African Queen Mines starts 2012 drilling program at Noyem-Nyanfoman

African Queen Mines (CVE:AQ) said Wednesday that it has now started its 2012 core drilling program at its Noyem-Nyanfoman project on Ghana’s Ashanti Belt.
The initial phase is planned to be a minimum of 2,000 metres, and will be expanded on a "result-contingent" basis, the company said.
The drill program is being carried out by affiliates of Energold Drilling Corp. (CVE: EGD), and will be overseen by the company's  senior technical team, including Dr. Andy Moore and Pete Siegfried, and by personnel from consulting firm Remote Exploration Services.
The first holes will range generally from 100 to 200 metres in depth, with the aim of testing and confirming the gold mineralization previously discovered by predecessors of Newmont Mining Corp. on the Noyem A reef in the eastern portion of the concession, where an historic inferred gold resource of approximately 1.1 million ounces of gold was established down to a depth of 550 metres by Bonsai Gold Holdings.
The program will also test new targets elsewhere on the license area, developed through the company’s own exploration programs over the past two years.
“We are excited that drilling is now underway at Noyem-Nyanfoman and look forward to successfully building on the positive results previously achieved by Newmont and its predecessors," said African Queen CEO, Irwin Olian.
"We are particularly excited to drill some of the new targets our team has generated away from the historic resource area, as they have the potential to significantly enhance the resource potential of the property.”
The Noyem-Nyanfoman license currently covers an area of approximately 28.9 square kilometres located within the Birim North District of Ghana’s Eastern Region, approximately 130 kilometres northwest of Accra.
It is at the northeastern end of Ghana’s gold-producing Ashanti Belt, near Newmont’s Akyem deposit, which is currently under development for production - with a stated resource in excess of 8 million ounces of gold.
The property has also long been host to large numbers of artisanal miners.
African Queen can earn up to a 75 percent interest in the project under an earn-in and joint venture agreement with Akan Exploration, by funding prescribed stages from exploration through feasibility.
The African-focused mineral explorer is designated as manager and operator of the project.
Earlier this week, African Queen reported what it called "favourable" results from its preliminary field work and airborne geophysics at its Odundo property in southwest Kenya's Rongo Gold Fields.
The results are being used for target generation for the company's upcoming core drilling program at the site. African Queen said that positive sampling and geochemical results, combined with positive ground and airborne geophysics studies, have pointed to a number of "highly prospective targets" that it is planning to drill test.