AfriOre and Wits Basin Propose Further Drilling in the Newly Discovered Extension to the Witwatersrand Basin at the FSC Gold Project, South Africa
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2005 1:59 PM
- BusinessWire
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 18, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Wits Basin Precious Minerals Inc. (WITM) is pleased to announce that it has been advised by AfriOre Limited ("AfriOre") that it has proposed further drilling, after it has successfully completed drill hole BH 48, at the FSC gold project. BH 48 has intersected quartzites that have been positively identified as Witwatersrand Supergroup strata and this is the first time that rocks of the Witwatersrand Supergroup have been encountered this far south of the known Witwatersrand Basin, which historically has been South Africa's principal source of gold.
The drill hole which bottomed out at 2,559 meters and intersected over 600 meters of quartzites, below cover rocks which included a relatively thin succession of Transvaal Supergroup sedimentary rocks (160 meters) and Ventersdorp Supergroup lavas (132 meters) below the Karoo Supergroup rocks. The quartzites have been positively identified as Witwatersrand rocks, both through stratigraphic correlation and age dating analysis. Although the age dating determinations indicated an age of the quartzites in accordance with that of the Witwatersrand Supergroup, expert consultants engaged by the Joint Venture correlated the quartzites with the West Rand Group of the Witwatersrand Supergroup. Also identified in the drill hole were a number of bands of pyrite mineralization which, while returning assays results with negligible amounts of gold, nevertheless were consistent with similar features encountered throughout the rocks in the Witwatersrand Basin. The full implications of these results have been considered with a view to identifying further priority drill sites, which could be underlain by Central Rand Group rocks, which are the common host to the gold reefs in the main Witwatersrand Basin.
Drill hole BH 48 is the second drill hole to be drilled in the current Joint Venture between AfriOre and Wits Basin and is the first drill hole to successfully intersect Witwatersrand rocks. The drill hole is located some 18 km from the closest drill hole that was previously drilled in the 1980's by a major mining house. Modeling by AfriOre's technical consultants of this newly identified and separate Witwatersrand age basin extension, includes the delineation of the likely position of a basin margin along which strata may have been upturned, similar to the basin margin feature of the Welkom goldfield in the Witwatersrand Basin. (The Welkom goldfield has produced to date in excess of 300 million ounces of gold.) The accurate stratigraphic correlation, achieved through detailed logging of the quartzites in the drill hole and the 20 degree dip of the strata, which has been determined in a down-the-hole dipmeter survey, has provided critical data in the basin modeling and in the siting of a third drill hole, which AfriOre has proposed be drilled. At least six possible drill sites have been identified, where the available data indicates that the target Central Rand Group rocks may be preserved.
Prior to finalizing the selection of the site for the next drill hole, AfriOre has proposed flying an additional high resolution aeromagnetic survey over a limited area to aid in the definition of structural blocks, where proximal gold bearing conglomerates of the Central Rand Group may be preserved. The proposed survey would be an extension to the larger aeromagnetic survey that was flown by the Joint Venture in 2003.
Although mineral rights over the prospective area have been secured previously, the Joint Venture is awaiting a prospecting right that is to be issued by the Department of Minerals and Energy to allow the drilling of the next drill hole to proceed.
