Release: Avocet receives positive gold grades from S. Sulawesi project
Wednesday, February 6 2008 - 08:05 AM WIB
Avocet Mining PLC announces positive gold grades in scout drilling from the Mangkaluku prospect in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Since announcing significant gold trenching results on 30 August and 22 November 2006, the Company has gained a 90% effective beneficial interest in a 181 km2 Kuasa Pertambangan Explorasi or national exploration license covering the South Sulawesi prospects.
Avocet has now completed 12 drill holes (1,832 metres) evaluating the two most significant vein systems, which strike ENE over a distance of 600 metres with widths of up to 200 metres and NNE over a length of 500 metres with widths of up to 100 metres. Drill hole locations are laid out in the figure that can be found in the announcement on the Company?s website.
The significant intercepts from this scout drilling programme, which include 2m @ 117 g/t Au from 34 metres depth (MLD005) and 12m @ 3.51 g/t Au from 117metres (MLD007). Native gold is visible in seven of the twelve holes. These results are highly encouraging and warrant follow-up with broad infill drilling to define the resource potential at Mangkaluku. Further drilling work will remain subject to the usual permitting processes.
A review of drill core has identified at least four phases of veining hosted by phyllic-altered monzodiorite. Two phases of sheeted quartz-arsenopyrite?carbonate veining are clearly associated with gold mineralisation. These veins occur as narrow, high grade sets (notably 2m @ 117 g/t Au) that bulk out to wider, but lower grade zones enveloping narrow internal waste zones (including 12m @ 3.51 g/t Au).
Jonathan Henry, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
?These encouraging results highlight the potential of the Mangkaluku prospect and are a further demonstration of our exploration team?s ability to find highly prospective gold projects. We look forward to the next phase of work at South Sulawesi, and at the other projects where we have recently announced successful drilling results, as part of our strategy of significantly growing the Company?s resource base.? (end of edited release)