Category: Press Releas

Appointment of Non-Executive Director

Posted on by hankinstappan

African Gold PLC announces that Guy S. Young has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the company as of 07 December 2004.

Guy Young was an Executive Director of Minorco S.A. between 1995 and 2000. Prior to this he worked at Anglo American Corporation for three decades in a series of roles, finally as Executive Chairman of Anglo American South America Ltd. He has had experience of mining exploration and production across the major mining continents and is a well known figure throughout the industry.

Oliver Baring, Chairman of African Gold, commented on the news: “We are very pleased to welcome Guy Young to the Board of African Gold. He has vast expertise in the mining business and will be of great assistance with our plans to build a leading focused African natural resources business. Guy will have a central role in the continuing broadening of our investor base and development of our management team. He is a great asset to have on the Board.”

2nd December 2004 – Updated Drilling Results from Konongo / Owere and completion of acquisition of 70% equity holding in project

African Gold is pleased to announce further positive drilling results from the Konongo / Owere gold project in Ghana. Economic gold grades have now been obtained in all twenty one drill holes analysed to date.

The latest seven results are shown in the table below. Fourteen drill hole results have previously been reported from Konongo and assays from a further seventeen holes are awaited.

Hole NumberFrom(m)To (m)(m)Au (g/t)
OBAPC-015197.0201.04.03.58
 205.0207.02.04.25
OBAPC-016105.0107.02.04.27
 113.0121.08.06.09
 149.0151.02.02.55
 153.0155.02.05.63
 160.0162.02.02.30
OBAPC-021177.0182.05.06.40
 183.0185.02.01.57
 191.0192.01.05.73
OBAPC-023133.0142.09.01.90
OBAPC-024146.0148.02.02.20
 174.0177.03.03.68
 191.0194.03.023.45
 200.0202.02.04.64
 205.0208.03.07.07
     
     
OBAPC-025146.0154.08.02.97
OBAPC-027167.0169.02.01.94
 176.0180.04.03.85

African Gold recently made the final payment of $1 million to the vendors of the Konongo mining lease and now holds 70% of the total equity with Talos, a local Ghanaian company holding 20% and the Ghanaian government holding 10%. Ministerial approval from the Government of Ghana for the necessary transfer of the Mining leases has also now been granted.

Oliver Baring, co-chairman of African Gold, commented “The continuing strong drilling results from Konongo are very encouraging. This news puts us on track to proving up more than 1 million ounces of gold from our operations in Ghana in 2005”.

17th November 2004 – Holding in Company

The Company was notified on 15th November 2004 by Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Group Limited that it holds 22,000,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company (representing 7.7 per cent. of the total issued share capital of the Company), all of which shares are held on behalf of certain discretionary clients through nominees names

Company Information for Caledonia Mining Corp

Posted on by hankinstappan

Company Statement

Canadian registered Caledonia is a mining, and exploration company with assets in Southern Africa. The Company’s current focus is its producing Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe, the Rooipoort and Mapochsgronde platinum-nickel exploration projects in South Africa and the Nama cobalt-copper exploration project in Zambia.

The Blanket gold mine re-started production in April 2009 after a temporary suspension of activities in October 2008 due to the lack of foreign exchange in Zimbabwe. Blanket is currently ramping- up production to its current capacity of 24,000 ounces of gold per annum and is also completing an expansion project to increase annual production to 40,000 ounces of gold per annum.

The Rooipoort platinum-nickel exploration project is located on the northern limb of the Bushveld complex, about 300kms north of Johannesburg. The Mapochsgronde platinum group metal exploration project is located on the eastern limb of the Bushveld complex, about 175km north-east of Johannesburg.

The Nama Project is an advanced cobalt-copper exploration project in north-west Zambia. Caledonia has 4 mining licences covering approximately 860 square km. Exploration continues with a view to identifying an oxide resource of sufficient size and grade to support the large scale production of cobalt hydroxide.

Caledonia has a strong, experienced management team and Board of Directors with diverse expertise in gold production, exploration, mine development, finance and marketing.

