Oropa reports intersection at N. Sumatra gold project

ASX-listed mineral explorer Oropa Limited announced on Monday significant drill intersections from the Old Camp Area, located in the Sihayo 1 North prospect, part of the its 75%-owned Pungkut Gold Project in North Sumatra.

Drilling to the east of the main Sihayo 1 North Inferred Resource, which currently comprises 12.1mt @ 2.4g/t Au for 910,000 ounces of gold, targeting gold found in test-pits of regolith material discovered both thick intervals of gold in regolith and a new primary jasperoid gold mineralisation.

Significant results from drilling at the Old Camp area have been received and include:

? SHDD112: 27m @ 2.36 ppm from surface
1m@ 1.04 ppm from 47m
2m @ 1.44 ppm from 51m
10m @ 2.50 ppm from 58m
14m @ 2.35 ppm from 82m

? SHDD113: 2m @ 1.64 ppm from 17m

In May 2008, Sihayo 1 North reported a 49% increase in the Inferred Resource to 12.1 million tonnes grading 2.4g/t gold for 910,000 ounces of contained gold. Combined with the nearby Sambung resource estimation completed the previous year, the total Inferred Resources for the project have increased to in excess of 1 million ounces of gold.

A scoping Study into the economics of bring these combined resources to mining is currently being conducted by SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd, with results anticipated in mid-September 2008.

The Old Camp Area had previously been interpreted to be closed off by a fence of drill holes to the east of the Sihayo 1 North Inferred Resource that were completed by Oropa in 2005. However, a recent re-interpretation of the Sihayo 1 North geology identified fault zones through the deposit truncating the lithology and jasperoids, thereby creating the possibility for further mineralisation beyond these eastern fault zones.

Current drilling is following up on gold in jasperoidal regolith material identified in earlier trenching and more recent test-pitting. Tertiary sediments and regolith blanket the area obscuring the bedrock, as occurs over a significant portion of the Sihayo 1 North resource. This opens the potential for further gold mineralisation in the Old Camp Area. Previous Induced Polarization (IP) geophysics is assisting with the interpretation in this area.(denny)