Midlands makes progress at Sian in Ghana

The Sian project in the Ashanti gold belt of Ghana is yielding solid assay results for Midlands Minerals (MEX-V).

Three recently drilled holes spaced at 50-metre intervals show continuity of grades and widths, the company reports, and the management team says it hopes to achieve an initial one million oz. gold resource at Sian within its current 20,000-metre drill program.

Hole 25 returned 1.33 grams gold over18 metres including 2.21 grams gold over 6 metres, while hole 26 cut 11 metres grading 2.3 grams gold including 2.3 metres of 4.4 grams gold.

Hole 27 returned an intersection of 13.13 grams gold over 7.8 metres, including 93.6 grams gold over one metre, but a repeat assay test of the 93.6 grams gold per tonne intersect by SGS Laboratory in Tarkwa returned a higher value of 113 grams gold, the company says. The cut-off grade used for all holes was 0.5 gram gold per tonne.

Mineralization at Sian remains open at depth and more assays are pending.

The Sian property is fully permitted with a 192,400 oz. indicated resource (2.56 million tonnes at 2.33 grams gold per tonne) and an inferred resource of 203,350 oz. gold (2.69 million tonnes at 2.35 grams gold per tonne). The current resource is based on drilling to the 120-metre level.

Sian is made up of two former producing open pit mines, Esaase and Ampeha. Midlands also holds the contiguous Kwahu Praso project, which was once part of  Sian, and has extensions of the Esaase and Ampeha trends. Sian and Praso are 30 km northeast of Newmont Mining‘s (NMC-T, NEM-N) Akyem gold deposit. Outside Ghana, Midlands holds licences for gold and diamonds in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria Goldfields.

News of the drill results sent Midlands’shares up 1.5¢ or 10.3% to 16¢ per share in late-morning trading in Toronto.

The junior has traded in a range of 10.5¢-59¢ over the last year and has about 104.1 million shares outstanding.