Current Operations

Blanket Gold Mine

Background
Located in the south-west of Zimbabwe Blanket Mine is wholly owned and operated by Caledonia, having been acquired from Kinross Gold Corporation in June 2006. The mine is 560 kms from Harare, the capital city and 150 kms from Bulawayo, the country’s second largest city. The provincial capital of Matabeleland South, Gwanda town is 16 kms from the mine.

Property Geology
The geology consists of a basal felsic unit of no known mineralisation presence.

It is generally on this lithology type that the various tailings disposal sites are located. Above this unit are the ultramafics that include the banded iron formations hosting the eastern dormant cluster and the ore bodies of the nearby Vubachikwe complex. The active Blanket ore bodies are found in the next unit, the mafics.

An andesitic unit caps this whole stratigraphy. A regional dolerite sill cuts the entire sequence from Vubachikwe through Blanket to Smiler.

Ore bodies at Blanket are epigenetic. They are associated with a later, regionally developed deformation zone characterized by areas of high strain, wrapping around relatively undeformed remnants of the original basaltic flows. It is within the higher strain regime that the wider of the ore bodies are located.

Rooipoort Platinum Project
(including Grasvally) -PGE/Ni/Cu

Property
In 2002, Caledonia acquired the Rooipoort PGE/Ni/Cu Project from Anglo Platinum Limited. The property is in an area that is presently undergoing a surge in platinum group elements (“PGE”) exploration along a well-mineralized feature known as the “Platreef”. An additional 342 hectares on the farm Grasvally, immediately adjacent to and south of the Rooipoort property was optioned in 2004 and granted a New Order Prospecting Right in May 2005 (3 year period), with a further 43 hectares portion granted in April 2006 (5 year period). Application for conversion of the Rooipoort property into a new order right in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Development Act (“MPRDA”) was granted in November 2006.

In March 2006, Caledonia concluded an agreement, with Falconbridge Ventures of Africa (Pty) Ltd (“Falconbridge”) to acquire a 100% interest in Falconbridge’s prospecting rights covering a total area of 4,315.81 hectares contiguous with the Company’s Rooipoort property and effectively doubles the area of Caledonia’s Rooipoort Project property underlain by Bushveld Complex rocks with PGM potential. The Falconbridge properties were granted New Order Prospecting Rights in April 2006 (3,099 hectares, for a period of 5 years) and September 2006 (1,217 hectares, for a period of 5 years). The total area of Caledonia’s New Order Prospecting Rights in the Rooipoort PGE/Ni/Cu properties is now 8,473.39 hectares.

Exploration:
To date, Caledonia has drilled a total of 18,450 meters in 54 holes on the Rooipoort PGE/Ni/Cu Exploration Project. This drilling covers the full 6 km strike length that makes up the project area.

Falconbridge has drilled a total of 7,393 meters in 22 holes on the portions of Grasvally and the farms Jaagbaan and Moordrift that comprise most of the property purchased from Falconbridge.

Stratigraphy:
The drilling to date has enabled compilation of a revised stratigraphic subdivision for the area containing five mineralised horizons.

Metallurgy:
A very preliminary composite of the five mineralised units on the property containing intersections above 0.5 g/t combined platinum/palladium/gold values was assembled for preliminary metallurgical test work. These composites were tested at the SGS Lakefield laboratory in Johannesburg to evaluate their metallurgical characteristics. A simple coarse grinding followed by standard Bushveld platinum flotation showed that platinum/palladium/gold/copper and nickel could be readily concentrated at a very low mass pull. Despite the low head grade of the composite mineralised units the concentrate grades produced were extremely encouraging.

Nama Cobalt Property

Nama Group of Licences – Zambia

Caledonia Nama Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caledonia, holds four contiguous Large Scale Mining Licences, which cover an area of 806 square kilometres on the northern extension of the Zambian Copperbelt and host open-pittable near-surface low grade cobalt /copper mineralization.

This area lies immediately north-west of the operating Konkola Copper mine and adjoins the extensive holdings of what was formerly Teal Mining and Exploration Limited (now a joint venture between African Rainbow Minerals and Vale).

