Arc announces Baku gold exploration results

Australian mining firm Arc Exploration Limited said Wednesday its drilling results indicate a large gold system at its Baku Prospect in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.

The Baku Prospect is one of a number of prospects within the Bima Project area and is centred on a 400m by 300m silica-clay/vughy silica alteration lithocap developed on a quartz-feldspar porphyry that intrudes andesitic-dacitic volcanic rocks in the south of the tenement.

Recent geological mapping, and soil and rock chip sampling has identified two new areas of interest at Baku:

Firstly a >300m by 200m coincident Au-Ag-As-Sb-Mo soil anomaly over a quartz stockworked altered porphyry intrusion. The soil anomaly is open to the southeast.

Within the soil anomaly rock-chip sampling showed elevated gold and multielement results. Thirty-six of 88 (~40%) rock samples returned >0.2 g/t gold assays with a mean of 0.83 g/t Au.

A best result of 12m at 1.7 g/t Au and 10 g/t Ag, is associated with a zone of stockworked veining. This includes a high-grade result of 1m at 10.2 git Au with 24 g/t Ag. Another continuous-chip sample, taken 80m to the northwest returned 3m at 6.75 g/t Au, including a high-grade result of 1m at 12.3 g/t Au and 24 g/t Ag.

Secondly about 250m to the northeast is a >200m by 100m gold soil anomaly that is open to the northeast.

"The results indicate potential for a large bulk tonnage gold system possibly related to deeper porphyry-style copper-gold mineralisation," the company said.

Infill soil and rock chip sampling are now underway at Baku.

ARX is also in the process of defining further targets within the Bima IUP for scout drilling in early 2011.

Samples reported were prepared and assayed at Intertek Assay Laboratories in Jakarta. Historical results are from North Limited Exploration database.(kanti)