| Wed 17 Mar 2010, 9:00 | | AFE / AEA - African Eagle Resources plc - Further Positive Drilling Results From |
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AEA
AEA
AFE / AEA - African Eagle Resources plc - Further Positive Drilling Results From
Ngasamo Hill Deposit At African Eagle`s Dutwa Nickel Project In Tanzania
African Eagle Resources plc
(Incorporated in England and Wales, registered number 3912362)
AIM share code: AFE AIM ISIN: GB0003394813
JSE share code: AEA JSE ISIN: GB0003394813
AFRICAN EAGLE RESOURCES plc
FURTHER POSITIVE DRILLING RESULTS FROM NGASAMO HILL DEPOSIT AT
AFRICAN EAGLE`S DUTWA NICKEL PROJECT IN TANZANIA
Drill assay results from a further 14 holes indicate good nickel grades at
Ngasamo over a greater thickness than Dutwa.
- 13 of 14 holes intersected mineralisation
- Key mineralised intersections include:
- 36m at 1.63% nickel including 15m at 2.37%
- 51m at 1.18% nickel
- 57m at 0.92% nickel including 42m at 1.04%
- 78m at 0.86% nickel including 27m at 1.1%
- 9m at 0.27% cobalt including 3m at 0.48%
- 12m at 0.17% cobalt
50 out of the enlarged 65 hole RC drill programme completed to date
Results of the remaining holes anticipated before end of Q1
Africa Eagle is pleased to report further positive drilling results from Ngasamo
Hill Deposit at its Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania. The Company`s Managing
Director Mark Parker comments, "The Ngasamo Hill Deposit is shaping up nicely.
These new results again show that the Ngasamo deposit is rather thicker than the
main Dutwa deposit, and as at Dutwa, there are notable cobalt credits.
"Our excellent progress at Ngasamo, together with our recent appointment of Dr
Chad Czerny, one of the world`s top research and development hydrometallurgists
in the nickel laterite field, keep African Eagle well on track towards the Dutwa
prefeasibility survey."
Assay results have been received from a further 14 drill holes from the western
Ngasamo Oxide Nickel Deposit at Dutwa. The programme is being extended to 65
vertical Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes, with additional holes providing
step-out to the south and east, together with some infill to delineate the ore
boundary more precisely. Each hole is drilled through the blanket-like deposit
until it reaches un-mineralised bedrock. The average depth of the 50 holes
drilled at Ngasamo to date is 74m, considerably deeper than at Wamangola.
Under African Eagle`s April 2009 agreement with Ngasamo`s owners, (Safina a.s.
of the Czech Republic and its Tanzanian subsidiary Precious Metals Refinery
Company Ltd), the Company will acquire a 35% interest on completion of the
current drilling programme, which is designed to define a JORC inferred
resource. By carrying out further exploration, evaluation and feasibility work,
African Eagle can increase its equity in the Ngasamo project to at least 50% and
up to 75%.
The mineralised intersections with grades of more than 0.5% nickel and 0.05%
cobalt are listed below. Samples were composited over 3m down-hole lengths.
Assays for nickel and cobalt were carried out at Humac Laboratories in Tanzania,
by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The samples will now be sent for
analysis for a wider suite of chemical elements.
Hole No From (m) Intersection (m) Ni Grade (%)
NGRC - 14 0 12 0.86
and 15 12 0.70
or 0 24 0.74
and 45 36 1.63
incl. 60 15 2.37
NGRC - 16 21 9 0.59
and 66 6 0.55
NGRC - 17 15 18 0.75
NGRC - 18 3 12 0.74
and 18 12 0.74
or 3 27 0.71
and 36 21 0.67
or 3 54 0.65
NGRC - 19 0 3 0.75
and 6 27 1.10
and 36 6 0.57
and 48 18 1.09
and 69 9 0.59
or 0 78 0.86
NGRC - 20 6 12 0.77
and 21 24 0.85
0r 6 39 0.68
NGRC - 21 6 36 1.05
NGRC - 22 18 18 0.70
and 39 33 0.70
or 18 54 0.69
NGRC - 23 6 42 0.84
NGRC - 24 3 9 0.70
and 18 42 1.04
or 3 57 0.92
NGRC - 25 18 6 0.63
NGRC - 26 2 51 1.18
NGRC - 27 3 18 1.03
and 24 15 1.20
or 3 36 1.05
Hole No From (m) Intersection Co Grade (%)
(m)
NGRC - 03 0 9 0.27
incl. 3 3 0.48
NGRC - 09 12 3 0.06
NGRC - 10 0 3 0.09
NGRC - 14 12 6 0.06
and 51 3 0.05
NGRC - 16 6 3 0.06
NGRC - 19 12 12 0.12
NGRC - 22 3 6 0.10
NGRC - 24 3 3 0.09
NGRC - 26 18 12 0.17
Qualified Person
Information in this report relating to exploration results is based on data
reviewed by Mr Christopher Davies BSc, MSc, DIC, FSEG, FAusIMM, Operations
Director for African Eagle, who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy, has more than 27 years` relevant experience in mineral
exploration, and is a Qualified Person under AIM rules. Mr Davies consents to
the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.
