Eldorado hits bonanza grades

Eldorado Gold (ELD-T) has intersected impressive gold values at its project in western Turkey.

The drilling — part of a 28-hole program which spanned 4,100 metres — was focused on the Efemcukuru deposit, and Eldorado says the results indicate high-grade characteristics with consistent grade distribution.

Hole 75 intersected bonanza grades over 7 metres. Two independent fire assays tests were conducted, returning 902.9 grams gold (uncut) per tonne and 942.7 grams (uncut). A 1-metre intercept within the 7-metre interval hit 5,943 grams (uncut), with a check assay grading 6,360 grams (uncut).

Also, hole 25 intersected 25.2 grams gold (uncut) over 18 metres, and hole 93 hit 21 grams (uncut) over 17.1 metres.

The gold mineralization exists along a 1.1-km northwest-trending vein system, hosted in steeply dipping altered hornfels and phyllite. As of December 1996, a preliminary reserve estimate of 3.1 million tonnes grading 14.6 grams gold was identified within three oreshoots.

Prefeasibility work on the Efemcukuru deposit is under way, and a bankable feasibility study is scheduled for 1998. Eldorado envisages an underground operation capable of producing more than 100,000 tonnes per year at a cash cost of less than $200 per oz.

Meanwhile, development of the company’s Kaymaz deposit has been delayed as a result of a lawsuit challenging a previously approved environmental permit.

Eldorado Gold and the Turkish Ministry of the Environment have submitted a joint appeal and are awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court.

Kaymaz contains a gold resource of 1.2 million tonnes grading 5.57 grams gold with a proven and probable reserve of 6.5 million grams (189,084 oz).

For the first half of 1997, Eldorado reported a loss of $6.7 million (or 9cents per share), compared with earnings of $1.4 million (8cents cents per share) during the similar period last year.