DRILLING UPDATE FROM MKUSHI COPPER MINES
News Report
12 June 2006
African Eagle Resources plc ("the Company" or "African Eagle", ticker AFE), announces further excellent results from its ongoing resource definition drilling programme at Mkushi Copper Mines in central Zambia. Best mineralised drill intercepts include:
African Eagle's Managing Director Mark Parker comments "Mkushi is giving consistently good results and it now compares very favourably with other copper projects being brought into production in southern Africa. The latest results are from a mineralised body to the southwest of the old open pit. So far, we have outlined 12 to 14 million tonnes at an average grade between 0.7 and 1.2% copper in this body, according to our preliminary estimates. Drilling continues and we expect to announce an independent resource estimate during Q3, with a development scoping study soon after.
"African Eagle believes that Mkushi will add up to a substantial copper deposit, which internal economic modelling indicates should be profitable across a wide range of copper prices. Our recent £3.3M financing will enable us to accelerate the project towards feasibility and development."
The new results are from the southwest extension of a copper deposit which was mined by an open pit in the 1960s and 1970s. African Eagle has now traced this body, known as "H-Zone", for at least 800m along strike and down to 160 vertical metres below surface. The zone is up to 60m wide and should therefore be suitable for open pit development.
Preliminary geological modelling of H-Zone by African Eagle's geologists, based on the drill results to date, indicates a potential of at least 12 to 14 million tonnes with grades of the order of 0.7 to 1.2%, to a depth of 150 vertical metres below surface. This estimate includes only that part of the main mineralised body drilled to date and does not take into account a smaller parallel body. As a priority, African Eagle now intends to complete sufficient additional drilling to allow an independently audited JORC resource estimate to be prepared during the third quarter of 2006.
There is also considerable scope to add to the resource at Mkushi by drilling other mineralised zones. A resource estimate of 30.4 million tonnes grading 1.23% copper, equating to more than 370,000 tonnes of copper metal, was made in 1990, based on the four mineralised zones for which drill reports were then available. Already the preliminary tonnage estimate for H-Zone alone accounts for more than one third of this figure and the other known zones and potential new ones identified by African Eagle's geologists remain to be evaluated.
Past mining from the open pit yielded 2.2 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1% copper, but the pit reached a depth of only 30 metres and archive reports indicate that considerable resources remain beneath the old workings. The Company plans to drill this area once the old pit can be pumped dry.
Moreover, there are known mineralised zones which have never been drilled and African Eagle's induced polarisation geophysical surveys have identified many other chargeable zones which may be additional copper resources elsewhere within the prospecting licence.
African Eagle has now completed 48 inclined diamond and percussion drill holes for a total of 7906m at the Mkushi Copper Mines. The principal results of the latest drilling are tabulated below. A table of all mineralised drill intercepts to date and a map showing key drill results from H-Zone can be viewed at www.africaneagle.co.uk/projects-mkushi.html
Drill Hole |
Hole Type |
From* (m) |
Interval (m) |
Copper (Cu) % |
MH14 |
diamond |
161 |
61 |
1.4 |
MH15 |
diamond |
53 |
6 |
2.7 |
MH22 |
percussion |
127 |
27 |
2.1 |
MH29 |
percussion |
14 |
73 |
0.6 |
MH30A |
percussion |
6 |
132 |
0.5 |
MH31 |
percussion |
16 |
53 |
0.5 |
MH33 |
percussion |
34 |
72 |
0.4 |
MH37 |
percussion |
12 |
120 |
0.5 |
* Down-hole depth
John Park
Chairman
African Eagle Resources plc
Qualified Person
Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Christopher Davies B.Sc, M.Sc, DIC, Operations Director for African Eagle Resources, who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has in excess of 25 years experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under AIM Rules. Mr Davies consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.