Technical terms
A glossary of technical terms used by African Eagle in this announcement and
other published material may be found at www.africaneagle.co.uk/p/glossary.asp
For further information:
Mark Parker
Managing Director
African Eagle
+44 20 7248 6059
+44 77 5640 6899
Nicola Marrin
Seymour Pierce Limited, London
Nominated Adviser
+ 44 20 7107 8000
Charmane Russell
Russell & Associates, Johannesburg
+ 27 11 8803924
+27 82 8928052
Ed Portman / Leesa Peters
Conduit PR, London
+44 20 7429 6607
+44 77 3336 3501
About African Eagle
Since discovering major oxide nickel deposits at Dutwa in Tanzania, African
Eagle is in transition from a diversified explorer into a nickel mining company.
The Company completed a positive scoping study on the Dutwa deposit in July 2009
and is now working towards a full feasibility study.
African Eagle is evaluating a second promising oxide nickel deposit at Zanzui in
Tanzania, 60km south of Dutwa.
The Company also holds a 49% interest in the Mkushi Copper Mines joint venture
in Zambia, for which a draft feasibility study was completed in Q4 2008. In
addition, it holds a half million ounce gold resource at the Miyabi project in
Tanzania, and a portfolio of gold and base metal exploration assets, including
two projects in the Zambian Copperbelt.
The Company is seeking partners or buyers for its "non-core" copper, gold and
uranium projects.
More information may be found on the Company`s website, www.africaneagle.co.uk
African Eagle`s oxide nickel projects
The Dutwa oxide nickel project, discovered in mid-2008, consists of two deposits
within blankets of laterite or weathered rock on the tops of low ridges. African
Eagle believes that the deposits together contain around 500,000 tonnes of
nickel with by-product cobalt. Because the deposits lie at surface, mining costs
will be very low.
The deposits lie 100km east of the railhead at Mwanza and close to the main
Mwanza-Nairobi trunk road, a major power line and the shore of Lake Victoria.
The Company holds a 90% interest in the main Dutwa deposit, with option to
acquire 100%, and is earning up to 75% of a second nickel deposit at Ngasamo,
6km to the west.
Since discovering the deposits in June 2008, African Eagle has explored the
project very quickly and cost-effectively, completing an interim JORC-compliant
resource estimate based on the drilling completed to September 2008 and
laboratory metallurgical and mineralogical tests which showed that the deposit
can be processed efficiently by sulphuric acid leaching.
In July 2009, the Company announced the results of a "proof of concept" scoping
study by GRD Minproc, which indicated that the project would be profitable if it
were in production today. At current nickel prices (
$10/lb), earnings over the
life of mine would be of the order of $3 billion on an EBIT basis, giving an
internal rate of return around 33%, after tax. African Eagle has now begun work
towards a definitive feasibility study.
The economic viability of any nickel laterite deposit depends on its metallurgy,
its resource geology and its location. Metallurgical tests have shown that the
Dutwa ore is unusually, perhaps uniquely, amenable to acid leaching, with very
low acid consumption and a very fast leach reaction compared to other nickel
laterites around the world. These characteristics should allow the ore to be
processed at atmospheric pressure using straightforward heap or tank leaching.
In addition to the Dutwa deposits, African Eagle holds the Zanzui nickel
project, which is only 60km from Dutwa and offers potential economies of scale.
Zanzui is possibly twice as large as Dutwa and preliminary metallurgical tests
suggest that it shares the same fast, low-acid leaching characteristics. The
Company is aware of at least two other, similar deposits in Tanzania.
17 March 2010
Sponsor
Nedbank Capital
Date: 17/03/2010 09:00:03 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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