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 AIM; GMA
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Company Statement
GMA Resources Plc owns a controlling 52% interest in the exciting 1,425 square kilometer Tirek-Amesmessa gold concession in Southern Algeria. The other 48% is a participating interest owned by the State owned Sonatrach AVAL, the Algerian Oil & Gas giant. The Company recently constructed a new heap leach facility at Amesmessa that is now in operation and has begun an extensive exploration program over the entire concession.
Current Strategy:
The Board's strategy is to complete a development plan for the Tirek-Amesmessa gold project in Algeria with a view to expanding the existing gold mining operation in the first half 2007.
Tirek Mine
The Tirek gold mine is located centrally in the northern third of the exploitation permit area some 60km north of Amesmessa which is in the extreme south of the permit area.
A gold deposit at Tirek was discovered in the early 1970s and the initial mine development commenced in October 1998 with a decision to mine a number of open cuts exploiting high grade quartz-reef lodes. Construction of a processing facility was completed in June 2001 and since that date ENOR has produced in aggregate approximately 20,000 ounces of gold from an open-pit mining operation. A resource statement for Tirek has been produced by the Algerian government agency ORGM totalling 576,225 ounces at an average grade of 17g Au per tonne. In addition, a South African based consulting group reported an open-pit mining resource of 152,000 tonnes averaging 21.3g Au per tonne and in addition an underground resource of 360,000 tonnes averaging 21g Au per tonne.
Amesmessa Deposit
An underground gold reserve has been identified at Amesmessa, 60kms south of the Tirek mine. Prospecting since the 1970's has discovered 50 mineralised veins in the Amesmessa area of which 36 have been the focus of detailed exploration work including trenching, drilling and underground workings. From this extensive work 18 mineralised veins have been considered of economic interest. A resource statement for Amesmessa has been produced by ORGM which has been recalculated by a US based consulting group. The original ORGM resource statement indicated 1,398,647 ounces of gold at 18.0g Au per tonne, whilst the updated model indicated 1,066,472 ounces of gold at 15.8g Au per tonne.
Other Prospects in the ZITA zone
There is considerable potential in the ZITA zone between Tirek and Amesmessa to develop other minor prospects with shallow resources amenable to trench or open-pit mining. ENOR has indicated that this zone contains a resource in the order of 1,300,000 ounces of gold. In addition, there is exploration potential within the permit area associated with mineral occurrences and geochemical anomalies along an 80km mineralised corridor associated with a major north-south shear zone between Tirek and Amesmessa.
Current Operations
Tirek Mine
Most of these veins have been the focus of detailed exploration work including trenching, drilling and actual mining in shallow open pits. Underground work at Tirek involved about 1,350 m of exploration drives at the -40-m level. Three shafts were sunk and drifts totalling 610 m were driven along Veins XIV, XIV-1 and XV (Shaft 1), 360 m on Vein II (Shaft 2) and 60 m on Vein III (Shaft 3).
The JORC-compliant Measured and Indicated Resources for Veins II, III, XIV and XV at Tirek have been estimated at 404,000 tonnes grading 16.96 g/t Au for 220,000 oz Au. Additional Resources in the Inferred category amount to 225,000 tonnes at 16.4 g/t Au, representing 179,000 oz Au (Minproc, Sep. 2005 ; base case).
The Proven and Probable Reserves have been estimated at 353,000 tonnes grading 11.0g/t Au representing 125,000 oz Au (Minproc, Sep. 2005 ; base case). An in-house study has shown that some additional mill feed in the amount of about 26,000 tonnes at 18.0 g/t for 15,000 oz Au can be sourced from veins excluded from Minproc’s base case.
The gold mineralisation at Tirek is also associated with the north-south striking In Ouzzal east deformation zone. However, two distinct structural settings and two main vein orientations characterize the Tirek goldfield. The western portion of the area (Fields A and C) is comprised of N-S trending quartz veins situated within the mylonite and relatively close to the western IODZ contact, in a setting similar to Amesessa’s. In contrast, the eastern sector, designated as Field B, includes quartz veins in a tapered gabbro intrusive 12 km long and 2 km wide.
The mapped gabbro intrusive is a complex made up of medium-grained, generally massive but locally altered and foliated gabbro, enclosing units of pillow lava and xenoliths of granite-gneiss. The quartz veins in this area are represented by both a N-S and NE system. Most of the gold mineralization occurs in Field B in the gabbro host.
