Linear Metals Corporation (TSX:LRM) has announced the completion of an agreement with East African Pure Gold Limited and B&M Mining Company Limited, both privately-held companies, to earn an initial 80% interest in three mineral exploration concessions located in the country of Kenya.
The exploration concessions, SPL 214, SPL 231 and SPL 258, cover numerous gold and base metal targets hosted in the Migori greenstone belt of south-western Kenya (Nyanza Region).
During 2003-2004, B&M completed seven shallow drill holes over an area of approximately 900 metres ("m") x 400 m on the Kamwango artisanal workings located on Concession SPL 214.
Highlights from the limited drill program included:
- DDH-1: 2.96 metres @ 34.5 grams per tonne of gold
(hole lost in mineralized quartz vein)
- DDH-4: 2.55 metres @ 81.4 grams per tonne of gold
(hole collared in mineralized quartz vein)
The Migori greenstone belt is part of, and forms a northward continuation of, the Archean Nyanzian Greenstone Belt that extends from neighbouring Tanzania where it is host to several gold mines, notably Barrick Gold's North Mara deposit, which contains over 3.5 million ounces of gold, and AngloGold's Geita deposit which contains over 5 million ounces of gold. Other than the drill program noted above, little modern exploration has been conducted on the concessions beyond initial reconnaissance rock and soil sampling.
Brian MacEachen, President and CEO of Linear Metals, commented, "We look forward to commencing our exploration program on these prospective properties. We appreciate the support demonstrated by the Kenyan government as well as local residents and leaders who will share in the success of these properties going forward. The late Joe Krygoski, founder of EAPG and B&M, demonstrated great foresight in assembling this property portfolio and we are fortunate to have this opportunity to work with his surviving family members and business partners to realize Mr. Krygoski's vision for potential mine development in this region of Kenya."
Under the terms of the Agreements with EAPG and B&M, Linear can earn an 80% interest in the concessions by incurring exploration expenditures of US$4.0 million and making cash payments to EAPG and B&M totalling US$300,000. Several applications submitted by EAPG and B&M for additional concessions are also subject to the agreed area of interest and Linear's earn-in agreement.
SPL 214
The SPL 214 concesion covers an area of approximately 15 square kilometres ("km2"). The seven drill holes completed by B&M in 2003-2004 extended to shallow depths ranging from 28 to 73 m. Five of the seven drill holes returned significant gold mineralization, highlighted by holes DDH-1 and DDH-4 as listed above.
Holes DDH-1 and DDH-4 are located approximately 400 m apart along the same NW-trending structure. As the holes were collared on small, poorly-exposed artisanal workings, neither hole successfully intersected the full width of the system, although well-developed silica-chlorite-sericite alteration of the metabasalts extends for over 5 m from the contact with the high-grade quartz veins (locally called "quartz reefs"). Gold in the quartz veins occurs as free grains and associated with sulphides.
DDH-3 (located 100 m N of DDH-4) appears to have tested a NE-trending splay from the main NW structure, intersecting moderate gold values of 1.4 grams per tonne ("g/t") Au over 20 m (including 2.13 g/t Au over 5.5 m), while DDH-7 (located 200 m SW of DDH-1) appears to have tested a parallel structure to the main NW-structure, intersecting 2.8 g/t Au over 7.6 m (including 3.95 g/t Au over 5.3 m).
DDH-6, located approximately 600 m N of DDH-4 but slightly off the main NW-structure, intersected 0.4 g/t Au over 11.7 m. DDH-2 and DDH-5 are located off the main structures and did not return any significant assay results.
These drill holes represent a preliminary test of a 15 km2 area that hosts over 12 known artisanal gold workings, scattered over NW and NE trending structural corridors, over an approximate four km NW strike length, and approximate two km NE strike length. The Company plans to initiate IP and magnetic surveys later this month in order to better delineate the mineralized trends within this large gold-bearing system. This will be followed by a drill program to test the extensions of the known high-grade gold intercepts from the B&M drilling and surface sampling, which has returned grab and chip samples from other artisanal workings (i.e. remote from any drill holes) of up to 96.6 g/t Au, of similar tenor to the drill results.
SPL 231 & SPL 258
SPL 231 and SPL 258 cover areas of approximately 84 km2 and 358 km2 respectively. Compilation of data from SPL 231 and SPL 258 is ongoing, but initially, on SPL 258, EAPG have outlined a 6 km x 1 km long corridor (open) of gold-in-soil anomalies (up to 1,150 ppb Au), culminating in a 1.4 km x 0.7 km area of anomalous gold-in-soils (up to 2,530 ppb Au, open) and artisanal workings that have returned chips and grabs of up to 37.8 g/t Au.
On SPL 231, several artisanal gold and sulphide occurrences have been documented. The sulphide occurrences may be similar to proven volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in the belt, such as the historic Macalder Cu-Au Mine, located approximately 20 km to the south.
Further details of the gold and base metal targets on these two licenses will be released as the compilations are finalized and targets are further field-checked.
Source: Linear Metals Corporation