KEFI Minerals sells Yatik gold property in Turkey

KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEFI) announced the sale of the Yatik gold project in Western Anatolia for US$150,000 in cash to a Turkish gold miner - Koza Altin Iş letmeleri AŞ (Koza). In addition to the cash payment, the company will also receive a 2.5% Net Smelter Return (NSR) royalty on specified minerals such as gold, silver and base metals potentially produced from Yatik.

The company said that the sale proceeds will be used to fund its continuing exploration activities.

"KEFI Minerals has created shareholder value by our early identification of Yatik”, managing director Jeff Rayner commented. “The cash component of the sale is greater than our expenditure on the project and we retain a valuable entitlement to potential future gold production via a 2.5% Net Smelter Return royalty".

KEFI's Yatik gold project hosts 400m strike length of a gold-bearing epithermal vein, which continues eastwards out of the licence area, with total length estimated to be at least 1.3km.

The company said that the epithermal, chalcedonic quartz textures suggest a high level of exposure of the vein system with the potential for bonanza gold grades at depth. KEFI noted that surface rock-chip sampling returned grades up to 11 grams per tonne (gpt) gold and limited reverse-circulation (RC) drilling to 60m, by previous explorers, returned up to 31m at 1.3gpt and 7m at 5.7gpt gold.

KEFI won a tender for the licence, which covered the western 400m exposure, in mid-2007, whilst Koza subsequently won a separate tender in mid-2008 covering the remaining 900m of the eastern extension of the vein.

"We believe that the Yatik vein has the potential to contain more than one million ounces in the Ovacik-Yatik gold corridor. Koza owns the operating gold mine and plant at Ovacik, and has demonstrated that it can successfully develop new gold mines in the Western Anatolia region of Turkey”, Rayner added. “It also owns the majority of the Yatik vein and is the logical company to continue the exploration and potentially develop a mine at Yatik.”

In Turkey, KEFI Minerals currently has several exploration projects: At Derinin Tepe in the Western Anatolia Region, low-sulphidation epithermal quartz veins have been identified with gold and silver mineralisation. At Artvin, in northeastern Turkey, extensive hydrothermal alteration and gold and base metal mineralisation have been recognised in the project area, as well as historical workings indicating potential for economic   mineralisation. Artvin is a joint venture operated by KEFI Minerals and funded by Centerra Gold Inc (TSX: CG), which has the right to earn up to 70% interest in the property by spending US$6 million.
  
Bakir Tepe, in southwestern Turkey, is prospective for VHMS polymetallic deposits, and at Gumushane in eastern Turkey, areas of extensive hydrothermal alteration have been recognised in the project area, as well as coincident areas of interest identified through interpretation of Aster data.

Hasancelebi, in central Turkey, is prospective for high-sulphidation epithermal gold mineralisation and iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineralisation.

Muratdag, in the Western Anatolia Region, is prospective for Carlin-style epithermal gold mineralisation.

In relation to its other exploration activities, Kefi announced yesterday it has lodged a total of 21 exploration license applications (ELAs) in Saudi Arabia covering 2,100 square kilometres, while reconnaissance and generative studies to identify other areas of interest in the country continued.

KEFI’s Saudi Arabian operations are focused on the Precambrian Arabian Shield and the JV (joint venture) with domestic construction group Abdul Rahman Saad Al-Rashid & Sons Company Limited (ARTAR). The company holds 40% in the JV, which is currently in the final stages of being incorporated in capital Riyadh.

The 21 ELAs submitted by the JV called Gold and Minerals (G&M), about a third of which are in advanced stages, are in various stages of being processed by the Deputy Ministry for Minerals Resources (DMMR). Some applications are expected to be granted soon.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/6496/kefi-minerals-sells-yatik-gold-property-in-turkey-6496.html