Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 10, 2017) - Ashanti Gold Corp. (TSXV: AGZ) ("Ashanti" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an important corporate update on its gold exploration projects in West Africa.
Mali
The Phase 1 drill program for the Company's Kossanto East project (the "Project") announced on June 12, 2017 has now been completed. The program consisted of 53 holes, each between 100m to 150m deep, totaling 6,073-metres of reverse circulation drilling ("RC") on the Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West mineralized zones. These zones have been the subject of an historic resource estimate prepared for Alecto Minerals PLC by Wardell Armstrong in 2014 (see: http://www.alectominerals.com/operations/kossanto_east.html).
The Company's program was designed to expand areas of known mineralization as well as test the strike and dip continuity of mineralization within the limits of the historic resource estimate which encompasses an area approximately 50m x 800m at each of the Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West zones. At Gourbassi East, multi-stage gold-bearing quartz veins and veinlets crosscut silica-carbonate-altered rhyolitic rocks. At Gourbassi West, gold occurs in association with silicified felsic volcanic breccia. At both locations, gold mineralization is hosted by a thick sequence of felsic volcanic rocks inferred to occur near the top of the greenstone belt rocks that constitute the Birimian Kenieba Inlier of western Mali, eastern Senegal and eastern Guinea.
Samples have been sent to SGS Laboratory in Bamako, Mali, where they will be tested by standard 50 gram fire assay. Results are anticipated to be available in August, 2017.
Historical data
In 2014, Alecto Minerals PLC completed reverse circulation and diamond drilling programs to test previously identified mineralization at Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West. Key intercepts of gold mineralization from that historic program are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Highlights of Historic Drill Intercepts
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m)* | Au (g/t) |
| Gourbassi East | ||||
| GRC14 | 24 | 53 | 29 | 2.70 |
| Incl. | 28 | 34 | 6 | 7.94 |
| GRC15 | 7 | 60 | 53 | 1.51 |
| Incl. | 7 | 12 | 5 | 4.36 |
| Incl. | 19 | 31 | 12 | 2.55 |
| GRC16 | 0 | 75 | 75 | 2.04 |
| Incl. | 3 | 8 | 5 | 11.28 |
| Incl. | 17 | 35 | 13 | 3.88 |
| GRC17 | 29 | 75 | 46 | 2.16 |
| Incl. | 32 | 49 | 17 | 3.86 |
| GRC18 | 47 | 51 | 4 | 3.72 |
| GRC19 | 34 | 65 | 31 | 1.31 |
| Incl. | 35 | 48 | 13 | 2.29 |
| Gourbassi West | ||||
| GRC46 | 47 | 55 | 8 | 1.31 |
| GRC48 | 82 | 88 | 6 | 2.27 |
| GRC49 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 1.77 |
| GRC68 | 36 | 40 | 4 | 2.29 |
| GRC69 | 26 | 39 | 13 | 4.36 |
| GRC70 | 96 | 101 | 5 | 1.96 |
| GRC76 | 24 | 141 | 117 | 0.97 |
| GRC81 | 19 | 52 | 33 | 1.36 |
| Incl. | 33 | 40 | 7 | 2.40 |
* Note all assay results represent intercept lengths and are not true widths.
Ghana
Following Ashanti's completed phase 1 drill program on the Anumso project in March 2017, the Company has sent material for metallurgical test work at Blue Coast Group in Parksville, B.C. Canada. The test work will establish gold recovery rates as well as be a first step towards building an optimal recovery methodology. In addition, Ashanti has commenced a soil sampling program to test for new mineralized zones along the two main conglomerate horizons running southwest to northeast on the Anumso license area. The Company is planning both trenching and a phase 2 drilling program for 3Q2017.
In June 2017, management meetings with regulatory authorities in Ghana regarding the Kinross/Red Back licenses demonstrated favorable progress and the Company is proactively working to perfect past license documentation imperfections needed to bring the licenses into good standing and trigger Ashanti's earn-in option with Kinross (see press release of February 15, 2017).
Grant of Incentive Stock Options, Settlement of Debt for Equity
Ashanti also announces that, pursuant to its Incentive Stock Option Plan, it has granted incentive stock options to directors and officers of the Company to purchase up to an aggregate of 300,000 common shares in the capital stock of the Company. The options are exercisable on or before July 10, 2019 at a price of $0.30 per share. The Company also intends to issue 200,000 shares to a consultant for past services rendered. This share issuance is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.
ABOUT ASHANTI GOLD
Ashanti is a gold-focused, exploration and development company with advanced projects in the northern Ashanti Belt of Ghana and the Kenieba Belt of Mali. The Company targets projects where existing work demonstrates attractive potential for near-term mine development and where it has a competitive advantage due to past work experience of the team and specific project know-how.
