Oct 7 2010
Asia Now Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE:NOW) is pleased to announce that the Company has accelerated its exploration program by mobilizing six rigs to drill at its Beiya project adjacent to the open-pit Beiya Gold Mine, the largest gold mine in Yunnan Province of China, with production capacity being expanded to 200,000 ounces of gold annually.
The accelerated drilling program is in response to good assay results for recently completed drill holes that indicate a high-grade gold, silver and base metal zone at Beiya North (see News Release dated August 9, 2010). In the adjacent Beiya gold mine, some 20 rigs have been drilling thick, high-grade massive copper-gold sulphides in skarns extending to the border of Asia Now's CJV tenement. Over 40,000 meters drilling has been completed recently at the Beiya Gold Mine to prove up a significant resource of high-grade massive copper-gold sulphides, the largest discovery at the Beiya Gold Mine for the past 30 years. This mineralized zone is indicated by a strong magnetic anomaly coincident with soil geochemical anomalies that extend from the adjacent gold mine into the CJV property.
The increased drilling on Asia Now's Beiya North property is part of a drilling plan totaling 17,400 meters proposed for Beiya (see news release dated on April 28, 2010). It includes infill drilling on a grid 80 meters by 80 meters to prove up a NI 43-101 compliant resource on the main, thick gold-silver zone confirmed by drilling at a spacing of 160 meters by 160 meters in 2009 (see News Release dated February 16, 2010), and drilling at larger step-out spacing to test potential high-grade copper-gold zones that that extend from the adjacent Beiya Gold Mine. Drilling was slowed due to lack of water during the drought last spring and summer, but is now speeding up. The Company plans to mobilize an additional six to eight rigs to its Beiya property upon the completion of its private placement equity financing (see News Release dated on September 7, 2010).
Asia Now has earned an interest of 72% with the option of increasing to 90% interest in the Beiya North property where the Company is currently drilling. Beiya North is part of the Beiya project that involves two joint venture companies. Beiya North is part of the joint venture with Yunnan Non-Ferrous Geology and Mineral Resources Company Limited. The Company is earning a 70-88% interest in another joint venture with Yunnan Geology and Mineral Resources Company Limited. The Beiya project is 60 km by highway north of the City of Dali, which is a 35 minute flight from Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan. There is excellent infrastructure in the area with several daily flights, a railway and a paved highway between the two cities. The Beiya property is one of two key projects the Company is exploring in China.