Bambari drilling turns up gold at depth (July 28, 2003)

Drilling by Axmin (AXM-V) at the Bambari property in the Central African Republic has confirmed mineralization at depth below the surface gold occurrence knows as the French Camp prospect.

The four most recent holes in an 8-hole program of diamond drilling intersected gold mineralization in banded iron formation downdip from the French Camp occurence, where reverse-circulation drilling previously confirmed earlier results from soil sampling. The new holes encountered gold mineralization as deep as 100 metres below surface.

Hole 2 cut a 34.4-metre interval grading 3.2 grams gold per tonne, including a 6-metre section grading 8.9 grams. It had been drilled from the same collar as an earlier hole, no. 1, which intersected 16.5 metres grading 8.5 grams gold per tonne, including 9.2 metres of 14.3 grams. Hole 2 tested downdip from the earlier intersection.

Hole 6 was drilled on the same section as hole 2, but about 40 metres to the west; it tested to a vertical depth of about 95 metres. A 29.7-metre interval near the bottom of the hole returned an average gold grade of 4.6 grams per tonne, and included a higher-grade zone, 15.2 metres long, which graded 6.7 grams per tonne.

A further 240 metres to the south, hole 7 cut 5.3 metres grading 1.8 grams, and hole 8 cut 1.3 metres grading 2.6 grams per tonne.

The results extend the mineralization found in the first phase of the French Camp diamond drill program, which included hole 1. Another hole in that program, no. 5, was drilled slightly east of hole 1 and returned 7.4 metres grading 5.2 grams gold per tonne near the surface, in the same horizon as holes 1 and 2. A second mineralized intersection in hole 5, which graded 2.2 grams per tonne over 15.8 metres, appears to be downdip from a second iron formation horizon farther into the footwall.

Two holes 80 metres south of the section indicated a similar stratigraphic picture. Hole 3 encountered three mineralized zones in the footwall iron formation, with grades of 4-6 grams per tonne over core lengths of 7-25 metres. Hole 4, drilled to intersect the same horizon farther downdip, intersected three zones of gold mineralization over core lengths of 29.8 metres, grading 3.3 grams gold per tonne; 10.5 metres, grading 6.3 grams per tonne; and 7.9 metres, grading 3 grams.

Axmin plans to drill 3,000 metres on the property, including the holes on French Camp. Two other prospects, the Main Zone and the Katsia showing, will be tested in this round of drilling.