Perth, Nov 26, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - ABM Resources NL (ASX:ABU) acquired equity in the highly prospective Mimosa Gold Project in the under-explored Archaean greenstone belt of the Manica Province in central Mozambique, near the Zimbabwe border and approximately 800km north of the Mozambique capital of Maputo, in early 2008. The project comprises three exploration licenses (2234L, 2295L and 1435L) totalling 960 hectares of which 40 hectares are currently being worked by a well controlled, small association of approximately 200 artisanal miners. A long term agreement has been reached with the artisanal association for tenement access, exploration activities and mine development framework on that small area.
Key Points:
- Significant assay results returned including 4m @ 18.95g/t gold from the recently completed diamond drilling program.
- These drill results together with a best scout RC drilling re-split result of 5m @ 10.39g/t gold have outlined an open 150m long high grade gold zone at Mimosa located within a 750m long east-northeast to west-southwest trending gold anomalous corridor.
- These RC and diamond drilling results represent the first ever modern exploration work carried out at Mimosa which hosts over 20 years of artisanal workings.
ABM has informed its JV partners that it has reached the first exploration threshold of US$1 million and now holds 76.33% of the Mimosa project. Spending another US$2 million will allow ABM to increase its project interest to 86.33%.
Mimosa lies in the east-west trending Manica-Mutare-Odzi Greenstone Belt which extends into Zimbabwe and has historically produced an estimated 2.5 million ounces of gold, mostly from the Zimbabwean side of the border. Until recently, very little modern exploration had been carried out in the Mozambican section of the greenstone belt. However, there are now several international companies actively working in the area including Pan African Resources, which has recently announced a 1.7 million ounce gold resource at its Fair Bride Prospect, 13 km southeast of Mimosa.
Drilling Program Results
ABM is pleased to announce that significant drill assay results including 4m @ 18.95g/t gold have been received from the diamond drilling program completed at Mimosa during the September 2008 quarter. This programme included a total of 794 metres of diamond drilling in eight holes, four drilled from-surface and four drilled as diamond-tails to RC pre-collars.
In addition, the assay results for the 1m re-splits of gold anomalous composite RC intersections previously reported have been returned with a best result of 5m @ 10.39g/t gold in hole MC005.
The combined limited RC and diamond drilling programs completed in the June and September 2008 quarters have successfully outlined an east-northeast - west-southwest trending gold anomalous trend over a strike length of 750 metres using a threshold of 0.1g/t gold. Within this trend a high grade zone has been outlined over a strike length of 150m and includes drill intersections of 4m @ 18.95 g/t gold and 5m @ 10.39 g/t gold. This high grade zone remains open at depth and in both directions.
Due to the steep nature of the topography and some mechanical issues with the drilling contractor only a limited number of drill holes have been completed to date. These are on sections 80 metres apart with most sections having only one drill hole. Drilling has demonstrated that weathering at Mimosa can extend to depths of greater than 70 metres. The weathered material mostly comprises highly leached clays and minor saprolitic zones. In the primary/fresh zone, the lithologies comprise granitic gneisses and small discontinuous ultramafic intrusions (talc-chlorite) with epidote, magnetite, silica and pyrite alteration.
Results from petrological work have shown that sulphide mineralization is contained with biotite schlieren parallel to foliation, predominantly associated with a sericite-secondary quartz-epidote alteration assemblage.
A total of 135 diamond core samples (4m composites) and 13 re-split 1m samples (from re-sampling of the 4m RC composites) were collected. All of these samples were dispatched to Genalysis Laboratories in Johannesburg. Samples were prepared by single stage mill & grind, with the pulps freighted to Genalysis Perth for analysis using a 50g fire assay method. All diamond drill core has now been cut and the final 48 samples are currently being cleared by customs in Mozambique.
A total 11 additional samples have also been collected from small pits towards the southern end of the project, along with 5 samples from fresh road cuttings and drill pad areas. It is anticipated that results from the remainder of the samples will be available in January 2009.
Proposed Exploration - Mimosa JV
No field work is scheduled for Mimosa during the December quarter 2008 as the rainy season commences in November and usually ends in March. The data and results from the RC and diamond drilling programs will be assessed once all pending assay results have been received. A follow up exploration / drilling program will be designed for the new field season in 2009. ABM is working in conjunction with neighbouring exploration companies, and independently, to secure the services of a drilling contractor for the 2009 field season with drill rigs able to reach the target depths.
About ABM Resources NL
ABM Resources (ASX:ABU) is developing several gold discoveries in the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Company has a multi-tiered approach to exploration and development with a combination of high-grade production scenarios such as the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Project, large scale discoveries such as Buccaneer, and regional exploration discoveries such as the Hyperion Gold Project. In addition, ABM is committed to regional exploration programs throughout its extensive holdings including the alliance with Independence Group NL at the regional Lake Mackay Project.
![abnnewswire.com]()
Related Companies
Social Media
Share this Article
