NEW YORK, NY--(MARKET WIRE)--Oct 18, 2004
-- West Africa Gold, Inc. (OTC BB:WAGI.OB - News) takes pleasure in announcing that the Chairman of its Advisory Committee, Dr. Wayne P Colliston, is continuing with the re-assessment of West Africa Gold Inc.'s Mining assets, and has completed his report on the 1,300 acre Bouse gold (silver -- copper) property situated in the La Paz area of western Arizona, USA, near the California border and on the Mockingbird Project situated in Mohave County, Arizona; as well as the "In Darset" Gold Mining Property in Mali, West Africa.
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The Bouse Project :-
Dr. Colliston reports that the mineralising event at Bouse was a mid-Tertiary epithermal event, causing complex mineralization of gold, fluorite, barite, and associated metals into previous copper-specularite mineralization. The prime cause was regional crustal extension along the Plomosa Fault, just north of the Plomosa Mountains, which has now been identified as a detachment fault. The "detachment fault" style of deposit is best seen at Copperstone, the biggest gold discovery in Arizona in the past 50 years, where 500,000 oz of gold was profitably mined by Cyprus Gold in the open pit there. The Mesquite mine is another of this type.
Mineralization at Bouse is located primarily below the fault trace, in the lower plate, in pre-Cambrian rocks older than 1 billion years. Mineralization is found both in steeply dipping quartz veins and in laterally extensive breccia zones. The nature of these structures and associated mineralization over almost all of the 1,300 acres suggest further potential for major detachment fault gold deposits, and other deposits associated with this style of mineralization.
The Bouse area is an historic gold producer, with the Little Butte open pit and underground mines as known producers. Importantly, the historical grade recovered here averaged over 0.4 oz/ton. Around 2/3 of this production was from the Little Butte Mine, where the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources has recorded that the results of a 16-hold drilling programme showed about 5 million tons of inferred ore grading between 0.05 and 0.30 oz/ton.
Others areas of interest within the Company's 1,300 acres are the Brindle Claims, the high grade Arrastre Mine, the Blue Slate Mine and the Flat Fault Mine.
At the current gold price of approximately US $400/oz, this provides a value estimate for the deposit in the range of up to $600 million. This estimated gold resource is for the little Butte area only, and does not include any potential from the remainder of the property.
The Mockingbird Project :-
Dr. Colliston reports that the Mockingbird mineralization is tectonically and structurally controlled an important feature which may not have received sufficient attention from previous owners of the property. Mockingbird is an historic gold producer, with some 15,000 ounces from high-grade ore at an average grade of 0.8 oz/ton being produced. Most of this production was from the Mockingbird Mine itself, the centrepiece of the Company's present land position. Other mines which produced gold at this location included the Great West, the Hall (Dandy) and the Pocahontas Mines, all of which are included in the Company's property.
West Africa Gold, Inc.'s Mockingbird Project contains a new and important type of gold deposit, a "detachment fault" deposit (first recognized as a separate form of gold deposit in the 1980s), and the best example of which is Copperstone. This was the biggest gold discovery in Arizona in the past 50 years. Cyprus Gold profitably mined the 500,000 oz open pit Copperstone resource during the 1980s. Based on underground drilling by the American Bonanza company, it is likely that the underground high-grade resource at Mockingbird is even larger.
The Company's mining title consists of 2,500 acres of mineral rights comprising a number of federal claims with 3 lode deposits and 16 placer deposits, as well as the Mockingbird Claims. Significantly, these include the 4 existing mines -- Mockingbird, Great West, Hall (Dandy) and Pocahontas, all of which contributed significantly to the past gold production in this important gold producing mining district.
Mineralization is found both in quartz veins and in breccia zones hosted by steep faults, with the mines located along north-west to east-west striking, north-dipping to flat quartz veins containing specular hematite, oxidized copper and free gold. The nature of these structures and associated mineralization suggest even further potential for a major detachment fault-associated gold/copper deposit, similar to the proven and mined Copperstone and Mesquite deposits.
The Mockingbird Project area therefore has the potential for the development of a large gold reserve. Anaconda estimated a deposit at Mockingbird of at least 10 million tons grading 0.05 to 0.1 oz/ton gold, with additional resources of silver and copper, putting the potential deposit size in the range of 500,000 to 1,000,000 ounces of gold, approximately the same size as Copperstone. The Anaconda estimate is corroborated by US Geological Survey Open File Report 92-002 and the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources.
At the current gold price of approximately US $400/oz, this provides a value estimate for the deposit in the range of US $200 to $400 million. The estimated gold resource does not include any potential from the 16 gold placers identified on the property.
THE "IN DARSET" MINING PROPERTY :-
Situated in 438 square kilometres "In Darset" gold-copper property. This property is situated in the gold-rich Republic of Mali, Africa's third biggest gold producer and having enormous potential for further gold discoveries; it is estimated to have in excess of 350 tons of recoverable gold. In Darset has an estimated reserve/resource of 2.5 million oz (78 tons of gold).
