Southern Arc announces drilling results from Mencanggah and Pelangan prospects

Mineral exploration firm Southern Arc Minerals announced on Wednesday it has received assay results from the first two holes drilled on the Mencanggah Prospect on its West Lombok Project in Indonesia.

Drill holes MCG001 and MCG002 drilled at the Waterfall target (Figure 1) failed to reach their target depth; however, both holes intersected parallel subsidiary epithermal quartz vein and breccia structures (Figure 2) that returned the following encouraging intervals:

MCG001 2.30 m @ 3.96 g/t Au from 257.50 m
including 0.80 m @ 7.60 g/t Au from 259.00 m
MCG002 2.00 m @ 5.15 g/t Au from 118.70 m
including 0.20 m @ 9.80 g/t Au from 118.70 m

Based on surface mapping, the Waterfall target comprises a 1,200 metre long zone of mineralized epithermal breccias and veins, with two main parallel structures (15m average width) that are interpreted to coalesce at depth based on structural data (Figure 2).

Dr. Mike Andrews, Southern Arc?s President and Chief Operating Officer, commented: ?The first drill holes at the Mencanggah prospect have returned encouraging intercepts and confirm gold mineralization at depth, albeit in splays peripheral to the main target zones. Further drilling at Waterfall is a high priority and we look forward to reporting results as the drill program advances.?

Holes MCG001 and MCG002 were halted in August following local unrest. Southern Arc has increased security at site and expects to resume drilling at Mencanggah by month end to test gold-bearing epithermal breccias with a program of approximately 30 holes to an average depth of 300 metres to complete a total of 10,000 metres by year end (Figure 1). Follow-up drilling with the objective of completing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate for Mencanggah will continue through the first half of 2012.

Pelangan Drill Results
Southern Arc has also received assays for holes PDL028 to PDL033 drilled at the Pelangan Prospect.

PLD028 (Central Raja) 1.35m @ 1.0 g/t Au and 6.2 g/t Ag from 251.05m
PLD031 (South Raja) 3.90m @ 3.9 g/t Au from 154.70m
including 0.85m @ 11.5 g/t Au from 156.40m
PLD032 (South Raja) 13.15m @ 1.4 g/t Au from 87.20m
including 3.30m @ 2.3 g/t Au from 97.05m
PLD033 (Tanjung) 0.65m @ 1.04 g/t Au from 114.95m

Drill holes PLD029 and PLD030 at North Raja did not intersect any significant mineralization.

Southern Arc has drilled more than 7,000 metres at Pelangan as part of its Phase 2 exploration program. Drilling will resume at Pelangan in late Q4-2011 with approximately 13,000 metres with the objective of completing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Pelangan Prospect in the first half of 2012. (romel)