Work Completed:
The 2001/2002 soil sampling program carried out jointly by Caledonia and BHP Billiton was completed over the majority of the original licence areas. This program identified a number of high priority anomalous targets within the required geological setting. These targets have been followed up in the search for copper/cobalt oxide and sulphide bodies. The top priority targets established by follow up drilling in 1996/7 were determined to be anomalies A, C, and D.

In the second quarter of 2004, a mini bulk sample of 30 tonnes was excavated at Nama A (Discovery) site and underwent successful screening tests and heavy media/gravity separation tests in South Africa. Following encouraging results, further one-tonne samples were sent for additional test work to fine tune the extraction process for the cobalt oxide.

During 2006 metallurgical test work has provided a proposed metallurgical flow-sheet. Two further bulk samples were taken from Anomaly A to enhance and refine the metallurgical processes and cost parameters for producing a marketable and economically viable cobalt product.

Also in 2006/2007 a Technical Report, compliant with NI 43-101 was prepared for Anomaly A at Nama by Mr. David Grant, C.Geol., FGS, Pr.Sci.Nat., an independent consultant who is the “Independent Qualified Person” for Nama’s resources as required by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.

Joint Venture Agreement implemented with BHP Billiton

Posted on by hankinstappan

Petra Diamonds Limited (‘Petra’ or ‘the Company’), the AIM quoted diamond mining group, announces the implementation of the formal Joint Venture Agreement with BHP Billiton World Exploration Inc (‘BHP Billiton’) regarding the Alto Cuilo diamond project in north eastern Angola.

On Tuesday 30 November BHP Billiton subscribed for 901,060 shares in the Company at a price of 88.2 pence per share. The price was based on the average of the closing mid-market prices of Petra’s shares for the ten dealing days to 26 November 2004.

Application has been made for these shares to be admitted for trading on AIM and dealings are expected to commence on 6 December 2004.

As announced on 14 September 2004, under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement BHP Billiton can, by investing up to US$60 million in the JV vehicle (‘Vehicle’) which holds Petra’s share in Alto Cuilo, acquire a share of up to 75% of the Vehicle.

Petra has, to date, focused its work on the area around the Mussunuige-Luangue river interfluve (‘the ML Complex’) in which Petra, along with its Angolan partners Endiama and Moyoweno, has already established the presence of a diamondiferous kimberlite and alluvial complex. Under the terms of the Joint Venture, BHP Billiton will work with the Company to undertake regional exploration on the balance of the concession and to develop the ML Complex further.

Adonis Pouroulis, Chairman of Petra Diamonds, commented, “Further to the announcement of the Joint Venture terms on 14 September, we are delighted to have completed the formal Joint Venture Agreement with BHP Billiton. This is a very exciting project and although exploration is still at an early stage, results so far have been encouraging. Along with BHP Billiton, we hope to expedite exploration on the Alto Cuilo project and look forward to obtaining further definition of the deposits. ”

~ Ends ~

For further information, please contact:

Adonis Pouroulis / David Abery
Petra Diamonds
Tel: +27 11 467 6710 Cathy Malins / Annabel Leather
Parkgreen Communications
Tel: +44 20 7493 3713

Philippine Supreme Court Opens for Increases Foreign Ownership in Mining Projects

Posted on by hankinstappan

LONDON, United Kingdom, DATE: December 3rd 2004. Crew Gold Corporation (“Crew”) (TSE & OSE: CRU; Frankfurt: KNC; OTC-BB- other: CRUGF.PK.

On December 1st 2004, the Supreme Court of the Philippines reversed an earlier negative decision on the Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) where foreign companies can enter into an agreement with the government owning up to 100% of a mining project.

The President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapgal-Arroyo said the decision of the Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Mining Act would attract investments, which would “boost jobs and productivity” in the rural areas, citing that the Philippines ranked number three in gold production, number four in copper, number five in nickel, and number six in chromite deposits.

