AFRICA SPECIAL — Patrician to explore Ghanaian gold properties

Proceeds from a private placement by Patrician Gold Mines (PXX-A) will go towards exploration programs on the Goaso and Homasi gold properties in Ghana.

The junior raised $400,000 through a deal in which 400,000 units of Patrician were issued at 40 cents per unit. Each unit consists of 400,000 shares and 400,000 warrants exercisable at 50 cents per warrant until March 31, 1998.

At Goaso, soil auger drilling is under way in an attempt to test a gold-bearing soil anomaly measuring 200-300 metres wide by 2 km long. Samples have ranged between 0.08 to 0.24 gram gold per tonne.

The holes will be placed at 50-by-100-metre centres in a 400-by-1,900-metre block and drilled to an average depth of 15 metres. Patrician can earn a 90% interest in the property by spending US$750,000 over four years.

Following this, the junior will begin a similar drill program at its 90%-owned Homasi property, about 100 km southeast of Goaso. This program will test a 6.4-km-long coincident gold-arsenic-in-soil and magnetic anomaly, which averages 500 metres in width and lies north of, and along strike with, the past-producing Akrokeri gold mine of Birim Goldfields (BGI-T). Previous sampling of the zone returned gold values ranging from 0.02 to 0.36 gram, with arsenic values consistently above 80 grams. According to Patrician, the geological environment at Homasi is similar to that of Ashanti Goldfield’s Ashanti mine, 20 km south along strike.

In addition to funding the above programs, the placement proceeds will go towards future property acquisitions and working capital.