Perth, April 7, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian resources company Central Asia Resources Limited (ASX: CVR)("Central Asia" or "the Company") recently announced revised or maiden Resource statements for Altyntas, Kepken, Kengir and Uenke Bulak gold prospects within Kazakhstan and is now pleased to announce its strategy for these 4 prospects.
Central Asia's CEO, Jason Stirbinskis said "Late last year we announced the conversion of our Uenke Bulak exploration license to a commercial license and we now have sufficient information about the other three gold prospects to pursue the same path and convert these prospects to commercial licenses before October 1st 2008, the date these exploration licenses expire".
The conversion of exploration licenses to commercial licenses is a necessary step under Kazakh law as a precursor to our company's strategy of development and production.
"Our focus prior to October 1st is to aggressively drill to extend the mineralisation at our highly prospective gold prospects" Mr Stirbinskis said. "All our prospects remain open and we have five drill rigs assigned to target and define the largest lateral extensions before applying for commercial licences".
In addition to progressing the Uenke Bulak feasibility studies, the Company will commence preliminary Metallurgical testwork as part of scoping studies for Altyntas, Kepken and Kengir and intend to take these prospects into Pre-Feasibility Studies next year.
Mr Stirbinskis added "All three prospects are within close proximity, we are very keen to see if any processing synergies exist across the prospects, we also want to investigate if any of these three sites could be the second production site for equipment initially planned for Uenke Bulak.
"Since listing last year we have been able to rapidly progress our exploration in Kazakhstan to be in an enviable position of moving from an explorer to a gold producer with a promising outlook for strengthening gold prices. Uenke Bulak presents a potential opportunity for short term, low capital production and early cashflow for the company, but will not distract us from the larger and highly prospective opportunities presented to us at our other prospects".
The company will continue to explore and actively look for potential acquisition opportunities throughout the year and has recently agreed to conduct due diligence on 2 areas, Dalabai and Bizhe, for potential acquisition. The areas are in close proximity to the existing prospects. There has been some mining already conducted on the Dalabai area and some plant may be included in the acquisition. The acquisition price will be negotiated once more is known about the condition and availability of the equipment.
The company's website, fact sheet and recent broker presentation pack have also been updated to reflect the updated strategy.
Background - Central Asia Resources Limited
Central Asia holds a 60% interest in Golden Eagle Investment Resources Limited ("Golden Eagle"). Golden Eagle has a 95% interest in the Alytn-Tas Joint Venture and a 60% interest in the Buguty-Palm Joint Venture.
Central Asia manages Golden Eagle and all subscription moneys paid to Golden Eagle fund exploration and administration for the Joint Ventures.
Through the joint ventures, Central Asia has acquired an indirect interest in the Altyntas, Kepken, Kengir and Uenke Bulak prospects in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
All projects were the subject of exploration by Soviet workers from the 1960s to the mid-1990s. Since the mid 1990s Moonstone and Palmerston, the previous owners whose interests have been acquired by Golden Eagle, had completed several diamond drilling programs and regional geochemical exploration and mapping programs in the region.
The project areas currently total approximately 3200km2 and have been estimated by the previous owners to contain various significant historical Russian category and unclassified resource estimates (these resource estimates are considered conceptual only and cannot be formally classified in accordance with the current JORC Code guidelines). The Company's activity has focused on the four most prospective sites within this large area - Altyntas, Kepken, Kengir and Uenke Bulak.
The company's project areas are close to Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan and has well established road, rail and telecommunications infrastructure.
In July 2006 Central Asia commenced a two-year exploration program to validate historical geological data and generate resources. In April 2007 the company announced revised Resource Estimates for Altyntas, Kepken, Kengir and Uenke Bulak The Company remains focussed on resource definition and prospect evaluation with the objective of increasing resource estimates which can be classified in accordance the current JORC Code guidelines and declaring commercial discoveries under Kazakhstan mining laws as a prerequisite to production.
Since commencing the program, the Company has completed in excess of 13,000m of RC and diamond drilling.
Contact
Jason Stirbinskis
Chief Executive Officer
Central Asia Resources Limited
Phone: +61 8 9486 4788
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