TORONTO, Nov. 17, 2017 /CNW/ - Avesoro Resources Inc. ("Avesoro" or the "Company"), the TSX and AIM listed West African gold producer, is pleased to announce that four diamond drill rigs have been mobilised to its wholly owned New Liberty Gold Mine ("New Liberty") and have commenced a 14,000 metre diamond core drilling campaign targeting an area of the New Liberty resource model containing an Inferred Mineral Resource of some 3.5Mt with a mean grade of 2.8g/t Au and containing 315koz of gold.
This Inferred material is located within and below the current pit design and is within the open pit reporting limits, but due to its resource classification is currently treated as waste in the Mineral Resource announced by the Company on 11 October 2017.
The objective of the 46 hole infill drilling programme is to increase confidence in the continuity of the ore body and upgrade the classification of a proportion of the Inferred material to an Indicated Mineral Resource, and thereby increase the tonnage of mineralisation that can be converted to a Mineral Reserve and included in the economic model as required by NI 43-101.
It is anticipated that this drilling programme will be completed during Q1 2018, at which time the Company will commence work on an updated Mineral Resource and Reserve statement.
Serhan Umurhan, Chief Executive Officer of Avesoro Resources, said: "I am pleased to announce the start of this infill drilling programme at New Liberty. We expect drilling operations to be completed during Q1 2018 and I look forward to updating shareholders on the progress of this campaign which we believe has the potential to increase the mine life and significantly add to the value of New Liberty".
The 14,000 metre drilling programme contract (the "Drilling Contract") has been entered into between the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Bea Mountain Mining Corporation and Zwedru Mining Inc., a related party to the Company. The Drilling Contract has a value of approximately US$1 million, which will be paid in cash, with a HQ drilling cost of between US$59 and US$69 per metre.
Zwedru Mining Inc. is 100% owned by Avesoro Jersey Limited, the Company's majority shareholder, and therefore, entering into the Drilling Contract constitutes a related party transaction for the Company under the AIM Rules.
About Avesoro Resources Inc.
The Company's assets include the New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia (the "New Liberty Gold Mine," "New Liberty" or the "mine") which has an estimated proven and probable mineral reserve of 7.4Mt with 717,000 ounces of gold grading 3.03g/t and an estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 9.6Mt with 985,000 ounces of gold grading 3.2g/t and an estimated inferred mineral resource of 6.4Mt with 620,000 ounces of gold grading 3.0g/t. The foregoing Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates and additional information in connection therewith will be set out in an NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report for the New Liberty Project to be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of the Company's disclosure of the new Mineral Resource estimate made on October 11, 2017.
The New Liberty Gold Mine is located within the Southern Block of the 100% owned Bea Mountain mining licence. This licence covers 478 km² and has a 25 year, renewable, mineral development agreement. The Bea Mountain mining license also hosts additional gold projects of Ndablama, Gondoja, Weaju and Leopard Rock which host indicated and inferred mineral resources. The Company also owns the Yambesei, Archaen West, Mabong and Mafa West licences, in addition to a gold exploration permit in Cameroon.
