TSX-V Ticker: SWA
SWA.WT
PERTH,
Western Australia, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Sarama Resources
Limited ("Sarama" or the "Company") is pleased to
provide an update on the Company's operations in Burkina Faso, West
Africa.
Highlights
- An 11,000m reverse circulation ("RC") drill program has
commenced on the South Houndé Project in Burkina Faso to follow-up earlier significant
drill results from the MM Anomaly and to test other significant
gold-in-soil anomalies identified on the Tankoro
Permit.
- Combined strike length of anomalies to be tested in the
20km long x 4km wide Tankoro Corridor totals over 15km.
- The construction of a 30-man drill and field camp for the
South Houndé Project is now complete.
- Option agreement signed over a new Exploration Permit
located in the Houndé Greenstone Belt of south-west Burkina Faso, bringing Sarama's total
exploration landholding in Burkina
Faso to over 2,450 km².
- Permit-scale soil geochemistry programs on other
high-priority exploration permits are in progress.
- Additional drilling planned on other South Houndé permits
where large sized gold-in-soil anomalies have been
identified.
Drilling Planned for the South Houndé Project,
South-West Burkina
Faso
An 11,000m RC drill program has commenced at the
South Houndé Project and is anticipated to be completed by
mid-February 2012.
The program is designed primarily to follow-up on
encouraging intersections from a drill campaign conducted in
June 2011 by Sarama on the MM
Anomaly, a 4km-long, gold-in-soil anomaly located centrally in the
Tankoro Structural Corridor. Downhole intersections from this
previous program included:
13m @ 3.9g/t Au, 14m @ 2.6g/t Au,
11m @ 2.3g/t Au and 8m @ 3.0g/t Au.
The program is targeting a 1km portion of the MM
Anomaly with 5 additional fences containing 29 RC holes, and will
result in an eventual fence spacing of 75m to 150m. Drillhole
depths will range between 100m and 150m.
Figure 1: Location of the Gold-in-Soil
Anomalies Targeted by the Tankoro Drill Program
The program will also test other areas along the
20km-long trend of gold-in-soil anomalies which are individually
defined by coherent >18ppb soil geochemistry results.
Sixteen drill fences containing 63 RC drillholes have been planned,
with drillhole depths averaging approximately 100m.
The drill program will aid in clarifying the
continuity and geometry of mineralisation within the MM Anomaly and
give an indication of the larger exploration potential of the
Tankoro Structural Corridor.
In order to facilitate logistical support to the
South Houndé Project drill campaign, a 30-man drill and field camp
has been constructed within the Tankoro Permit where all of the
present drill program will be completed.
New Exploration Permit Acquired in the South
Houndé Greenstone Belt
Sarama has entered into an option agreement over
the Danymi Exploration Permit which is located in the southern part
of the Houndé Greenstone Belt in south-west Burkina Faso. The permit is valid for 3
years from 28 October 2011 and is
renewable for two subsequent 3-year periods, conditional upon
regulatory obligations being met.
The agreement provides for Sarama to acquire a 100%
interest in the permit after making staged payments to the vendor
over a 3-year period. Upon these payments being made, the
vendor will be entitled to a net smelter return ("NSR") on
any production sourced from the permit area. The NSR can be
purchased at any time by Sarama, at Sarama's election, for a
specified amount.
The Danymi Exploration Permit, covering
52.5km2, is favourably located along the northern
boundary of Sarama's Tankoro Permit and augments the Company's
South Houndé Project. Being Sarama's flagship project, the
area is currently the focus of a drilling program to further test
gold-in-soil anomalies associated with the mineralised Tankoro
Structural Corridor.
The Tankoro Structural Corridor is defined by
schistose rocks and gold-in-soil anomalism extending over 20km in
length along a north-northeast trend. The Danymi Exploration
Permit lies immediately along strike to the north along the trend
of the Tankoro Structural Corridor. The permit is underlain
by a mixed sequence of sedimentary and tuffaceous rocks with a band
of mafic volcanic rocks and breccias underlying the extreme western
part of the permit.
Avion Gold Corporation's Vindaloo Prospect
(Indicated Mineral Resource of 63,000 oz Au @ 2.33g/t Au and
Inferred Mineral Resource of 547,000 oz Au @ 2.97g/t
Au)1 and Semafo Inc's Mana Mine (Total Mineral Reserves
and Resources of 3,285,700 oz Au @ 2.10g/t Au and Inferred Mineral
Resources 2,678,000 oz Au @ 2.28g/t Au)2 lie within the
same greenstone belt stratigraphy as the Danymi Exploration Permit
and are located approximately 70km and 150km to the north
respectively.
