and Tanrange Exploration's flagship Luahala property |
Itweria |
Gold |
Promising gold anomalies in eastern part of the Nzega Gold Belt, which contains Resolute's 2.7Moz Golden Pride Mine. |
Kayenzi |
Gold |
A gold anomaly over banded iron formation in the Siga Hills Gold Belt. |
Mihama |
Gold, diamonds |
A promising gold anomaly and kimberlitic diamond targets. |
Dodoma |
Diamonds |
Advanced farm-out negotiations underway. |
Tabora |
Diamonds |
Farm-out negotiations underway. |
Visit http://www.africaneagle.co.uk/projects-early to view expanded summaries of all the projects and results.
John Park
Chairman
African Eagle Resources plc
+44 20 72 48 60 59 Fax +44 20 76 91 77 45 email info@africaneagle.co.uk