African Queen Mines (CVE:AQ) revealed Tuesday that its results from the 2012 diamond core drilling program at its Noyem-Nyanfoman gold project in the eastern region of Ghana were consistent with historic data, confirming the potential of the asset.
"We are delighted that initial results from our core drilling program at the Noyem-Nyanfoman Gold Project are consistent with historic results reported by Newmont's predecessors and tend to validate the geologic model developed by our technical team," said CEO Irwin Olian.
"This should set the stage for accelerated development of the project next year."
The 29 square kilometre project is hosted within the the basal conglomerates of the Tarkwaian Group's Banket Formation, which also hosts the Tarkwa Gold Mine operated by Gold Fields that has a combined gold resource of 15 million ounces.
The company said its initial results from the drill program are consistent with reported historic results from predecessors ofNewmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), and "tend to confirm the presence in the region over a strike of at least 5.6 km of a relatively continuous gold-bearing reef varying in width from one to 5 m."
African Queen said that between 1996 and 1997, Bonsu Gold Holdings, a subsidiary of Gencor and predecessor to Newmont, drilled a total of 2,019.50 metres of core from 27 drill holes along the line of strike of the conglomerates of the Banket Formation, which constitutes the company's Northern Limb target.
The Bonsu program indicated a zone of "elevated gold concentration" within the Noyem Conglomerate Zone, and the aim of the junior's explorer's drill program this year was to validate the gold results from the Bonsu drill holes, and infill to reduce drill spacing.
The program was also designed to extend the drill grid toward the east at 100 to 200 metre intervals.
During its diamond core drilling campaign, a total of 1,981.50 metres of core was drilled from 26 drill holes to a maximum depth of 150 metres. Of the 26 drill holes, 24 intersected the mineralized Noyem zone, while the other 2 holes were abandoned before intersecting the zone due to drilling difficulties.
Considering the nuggety nature of palaeoplacer gold deposits, the company said the comparison of the average widths and gold grades of the intersected mineralized Noyem zone between each pair of twinned holes showed "reasonable correlations".
The statistical comparison between the Bonsu and African Queen drilling datasets also showed a "relatively good statistical correlation", with the two drilling programs showing broad overlap of the zone of elevated gold grades.
As such, it noted that both drilling datasets were combined for interpretative purposes.
Results from African Queen included 4.03 metres at 2.49 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in the Western zone of the Northern Limb target.
The company said the results show that the Western, and in particular, the Central zones of the target are the most prospective, and further drilling will be done to test along strike and down dip of the mineralized Noyem zone, which so far has not been tested below a vertical depth of 150 metres.
It added that the mineralized Noyem Conglomerate Zone extends to the east of the Northern Limb target, where the stratigraphy has been folded to form a large structure referred to as the Hinge Zone target. The Hinge Zone target is yet to be drill tested, the miner said, but is considered to be prospective due to the presence of flooded artisanal workings that were previously mined by small-scale miners.
African Queen, as operator of the project, can earn up to a 75 per cent stake in the property under a joint venture deal with Akan Exploration, by funding prescribed stages of exploration through to feasibility.
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.
Just last month, the company said it found four new targets from continuing field work in its phase 1b exploration program at the Ugunja gold project in Kenya.
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