For Crew’s two development projects in the Philippines; the Mindoro Nickel Deposit (MNP) and The Pamplona Sulphur Project (PSP) the decision has been welcomed as very good news. Crew and its Philippine associated companies have for several months held ongoing discussions with potential partners on both projects. We believe the Supreme Court decision will help these discussions to be concluded.

Further more Crew has for some time worked on identifying gold projects in the Philippines. Again with the present Supreme Court favourable decision we hope to be able to materialize on this work.  

Jan A. Vestrum

President & CEO

This news release contains certain “Forward-Looking Statements”. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, and/or statements made by company officers or directors at any given time, as well as Crew’s future plans are such forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and Crew does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should conditions or management’s estimates or opinions change. For more information please contact our UK Head Office (TEL +44 -1932 268755) or by email to enquiries@crewgold.com For more information about Crew, additional contact information or to subscribe to future news releases, please visit our new website www.crewgold.com

BacTech And Medusa Provide Dizon Tailings Update

Posted on by hankinstappan

TORONTO, ONTARIO – Dec. 2, 2004 – BacTech Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:BM) (“BacTech”) today announced a progress report for the Dizon tailings project in the Philippines. The Dizon project is located 100 km northwest of Manila near Olongapo City at Subic Bay. BacTech and Medusa Mining Limited (“Medusa”) previously entered into a Joint Venture Memorandum of Understanding to focus on the identification of refractory gold-copper deposits in the Philippines that are amenable to BacTech’s bioleaching process. The Dizon Project is the first project to be evaluated by the joint venture.

The Dizon project operated as a 50/50 joint venture between Dizon Copper and Silver Mines Inc. (“DCSMI”) and Benguet Consolidated Inc. (“Benguet”) from 1979 to 1997 and mined 110 million tonnes of ore. The mill tailings are impounded at the head of a valley behind an earth wall dam, and at their deepest point are 126 metres deep. Benguet has subsequently withdrawn from the joint venture and returned 100% ownership to DCSMI. Medusa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with DCSMI to evaluate the potential of retreating the Dizon tails for metal recovery.

Medusa has completed a sample drilling program on the upper 50 metres of the Dizon tails whereby 578 metres of Denison tube coring was undertaken over 12 holes to recover 800 kilograms of tailings material. The cored tailings samples were collected, logged onsite by a Medusa geologist, packaged, and transported to the Manila laboratory of McPhar Geoservices Inc. (“McPhar Geoservices”), where they were dried and composited into two groups of samples per hole. McPhar Geoservices assayed the 24 samples for gold, silver, total sulphur, silica and a suite of base metals. These samples have been forwarded to Perth, Australia to undergo metallurgical testwork including bioleaching work on the sulphides.

The composite grades from the 24 drillhole samples show good consistency in grade and have returned average values of 0.3 g/t gold 0.6 g/t silver and 0.074 % copper, which are similar to previous estimates based on historic mill operating data. In addition, the tailings also contain approximately 4% magnetite. Gravity concentrates from 5 of the core composite samples have returned head grade estimates of 2.7 to 11.6 g/t gold due to the presence of free gold.

A conceptual model for metal recovery consisting of a mineral sands mining and gravity processing operation to recover free gold, magnetite and sulphides is being considered by the joint venture. Testwork is now planned to obtain further details on processing alternatives for the gold and magnetite, as well as processing the sulphides to recover additional metal. Results of the first stage test results are expected in the first quarter of 2005.

The sample drilling program was conducted under the supervision of Geoff J. Davis of Medusa Mining Limited, a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr. Davis is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

CORPORATE PROFILE

BacTech has developed and patented bioleach technology for the treatment of refractory ores and concentrates over the past 16 years to enhance the recovery of gold, silver and base metals. BacTech has successfully commissioned three bioleach plants for gold and successfully demonstrated its technology in the selective recovery of base metals from complex sulphide concentrates in a joint project with Industrias Penoles de C.V. of Mexico.

