Perth, Aug 25, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - ABM Resources NL (ASX:ABU) holds a 67.33% interest in the highly prospective Mimosa gold project and has the right to increase its interest to 86.33% after spending US$3M. Mimosa is adjacent to the under-explored Archaean greenstone belt of the Manica Province in central Mozambique, approximately 800km north of the Mozambique capital of Maputo.
Key Points:
- Encouraging first assay results including 4m @ 8.71g/t Au received from the scout RC drilling program at Mimosa.
- A total of 895m of RC and 398m of diamond drilling completed to date.
- These drill results represent first modern exploration and drilling carried out at Mimosa which hosts over 20 years of extensive artisanal workings.
Mimosa lies adjacent to the east-west trending Odzi-Mutare Greenstone Belt, which has historically produced an estimated 2.5 million ounces of gold. The Mimosa gold project area possesses an extensive gold mining history and has not previously been explored using modern exploration techniques. Local artisanal miners have been mining gold in quartz veins at Mimosa by hand for approximately 20 years. The project consists of three concessions totalling 960 hectares.
Drilling Program
ABM is pleased to announce that encouraging drill results including 4m @ 8.71g/t Au have been received from the first five hole batch of assay results from the scout RC drilling program at Mimosa. A total of 12 RC drill holes have been completed for a total 895m. RC drill holes have been completed on sections 80 to 160m apart.
The RC drilling program was aimed at testing areas where rock chip sampling completed by ABM returned assays of up to 30.1g/t Au. In addition, drilling will test the depth continuations of the gold mineralization being exploited by local artisanal miners.
Due to the problems with the RC rig drilling through the weathered profile, a diamond drill rig was secured to complete the remainder of the program. A total of two diamond tails and two surface diamond holes have been completed for a total of 400m. The statistics of the RC and diamond drill holes are tabled below:
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Hole ID North East Dip Azimuth Depth
m
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MC001 480987 7921870 -60* 180* 92
MC002 480990 7921961 -60* 180* 70
MCD003 481061 7921990 -60* 180* 130
MC004 481150 7922206 -60* 180* 73
MC005 481228 7922051 -60* 180* 60
MCD006 481239 7922206 -60* 180* 178.2
MC007 481388 7922170 -60* 180* 62
MC008 481312 7922116 -60* 180* 92
MC009 481488 7922166 -60* 180* 115
MC010 481635 7922282 -60* 180* 40
MC011 481771 7922257 -60* 180* 49
MC012 481651 7922172 -60* 180* 49
MD013 481059 7921992 -60* 090* 142
MD014 481239 7922206 -60* 090* 139.2
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Drilling to date has demonstrated that weathering at Mimosa can extend to depths greater than 70 metres. The weathered material mostly consists of clays and minor saprolitic zones. In primary/fresh zone, the lithologies comprise granitic gneisses and small discontinuous ultramafic intrusions (talc-chlorite) with epidote, magnetite and pyrite alteration.
The samples from the RC drilling were collected over 1m intervals and 4m composite samples were dispatched for analysis. Samples were prepared by single stage mill and grind. Pulverised samples were analysed by fire assay method using a 50 gram sample with results reported in ppm. Assays from the first five drill holes are tabled below:
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Hole ID North East Interval Au g/t
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MC001 480987 7921870 0-4 0.82
16-20 0.39
MC002 480990 7921961 No significant results
MC003 481061 7921990 4-8 0.29
MC004 481150 7922206 No significant results
MC005 481228 7922051 56-60 8.71
60-61 0.77
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