Kalia oxide drilling update and Guinea elections
November 18 2010 - 4:56AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMBZM
RNS Number : 4156W
Bellzone Mining PLC
18 November 2010
18 November 2010
Bellzone Mining plc
("Bellzone" or the "Company")
Kalia Oxide Drilling Programme and Guinea Update
Bellzone Mining plc (AIM:BZM), the iron ore and nickel/copper company developing
the Kalia Iron Mine in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, is pleased to
announce that the drilling programme for the maiden oxide JORC resource was
completed on schedule this week. The drilling programme consisted of:
· 21,530m of reverse circulation drilling covering an area of approximately
2km2 of identified oxide ore at the Kalia I prospect
· 6,828 samples have been sent for assay at an independent laboratory in
Perth, Australia
CSA Global UK, the independent geologists have been contracted to establish and
certify the company's maiden JORC complaint oxide resource for Kalia. The
Company expects to make an announcement on the maiden JORC oxide resource early
in 2011.
The first phase of the drilling programme for the maiden JORC oxide resource has
been confined to the area that directly overlays the magnetite JORC resource of
3.74 billion tonnes on the central zone of the Kalia I deposit established along
approximately 6km of Bellzone's 19km Kalia I strike. The ongoing oxide resource
development programme will delineate and expand the maiden oxide JORC resource
and define the potential of the large detrital fields at Kalia I and Kalia II.
In addition, the Company announces that the 5,300 metre drilling programme at
the Sadeka nickel/copper prospect located approximately 150km south-east of
Kalia was mobilised on schedule with the preparation of drill pads and access
roads to the 12 highly prospective nickel-copper targets that have been
identified through:
· Geology mapping totalling 39.5km2 of prospective targets;
· Analysis of 3,709 samples collected on grids in each prospect at 250m x
50m spacing; and
· NSAMT electrical surveys.
Guinea elections
On the 15th November 2010, Guinea's National Independent Electoral Commission
announced that initial results showed Alpha Conde had won the second and final
round of the democratic elections. While both independent observers and UN
officials witnessed a peaceful and fair voting process, as has been reported in
the media, the last 48 hours has seen sporadic unrest following the results. As
a result, Guinea's interim president General Sekouba Konate has declared a state
of emergency until the proclamation of the definitive presidential election
results by the Supreme Court. The state of emergency effectively means any
protest gathering is forbidden and that movement between 18.00 and 06.00 is not
allowed. This has been seen as a precautionary measure to prevent any escalation
of violent protesting and criminal behaviour.
Nik Zuks, Chief Executive Officer commented: "The development activities at
Kalia, our fully funded flagship project, and Sadeka continue on schedule
despite the post election political tensions we are experiencing in Guinea, our
operations and staff have not been affected in any way and we expect that once
the Guinea Supreme court has legally declared a winner the unrest Guinea is
currently experiencing will settle down and it will be business as usual"
I think it is very important to note that Bellzone's project is extremely well
known in Guinea and has universal political support. Together with the people
of Guinea, we are united in the vision of all of Guinea benefitting through
unlocking and realising the country's obvious mineral wealth to provide
employment and generate revenues through royalties and taxes.
We have excellent and regular communication with our in-country management team,
which continues to operate normally. They have reported that the isolated
incidents of unrest and the conditions of the state of emergency have not
impacted our operations or personnel in any way.
Our entire leadership team has previous experience with projects in environments
similar to this and as such are cognisant of the challenges that may arise. We
believe this unrest is temporary and poses no threat to our operations however,
we continue to closely monitor the situation."
Enquiries:
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bellzone Mining plc | |
| Graham Fyfe/Terry Larkan | +61 8 9420 |
| | 8900end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| | |
| Canaccord Genuity Limited | +44 (0)20 7050 |
| Nominated Adviser and Joint | 6500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
| Broker to Bellzone | |
| Andrew Chubb/Tarica Mpinga | |
| | |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Renaissance Capital Limited | |
| Joint Broker to Bellzone | +44 (0)20 7367 7777 |
| Simon Matthews/Thomas Beattie | |
| | |
| | end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Conduit PR | |
| Jos Simson/Paul Youens | +44 (0)20 7429 6603 |
| | begin_of_the_skype_highlighting |
| | +44 (0)7899 870 450 |
| | begin_of_the_skype_highlighting |
| | end_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
Bellzone Mining plc
Bellzone Mining plc is an exploration and resource development company with iron
ore and nickel / copper permits in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.
The Company's flagship project, the Kalia Iron Mine has a JORC resource of 3.74
billion tonnes, located on the Kalia I prospect. Drilling results and internal
estimates indicate that Kalia Prospect has the potential to host more than 10
billion tonnes of magnetite and 2.55 billion tonnes of oxide at surface.
Exploration work continues to further define the potential at Kalia I on both
the magnetite and oxide at surface.
Bellzone is committed to the staged development of the Kalia Iron Project, which
includes a 50mtpa iron ore facility, rail and port, with initial production
scheduled in 2014. Stage one is planned to bring online 20mtpa direct shipping
ore ('DSO') capacity in 2014 and a 10mtpa magnetite concentrator in 2015. Stage
two increasing the DSO output to 30mtpa in 2017 and doubling the concentrate
capacity to 20mtpa by 2018.
Bellzone signed an Infrastructure Accord with the Republic of Guinea giving the
Company exclusive rights to the designated port and rail areas for purposes of
conducting studies for the development of the infrastructure leading to the
signing of a convention and concession. The infrastructure forms a key part of
the Guinea Government's infrastructure strategy and will support the development
of iron ore, bauxite and other minerals in Guinea through its availability for
3rd party use.
On 2 August 2010, Bellzone signed definitive agreements with China International
Fund ('CIF'). CIF will finance and develop the rail and port infrastructure and
offer a finance package to Bellzone for the development of the Kalia Mine in
exchange for the first right to purchase 100% of the off-take of the Kalia Mine
at market price.
An exploration programme is currently underway at the Forecariah Iron Permits
that lie between 40 and 80kms from the Guinea coast. Bellzone and CIF will
jointly develop these permits which are prospective for oxide and magnetite.
The oxide has the potential to deliver cash flow from a Direct Shipping Ore
project in the short term.
Bellzone has competed an intensive mapping and surface sampling programme and
has defined highly prospective drilling targets at its Sadeka Nickel/Copper
Project and will commence a drilling programme on these targets in Q4 2010.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
DRLKMMMMLRMGGZG
Bellzone Mining (LSE:BZM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Bellzone Mining (LSE:BZM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024