West African Gold, Inc. has acquired certain rights to prospect for minerals in five extensive concession areas in the West African State of Mali which is currently one of the most exciting gold producing areas in the world. "In Darset" has significant gold with associated copper values and silver by-product.
BACKGROUND
The major producing gold mines and exploration targets in Mali today are mostly confined to Birimian Series greenstone belts that extend into western Mali from neighbouring Senegal, and across the central and southern parts of the country. These granite-greenstone belts are Archaean-age bodies (2700 - 3500 Ma) and typically consist of ancient metasediments and volcanic sequences, granitic rocks and various intrusives, usually highly folded and sheared through geologic time. The belts appear typically as older remnants surrounded by younger granites. Gold mineralisation is commonly found in these belts throughout Africa, particularly within shear zones and quartz veins.
An example of a producing gold mine in Mali is the Sadiola Hill gold mine which is owned by AngloGold, IAMGold of Canada, the Government of Mali, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). It is situated in the west of the country, on the Mali-Senegal shear zone, and has ore reserves estimated at some 120 tons (3,3 Moz) of gold. Sadiola produces about 600 000 oz of gold annually, making it Mali's largest producer. The open pit has a life of 12 years at present production levels, with a grade of around 3,2 g/t gold at a reported production cost of 146 USD/oz.
THE "IN DARSET" PROJECT
This is located in the north of the country, a relatively short distance from the Algerian border. The In Darset permit area contains the largest resource base and the best grade of the Malian projects of WAGI.
It is located in the Adrar des Iforas region, on the western side of the Trans-Sahara highway which connects Oran, Algeria on the Mediterranean coast with Gao on the Niger River to the south. The 1175 kilometre road from Bamako to Gao on the Niger River is paved and there are twice-daily ferries across the river to the north bank for vehicles of all sizes up to full-sized tractor trailers.
The region lies in the 'Kidal Cercle' or special development region centred around the town of Kidal, located some 150 kilometres south of the Aguel'hoc junction. The main village in the area is Tessalit in the north of the In Darset permit, near the Algerian border.
The permit area is largely underlain by Late Proterozoic metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by lesser large-scale syn- to post-tectonic granitoids and smaller gabbroic bodies. The area is underlain by greywacke schists and marine-laid tillites. In Darset has a single basin of Pan-African conglomerates surrounding an anorogenic alkaline complex. The areas are located over a major structural suture zone expressed by a significant gravimetric low.
The Algerian deposits on the eastern side of the Adrar antiform include the Tirek and Amesmessa deposits with reported ore reserves of 4,96 Mt grading 14,1 g/t of gold (2,25 Moz) at Amesmessa, and 0,59 Mt grading 25,2 g/t of gold (0,45 Moz) at Tirek. The southern extensions of the Amesmessa structure pass into the Mali side of the Adrar des Iforas, and the structural settings of the eastern and western sides are essentially similar.
The In Darset permit area in Mali covers an area of 438 square kilometres. A total of seven lenses of mineralisation have been identified by an extensive sampling program. The following grades are reported -
Lens Au Pb % Zn % Cu % Ba
No. g/t SO4
1 17,0 tr 0,40 4,3
2 1,4 0,7 5,95 -
1,0 1,8 24,60 -
3 14,0 - 0,90 3,3 7,5
4 50,0 tr 0,65 4,6
14,0 tr 1,05 9,5
5 9,5 0,4 1,55 5,2 10,6
6 tr 0,3 2,70 tr
7 1,0 0,6 18,00 -
The overall reserve / resource base reported to date is -
Gold -
Proven Reserve : 960 000 tons at 5.2 g/t gold (161 000 oz)
Probable Reserve : 8.3 Mt @ 4.0 g/t gold (1 067 000 oz)
Possible Reserve : 11.4 Mt @ 3.5 g/t gold (1 282 800 oz)
Giving a total of 2 510 800 oz
At a gold price of US $400/oz,
the gross value in the ground is $1 004 320 000
Other metals -
Average silver content - 12.5 g/t (8 303 000 oz)
At a silver price of US $6.00/oz,
the gross 'in-ground' value is about $50 million
Average Copper content - 0.17% Cu (35 122 tons)
At a copper price of US $ 2 800/ton,
the gross 'in-ground' value is about $100 million
At the current metal prices, this provides a value estimate for the "In Darset" property in the range of US $1.2 billion.
The Mali Mining Projects :-
The Advisory Committee to West Africa Gold, Inc. is presently compiling reports and valuations on the Company's other four Mining Projects situated in Mali and these reports will be published shortly.
About West Africa Gold, Inc. :-
West Africa Gold (www.westafricagold.com) is an aggressive gold exploration company that has acquired certain rights to mine for minerals, primarily gold, in various regions of the Republic of Mali and in North America.
Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the Company's expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control, including but not limited to economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company's operations, management team effectiveness, expansion strategies, available financing, market prices and recovery costs, government regulations involving the Company, facts and events not known at the time of this release, and other factors discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.
Contact:
West Africa Gold, Inc.
(+ 1 212 672 1851)
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Source: West Africa Gold, Inc.
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