Virtually all the NE trending veins are restricted to the gabbro host and to the east side of the N-S veins. No cross-cutting relationships have been observed between the N-S and NE sets, which strongly suggest the veins are coeval.
The gold mineralisation in the veins locked in the mylonite is represented by the quartz vein and the metasomatite halo, like is the case at Amesmessa. In contrast, the gabbro-hosted veins carry the high gold values but the selvages of wallrock alteration seldom contain economic gold grades. A fringe of schistose and hydrothermally-altered gabbro is usually visible along the vein contacts but only affects the host rock over a short distance.
Amesmessa Deposit
The Amesmessa goldfield is located approximately 60 km south of Tirek and is about 10 km north of the property boundary. The Amesmessa Vein deposits stretch over 12 km along a north-south direction. The area has been geographically broken down into a Southern, Central and Northern zone. The Central Zone includes the most important Veins 7 to 11 that extend over 3 km of strike length and contain about 70% of the resource estimate.
Most of these veins have been the focus of detailed exploration work including trenching and drilling. The major Veins 8 and 9 have been investigated by core and destructive drilling to a depth of -425 m. In addition, they were developed and sampled by underground workings totaling 516 m of lateral development drift (2.5 x 2.0 m) and 26 cross-cuts, at a depth of 80 m accessed via a vertical shaft.
The JORC-compliant Measured and Indicated Resources for Veins 8 and 9 stand at 1,043,000 tonnes grading 12.05 g/t Au representing 405,000 oz Au. Additional Resources in the Inferred category amount to 810,000 tonnes at 8.0 g/t Au, equivalent to 209,000 oz Au (Minproc, Sep. 2005; base case).
The Proven and Probable Reserves have been estimated at 748,000 tonnes grading 12.2 g/t Au representing 294,000 oz Au (Minproc, Sep. 2005 ; base case). An in-house study has shown that some additional feed in the amount of about 490,000 tonnes at 12.79 g/t for 210,200 oz Au can be sourced from veins excluded from Minproc’s base case.
Other Prospects in the ZITA zone
The zone between Tirek and Amesmessa, referred to as ZITA, contains a large number of gold deposits and showings hosted in the mylonite of the In Ouzzal deformation zone. They have only been partially investigated by trenching and limited follow-up drilling by the ORGM. Only 98 core holes totaling 10,314 m and 811 trenches for 6,890 m have been completed on a zone extending over 60 km along the prospective IODZ.
Consequently, a vast potential remains to develop some of those prospects in the ZITA zone and to delineate lower-grade, heap-leachable ore that could be rapidly mined in shallow trenches and open pits. Indeed, a few veins in the ZITA area have already been developed on the basis of the ORGM work and Resources estimates and have supplied feed to the Tirek plant.
Geographical Spread
Algeria
Board of Directors and Key Management
| David Netherway B.E. (Mine Engineering) | Non Executive Chairman |
| Douglas G Perkins B.Comm (Accountancy) | Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer |
| Richard Linnell B.Sc. Honors (B.Sc. Special Honours Geology) | Non Executive Deputy Chairman |
| François J Gauthier, P. Geol | Non-Executive Director |
Company Address30 Princess Elizabeth Street
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Additional Address/Key ContactCompany Secretary |
Annual General MeetingLondon, July | Year End31 December |
Nominated BrokersBrokers Mirabaud Securities Limited | Nominated AdvisorsJohn East & Partners Limited |
Broker/Analyst Reports
20/02/08 - Edison Investment Research
Major Shareholders
| Pictet & Cie | 50,665,000 | 14.30% |
| Majedie Asset Management | 23,893,000 | 6.74% |
| RAB Capital | 19,018,428 | 5.37% |
| Teather & Greenwood | 17,000,000 | 4.80% |
| Coghill Capital | 11,550,070 | 3.26% |
| UBS | 11,113,000 | 3.14% |
Related News
06/05/09 - GMA Resources Is Back On Track And Ramping Up Gold Production At Amesmessa In Algeria28/01/09 - GMA Resources Gets Its Act Together Down On The Amesmessa Gold Project In Algeria
16/06/08 - GMA Resources Waits For The Explosives Delivery Man
21/01/08 - GMA Resources Expects Gold Production To Build Steadily This Year
Most Recent Statement
23/09/09 - Half Yearly Report23/09/09 - Half Yearly Report
09/09/09 - Production Update for August 2009
10/08/09 - Production Update
07/07/09 - Production Update
29/06/09 - Availability of Report & Accounts and Notice of AGM