European Goldfields Limited (AIM: EGU / TSX: EGU) has announced highly encouraging exploration results from its initial drilling programme in Turkey.
Highlights
- High-grade gold zone outlined at Salinbas including trench results of:
- 46 metres at 8.33 g/t gold
- 32 metres at 5.43 g/t gold
- 38 metres at 3.67 g/t gold
- With follow-up drilling:
- 21.5 metres at 6.63 g/t gold
- 42.7 metres at 2.78 g/t gold
- 18.2 metres at 4.08 g/t gold
- Ardala porphyry drilling intercepts 189 metres at 0.17 g/t gold and 0.24% copper
- Continuing drilling expected to yield further results in the coming months
Work to date has focused on three targets: the Salinbas Gold Zone, the Ardala copper-gold porphyry within the Ariana joint venture and the Derinkoy gold target in the Aldridge Minerals joint venture. Regional sampling aimed at selecting other targets for licence applications has also continued across the Pontide region.
Commenting on these results, Patrick Forward, Vice President (Projects and Exploration) of European Goldfields, said:
"We are delighted that our exploration efforts in Turkey have confirmed the presence of these excellent high grades over significant widths at Salinbas. This deposit represents a brand new discovery with potential to add to our resource base and indicates the upside of the Eastern Pontide region of Turkey. The results at the adjacent Ardala target indicate a larger system of porphyry mineralisation which will be further investigated in the coming months".
Salinbas Gold Zone
Last year European Goldfields announced the discovery of a new high-grade gold epithermal discovery named Salinbas. Mineralisation is associated with a series of breccias pipes along a structural corridor of more than 300 metres in drilled strike length and which is open at depth and along strike. The system is interpreted to relate to the Ardala porphyry some two kilometres away. The discovery was revealed in a series of trenches and further trenching was carried out in 2010. All trench results to date in bedrock can be summarised as follows:
Results reported for intercepts >1g/t Au using a 0.5 g/t Au lower cut, no upper cut and up to 10 metres of waste material allowed.
Follow-up diamond drill core holes have been completed in 2010 and confirmed the high-grade intercepted in trenches:
Results reported for intercepts >1g/t Au using a 0.5 g/t Au lower cut, no upper cut and up to 6 metres of waste material allowed
Further drilling is planned to investigate the strike and depth extensions of the zone.
Ardala Porphyry
Mapping and sampling of the Ardala porphyry in 2009 indicated that the mineralisation continues under shallow limestone cover to the south of the outcrop previously explored in the 1990's. Diamond core drill testing of this in 2010 has confirmed this geological model with the following intercepts.
Results reported for intercepts using a 0.1 g/t Au lower cut, no upper cut and up to 6 metres of waste material allowed
Further drilling is planned in order to establish the full extent of the porphyry extension.
Derinkoy
Two gold epithermal targets identified by soil anomalies of more than one and two kilometres in length respectively were selected for drill testing. Drilling has commenced on one of these and results are expected over the next two months.
Regional
Work across the Eastern Pontide region continues and targets with confirmed gold and silver mineralisation in bedrock samples have been selected for licence selection once the next round of licence auctions commences in early 2011.
Source: European Goldfields Limited