BacTech acquired a 55% stake in Tonkin Springs LLC, the owner of the Tonkin Springs gold project in north central Nevada, in July 2003. BacTech has also acquired an option on 100% of the McKinnon Creek polymetallic deposit near Revelstoke, British Columbia. Finally, BacTech has entered into a series of agreements in China and the Philippines that could see the Company participating in certain projects.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Corporation, certain information contained herein constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “plan,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “believe,” “anticipate” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other ecological data, fluctuating metal prices, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future and other factors described in the section entitled “General Development of the Business of the Company – Risks of the Business” in the Corporation’s annual information form dated May 17, 2004. Circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions could change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Shares Outstanding 37,447,412

-30-

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
BacTech Mining Corp.
Ross Orr
President & CEO
(416) 813-0303
info@bactech.com
www.bactech.com
or
Linear Capital Corporation
Phil Williams
Toll Free: (877) 600-6001
Direct: (416) 364-2266
philip@linearcapital.com

Oriel Receives First Round of Drill Hole and Trench Assay Results from the Kupol Gold Project, Urup Island

Posted on by hankinstappan

Oriel Receives First Round of Drill Hole and Trench Assay Results from the Kupol Gold Project, Urup Island.

Oriel Receives First Round of Drill Hole and Trench Assay Results from the Kupol Gold Project, Urup Island.

Dr Sergey V Kurzin, the Chairman and CEO of Oriel Resources PLC (“Oriel”) said today “we are pleased to announce the initial results of Oriel’s exploration and drilling campaign for the 2004 season on the Urup Project in the Kuril Islands. The campaign was completed despite inclement weather conditions, permitting issues and the necessity to set up a mining camp on an uninhabited island. As a result drilling did not commence until late August 2004.”

During the limited seasonal campaign 15 drill holes were completed and the assays for the first two drill holes received so far are shown below in addition to the assays for the first two of the 9 trenches completed.

The results from the first 271 samples of the 2004 drilling and trenching program at Kupol during the summer, which was completed in September, are as follows:

Hole ID Type From m To m Interval Au g/t
KPDD1 Drill Hole 2.6 58.4 55.8 3.97
KPDD1 includes 3.6 28.1 24.5 6.45
KPDD1 includes 9.6 16.8 7.2 11.7

KPDD2 Drill Hole 0.8 17.8 17 2.0

KPTR6 Trench 0 19.8 19.8 15.5
KPTR6 includes 0 6 6 30

KPTR8 Trench 0 17 17 5.3
KPTR8 includes 0 6 6 9.24

The 2004 field program comprised the following work,
• 604m of channel sampling from 9 separate trenches (633 samples).
• 15 diamond drill holes with a total length of 2,015.25m (1,656 samples)
• Detailed geological mapping and ground geophysics.

The mineralized body at Kupol had been interpreted by the Sakhalin Geological Institute as a +150m long by 50m wide mineralized body dipping at approximately 65 degrees to the east, and interpreted as extending to a depth of 100m or more below the surface. However, as a result of the geological mapping and drilling completed during the 2004 program, Oriel has reinterpreted the mineralized body as being a relatively flat-lying 10 to 20m thick zone, covering an area of approximately 150 by 100 metres, bounded along the west side by sea-cliffs. Since the intensity and grade of mineralization increases to the west, we interpret this as indicating that the bulk of this particular deposit has been eroded away. In view of this reinterpretation, Oriel has decided to pause the 2004 drilling program at 2,015 metres total length to allow Oriel to re-evaluate the Project once all the assay data becomes available in February 2005.

The original 70 square kilometre licence area has approximately ten additional exploration targets which will be evaluated beginning in 2005.

The Chairman and CEO, Dr Sergey V Kurzin said, “We are very encouraged that our original thoughts on the high grade, open pittable nature and good thickness of this deposit have been confirmed. However, the tonnage potential may be more limited than we originally thought, but reinterpretation has allowed us to identify high quality targets in the licence area for next season.

For further information, or to download the entire press release, please visit our website at www.orielresources.com or contact:

Sergey V Kurzin
svkurzin@orielresources.com

Stephen R Dattels
sdattels@orielresources.com

18 Upper Brook Street. • London W1K 7PU • England
Telephone +44 (0) 20 7514 0590 Facsimile +44 (0) 20 7514 0591