A permit-scale soil geochemistry survey has just
been completed over the Danymi Permit, on a grid spacing of 200m x
100m, with the assay results anticipated before the end of
January 2012. Any resulting
gold-in-soil anomalism will be evaluated for drill targeting.
Figure 2: Location of the New Danymi
Exploration Permit and Sarama's Existing Properties
1 |
Information on mineral resources at the Vindaloo Prospect
was sourced from Avion Gold Corporation's Management's Discussion
and Analysis Report - September 2011 Quarter. |
2 |
Information on mineral resources at the Mana Mine was
sourced from Semafo Inc's website, Statement of Mineral Reserves
and Mineral Resources for 31 December 2010. Semafo Inc's
reporting category of "Total mineral Reserves and Resources" is
taken to represent total Measured and Indicated Mineral
Resources.
|
Soil Sampling Programs Progressing on
Sarama's Exploration Permits in Burkina
Faso
Sarama is moving quickly to evaluate all of the
permits within its portfolio in Burkina
Faso. To this end, permit-scale soil geochemistry
surveys have been completed over the Danymi (mentioned above) and
Sola (northern Burkina Faso)
permits and an infill soil survey program, over previously
identified gold-in-soil anomalies, has been completed on the Bamako
Permit. Results are expected February
2012.
Soil sampling teams are presently being relocated
to several of the other 15 permits, held directly by Sarama or
under option agreements with Sarama, in Burkina Faso.
For further information on the Company's
activities, please contact:
Andrew Dinning or Paul Schmiede
email: info@saramaresources.com
telephone: +61 8 9363 7600
web: www.saramaresources.com
About Sarama Resources Ltd
Sarama Resources Ltd is a Canadian company with a
focus on the exploration and development of gold deposits in
West Africa. The board of
directors and management team, a majority of whom are founders of
the Company, are seasoned resource industry professionals with
extensive experience in the exploration and development of
world-class gold projects in Africa.
The Company has built substantial early stage
exploration landholdings in prospective and underexplored areas of
Burkina Faso (>2,450 km²),
Liberia (>2,400 km²) and
Mali (>1,350 km²) and is
aggressively exploring across the property portfolio.
The South Houndé Project in south-west Burkina Faso is the Company's flagship
property and is currently the focus of a drilling program to
further test gold-in-soil anomalies located in a 20km structural
corridor. Previous confirmatory reverse circulation drilling
conducted by Sarama yielded downhole intersections of 13m @ 3.9g/t
Au, 14m @ 2.6g/t Au, 11m @ 2.3g/t Au and 8m @ 3.0g/t Au. For
full details, refer to the Company's "NI 43-101 Independent
Technical Report on the South Houndé Project, Bougouriba and Ioba
Provinces, Burkina Faso" which
is filed on www.sedar.com.
Following the recent completion of a successful
initial public offering on the TSX Venture Exchange (raising gross
proceeds of approximately C$16.7M),
Sarama Resources is in a strong financial position to execute its
business plan (refer to News Release, 2
November 2011).
Caution Regarding Forward Looking
Statements
Information in this news release that is not a
statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking
information. Such forward-looking information includes
statements regarding the Company's planned exploration programs,
including when results may be available and ability to earn an
interest in the various exploration properties. Actual results,
performance or achievements of the Company may vary from the
results suggested by such forward-looking statements due to known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such factors
include, among others, that the business of exploration for gold
and other precious minerals involves a high degree of risk and is
highly speculative in nature; few properties that are explored are
ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; the
actual results of current and future exploration; changes in
project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as
those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed
documents.
There can be no assurance that any
mineralisation will be discovered, that mineralisation will be
proven to be economic, or that future required regulatory licensing
or approvals will be obtained. The Company believes that the
assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking
information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding,
among other things, the Company's ability to carry on its
exploration activities, the sufficiency of funding, the timely
receipt of required approvals, the price of gold and other precious
metals, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient
and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain
further financing as and when required and on reasonable terms.
Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
information.
Sarama does not undertake to update any
forward-looking information, except as required by applicable
laws.
Qualified Person's Statement
Scientific or technical information in this news
release that relates to the Company's exploration activities in
Burkina Faso is based on
information compiled or approved by Michel
Mercier. Michel Mercier
is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good
standing of the Ordre des Géologues du Québec and has sufficient
experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of
mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is
undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National
Instrument 43-101. Michel
Mercier consents to the inclusion in this report of the
information, in the form and context in which it appears.
SOURCE Sarama Resources Limited