African Queen Mines extends exploration license at Odundu by two years

African Queen Mines (CVE:AQ) said Wednesday that the terms of its exploration license for the Odundu property in southwest Kenya's Rongo Gold Fields has been extended for another two years.
The company said the Mines and Geological Department of the Republic of Kenya has now renewed special license No. 287, granted to the company’s joint venture partner Abba Mining, for a further period of two years to January 22, 2014.
The original license was issued to Abba in January 2010, for an initial term of two years.
In addition, African Queen said the boundaries of the license were changed to reflect the settlement agreement entered into by Abba and B & M Mining Company earlier this year, by reducing the area covered by the license by 15 square kilometres to 97 square kilometres.
The news today allows the company to move forward with its drilling and exploration programs at Odundu for the next two years.
“We are delighted to have the full support of the Kenya Mines and Geological Department for our Odundu project and other exploration projects in Kenya," said CEO Irwin Olian.
The Odundu property covers an area of approximately 97 square kilometres in the Kanango gold mining area of the Migori District of Nyanza Province near Lake Victoria.
The project is situated some 380 kilometres by road from the capital city of Nairobi and 60 kilometres north of the border with Tanzania, forming part of the rich Lake Victoria Greenstone Belt that hosts gold deposits including African Barrick Gold's Bulyanhulu and North Mara Mines and AngloGold Ashanti's Geita Mine.
Earlier this month, the company said that Alkili Minerals Services has initiated its 2,000 metre core drilling program at the Odundu property.
The company previously completed a program of regional exploration including mapping, sampling trenching and ground and airbourne geophysics on the property.
In February and March of this year, seven trenches totaling 520 metres and covering a northwest-southeast strike of approximately 580 metres were excavated perpendicular to the main shear zone.
Broad zones of mineralized material were recorded in all seven trenches, as wide as 40 metres. Gold assay results obtained from samples from the main artisanal pit located between trenches A1 and B1 ranged between 2.12 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 35.0 g/t. Intermediate values recorded within this range were 2.43 g/t, 3.0 g/t, 8.33 g/t, and 9.70 g/t gold, the company said.
Initially, six core drill holes totaling approximately 1,300 metres have been positioned to test the gold mineralization within an anomalous area of the northwest-southeast trending shear zone traversing the property.
This shear zone was initially discovered through the company's preliminary field reconnaissance work and later delineated through airborne and ground geophysics programs.
The remainder of the drilling program, provisionally set at 2,000 metres with plans to expand based on results, will test the extensions of the shear zone and other prospective targets within the property.
Under a joint venture agreement with Kenyan-based Abba Mining Company, African Queen can earn up to an 85 percent interest in the project by funding prescribed optional stages from exploration through feasibility.
The company is also the manager and operator of the property.
Vancouver-based African Queen is exploring its properties in Mozambique, Ghana and Kenya for gold and other metals and it is undertaking exploration in Botswana and Namibia for diamonds, gold and other metals.
Its operations in Kenya are being carried out through its operating subsidiary AQ Kenya Gold Limited.