East Asia begins Phase II drill program at Sangihe Gold Project

Canadian metal exploration firm East Asia Minerals Corporation announced on Tuesday that it has commenced a Phase II drilling program at its Sangihe gold project, located in North Sulawesi.

A 200-metre capacity diamond drill rig is currently on its way to site and will begin drilling at the Binebase oxide gold deposit within 10 days. A total of 4,000 metres of diamond drilling are planned during this campaign, which is targeted for completion by calendar year end, the company said.

The Phase II drill program will focus on expansion of the surface and near-surface gold resources at both Binebase and Bawone through further in-fill and extension drilling. In addition, beginning in April, an airborne magnetic survey will be conducted over a significant portion of the license area to generate new prospects.

East Asia also intends to conduct initial drilling at the Salurang, Sede, Kupa and Taware gold prospects, which are known to host gold-bearing quartz veins.

East Asia completed the Phase I drill program at Sangihe in 2008, which included 7,561 metres of drilling in 79 shallow holes at the Binebase (62 holes) and Bawone (17 holes) prospects. In addition, almost 1,700 surface samples were collected.

In September 2010, East Asia released an initial NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for its Sangihe gold project. The Binebase deposit has an inferred resource of 17.9 million tonnes at 0.76 g/t gold and 18.7 g/t silver for a total of 435,234 ounces gold and 10,716,742 ounces silver. The Bawone deposit has an inferred resource of 9.5 million tonnes at 1.32 g/t gold and 4.0 g/t silver for a total of 401,484 ounces gold and 1,210,495 ounces silver.

East Asia has a 70 to 85% interest in six advanced gold and gold-copper properties located in Aceh Province, Sumatra, and Sangihe Island, North Sulawesi. (alex)