Goldcrest finds high grade surface gold in Burkina Faso
High Grade Rock Sampling Results, up to 385 g/t Gold in Quartz Veins and up to 158 g/t Gold in the Altered Host Rocks, at the Kampti Permit in Burkina Faso, West Africa
20 December 2005 Goldcrest Resources Ltd. (“Goldcrest” or “the Company”), (GCL-TSX.V) is pleased to announce the following results from its ongoing exploration program at its 100% owned Kampti permit located in southernmost Burkina Faso, West Africa. Kampti represents an exceptional property that contains several walk-up drill targets at Maména, the prospect that has seen a large influx of artisanal miners over the last twelve months. The results from this program confirm the high grade nature of quartz veining within the widespread Maména Hills gold system.
In commenting on the results Kevin Bullock, Goldcrest’s President, said “We are extremely impressed by the results from this sampling program. They confirm the high grade nature of the quartz veining and the immediate host rocks adjacent to veins over a widespread area at Maména. Trench sampling, presently underway, will help to provide additional information on grades and disposition of gold mineralization in host rock distant from quartz veining. The trench results, combined with these rock sample results, will provide us with good targeting criteria for our planned RC drilling campaign scheduled for late January, 2006.”
There is a total of over 65 gold-bearing quartz veins and mineralized systems covered by over 1,000 individual pits, trenches and shafts, from which some 360 rock grab and chip samples were collected and dispatched to ABILAB in Ouagadougou in late-November. These represent gold-bearing quartz vein, both ore and reject material, plus assorted wall rocks. These results provide useful information on the grade and distribution of gold mineralization throughout the widespread Maména Hills gold system, which covers an area of some 2.8 x 2.8 km.
The following table summarizes the results;
Sample Type Number of Samples High (g/t gold) Low (g/t gold) Average (g/t gold)
Mineralized Quartz Veins 93 384.5 0.01 8.1 (1)
Altered Host Rocks 240 157.8 0.01 2.5 (1)
Mineralized Quartz Rejects 24 35.2 6.3 14.6
Mineralized Host Rock Rejects 3 34.9 2.6 13.5 (1)
Highest grade assay excluded from average
Samples were comprised of multiple, small chips and pieces from each sample location, each individual composite sample weighing between 1 to 2 kg. Samples were sent to ABILAB Ouagadougou/Bamako for standard preparation then Fire Assay on 50g charge. The company, for field quality control, inserted duplicates on an approximate 1 in 20 samples. Standards and blanks were interposed by the laboratory into the sample batch on an approximate basis of 1 in 20 samples. Laboratory repeat assays were undertaken on an approximate basis of 1 in 10 samples. From a QA/QC perspective, the initial review of results suggests this is a very satisfactory and reliable data set with standards, blanks and laboratory checks all confirming the accuracy and precision of the results.
Mineralized Quartz Veins
Quartz veins are sub-vertical and range in width from a few centimeters to 50 centimeters. Some 93 samples of quartz vein material were taken from artisanal pits and trenches, of which 58 reported greater than 1 g/t gold, with only 11 samples returning less than 0.1 g/t gold. Twenty-two percent of the samples returned values greater than 10 g/t gold.
Altered Host Rock
The host rock within the Maména area varies but is usually altered on both sides of the quartz veins. Field descriptions include altered meta-andesite and meta-basalt to rhyolites, quartz porphyries and rhyodacites. A total of 240 samples of the host rock were taken from the artisanal pits and over 57% (137 samples) recorded values over 0.5 g/t. Most samples were taken less than 0.5m from vein material, so this sample population may not necessarily be representative of host rock over the wider prospect. Our present trenching program is designed to sample and assay the intervening spaces between the vein sequences which vary in the order of 50m to 200m.
Mineralized Quartz Rejects
Twenty-four samples were collected from the rejects generated through the artisanal processing of the quartz material. All of these samples generated results greater than 6.0 g/t gold and ranged between 6.3 g/t gold and 35.2 g/t gold with the average being 14.6 g/t gold. These results confirm the poor recovery of the gold by the artisans and their rudimentary exploitation means.
Mineralized Host Rock Rejects
Although processing of the host rock by the artisans is rare, due to the fine grained nature of the gold within the host rock, 3 samples from these rejects generated results of 2.6, 3.0 and 34.9 g/t gold. The altered wall rock is being exploited in some instances but the gold seems too fine to allow for good recoveries by the artisans.
A possible east-west control on highest gold grades is evident from the sample population at the very northern part of the Maména Prospect.
During the past eight to twelve months, artisanal gold diggings at the Maména Prospect have grown rapidly with artisanal miners exploiting gold from narrow quartz veins and altered host rocks. All workings developed by the current artisanal activities have been mapped, surveyed and sampled. The gold-bearing veins locally form a dense stockwork of veinlets and veins, hosted by sheared and highly altered volcanic and intrusive rocks which are marked by intense silicification, sulphidation and kaolinisation.
Under the guidelines of National Instrument 43-101, the qualified person for the Kampti Gold Project is Mr. Michael Higgins who is a Fellow of the AusIMM. Mr. Higgins has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
Goldcrest Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company focused on growing shareholder value through the advancement of its Youanmi project in Western Australia and its Malba, Kampti and Souhouera projects in Burkina Faso. The Youanmi project has a complete infrastructure including a Carbon in Pulp (“CIP”) processing plant, Bactech bio-oxidation plant and a mine village on site. The CIP plant, which was built in 1986, is capable of processing 600,000 tonnes per annum through its circuit. The plant operated from 1987 through 1993 with an overall average recovery of 89.4% and is described in detail in the Technical Report prepared by RSG Global, which has been filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The technical report also fully describes the Bactech bio-oxidation plant and other infrastructure. The Youanmi property has previously produced over 670,000 ounces of gold.
Goldcrest Resources Ltd. has 54,667,073 common shares outstanding and 75,581,380 common shares on a fully diluted basis. For further information please contact: Kevin Bullock, P.Eng., President & CEO Goldcrest Resources Ltd. kbullock@goldcrestresources.com Ph: 416 867 2299 Fax: 416 867 2298 Corporate Website: www.goldcrestresources.com
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