VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 17, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ashanti Gold Corp. (“Ashanti” or the “Company”) - (TSXV:AGZ) is pleased to announce it has elected to initiate the option agreement with an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation (“Kinross”) to earn a 100% interest in three prospecting licenses located in the Ashanti Belt in central Ghana (the “Project” as further described in Figures 1 and 2). Ashanti signed one Option Agreement for each prospecting license (the “Option Agreements”) with Kinross on February 15, 2017 (see press release from February 15, 2017).
Figure 1. Location map of the Project, Newmont’s Akyem mine and Ashanti’s Anumso Project within the broader Ashanti greenstone belt.
Figure 2. Location map of the Kwahu Oda, Asankare, New Abirem licenses (the Project) relative to Newmont’s Akyem mine and Ashanti’s Anumso Project.
The Project consists of three licenses: Kwahu Oda, Asankare, New Abirem. The Project covers a total area of approximately 68 km2 in the prolific Ashanti Belt of Ghana. These licenses have been selected to build on previous work by Kinross and Newmont Mining Corporation (“Newmont”). Their location is based on the presence of shear-zone-hosted gold targets similar to those found along the northwest and southeast margins of the Ashanti Belt. Directly to the south of the Project is Newmont’s Akyem mine, which was commissioned in 2013 and produced 470,000 ounces of gold in 2016, making it a major gold producer in the world.
On the Kwahu Oda license in 2003 Red Back Mining Inc. drilled 2,495m Reverse Circulation (“RC”) holes to an average depth of 29m. Highlight historical results for these RC holes for gold mineralization include: 10m @ 8.8 g/t, 11m @ 1.5 g/t, 8m @ 3.1 g/t, 7m @ 3.9 g/t, 5m @ 2.5 g/t. (This information is based on incomplete, previously unpublished historic data. This information is historic in nature and is not part of any resource estimate). Numerous other soil and auger geochemical samples on each license remain untested.
The Option Agreements provide Ashanti with the right to earn 100% of Kinross’ interest in the Project by expending US$1.0 million on exploration over two years, but no less than US$500,000 in the first year. The Ghanaian government retains a 10% carried interest in all minerals projects in Ghana, therefore upon completion of the earn-in agreement Ashanti will have a 90% net interest.
Tim McCutcheon, Ashanti’s CEO, said: “The Ashanti Belt Project is a chance for Ashanti to leverage upon past team work experience and the success of Newmont’s Akyem mine, immediately adjacent to the south.”
ABOUT ASHANTI GOLD
Ashanti is a gold-focused, exploration and development company that targets projects where it has a competitive advantage due to past work experience of the team and specific project know-how. The Company is driving forward its 100%-owned Kossanto East project in Mali on the prolific Kenieba Belt of Mali, which hosts such deposits as Loulo, Fekola and Sadiola. Ashanti is also working to advance, together with its earn-in partners, the Anumso project and the Ashanti Belt project in Ghana, which are near-adjacent to the Akyem deposit.
