Nevsun drilling expands potential of Kubi

Drilling carried out on the Kubi prospect in Ghana, 90%-owned by Nevsun Resources (NSU-T), has extended the strike length of known mineralization to 1.8 km and increased the potential for ore-grade mineralization below the Main zone.

Nevsun Resources, which owns 90% of the deposit, reports that hole KV 96-86 hit 14.7 metres grading 4.88 grams (0.14 oz.) gold per tonne at a depth of 250 metres, including a high-grade core of 6.73 metres grading 5.88 grams (0.17 oz.). The hole was collared 800 metres north of the Main Garnet zone.

Several hundred metres below the zone, hole 96-28A hit 5.2 metres grading 6.56 grams (0.19 oz.) at a depth of 700 metres. Although the hole did not intersect the garnet and chlorite alteration typically associated with gold mineralization at Kubi, the results increased the potential for downdip extentions of the gold-bearing system.

Before the latest drilling, the deepest mineralized intersection returned 14.9 metres grading 8.5 grams from a depth of 300 metres.

The results also indicate that the Main zone has good continuity and, based on these and pending results, Nevsun expects to calculate a resource figure for the deposit by the end of October.

The Kubi propsect lies within the package of Birmian metasedimentary and metavolacanic rocks that make up the north-south-trending Ashanti gold belt.

About 12 km north of Kubi is the Obuasi mine, which contains reserves in excess of 20 million oz. And to the south lie several deposits ranging in size from 1 to 8 million oz.

With three diamond drill rigs on-site and a $2.5-million budget, Nevsun will continue to investigate the depth and strike potential at Kubi. At the Lagos prospect 3.5 km north of the Main zone, the company will follow up a 12-metre intersection grading 4.11 grams. A 400-metre-long gold-arsenic anomaly, 1 km to the south, is also a drill target.

Nevsun has also completed preliminary metallurgical work on Kubi. Tests indicate that recoveries in excess of 90% are possible using simple grinding and leaching techniques. The deposit is close to the same road, railway and power lines that service the Obuasi mine.