Midlands Minerals Corporation (TSX VENTURE:MEX)(OTCQX:MDLXF) has announced that the potential to increase the ounces of gold on Sian has been significantly increased as a result of reinterpretation of geological structures on Sian and Kwahu Praso.
Tom Neelands, P.Geo. and Vice President Exploration said: "The new geological model changes the focus from adding more indicated gold ounces to the current Sian gold deposit, to adding inferred ounces from other highly prospective geochemical targets south of the Sian open pit. These new ounces will be less costly to obtain and will provide a clearer picture of the potential of the property and the importance of MMI soil sampling as an exploration tool. We are now targeting two million "inferred" ounces using the new interpretation of the geochemical and geophysical data.
Sian and Praso are two highly prospective gold projects which lie in upper birimian geology with a very strong influence of dixcove granatoids. Together, Sian and Praso form a 160 square kilometre gold district on the north east end of the Ashanti Gold belt.
An aggressive MMI (mobile metal ion) soil sampling program, designed to further confirm the new interpretation prior to drilling the remaining 9,000 meters on Sian/Praso, has been underway since January 2011 on a number of selected targets. To this end, a Phase 1 infill MMI soil sampling survey has been completed over an area of 3 kilometres by 2 kilometres, which now provides coverage on a spacing of 100 meters by 50 meters. Previous sampling was completed at 200 meters by 50 meters, and this is considered inadequate since most of the indicated resource on Sian (322,100 ounces grading 1.9 g/t) and inferred (216,800 ounces grading 1.7 g/t) falls within a 200 metre strike-length.
"This tighter sampling grid will also address the possible existence of ENE structural controls on the mineralization that is associated with the Obuasi-Aykem ENE trend that cross-cuts the Esaase stratigraphic trend," said Tom Neelands, P.Geo.
Some wide-spaced drilling has already been completed in this area, which covers about 16 square kilometres. Most of the drilling was done on lines spaced 200 metres apart. "Although all holes intersected gold, there was very little follow-up to the wide intersections and mineralized parallel structures because the Sian open pit prospect had priority," said Tom Neelands, P.Geo.
Once the Phase 1 infill soil results have been interpreted, an aggressive drill program will start in May 2011 to source the required additional inferred ounces on Sian and Praso.
"We are pleased to have a fresh interpretation of very complex geological structures on Sian/Praso," said Kim Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer.
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed by Tom Neelands, P.Geo., and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.
Source: Midlands Minerals Corporation