Jan 29 2014
Sarama Resources Ltd. ("Sarama" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that soil geochemistry surveys at its Grand Bassa exploration property in central Liberia have successfully identified several anomalous gold-in-soil trends, the largest of which extends for 14km along strike. The Company's exploration program has also intersected in-situ gold mineralisation in follow-up trenching programs, giving credence to soil geochemistry survey results.
Highlights
- Gridded soil geochemistry surveys on Sarama's Grand Bassa exploration property have defined a 14km-long anomalous gold-in-soil trend parallel to a regional structural feature.
- Several other anomalous gold-in-soil zones with strike lengths in the order of 1.5km have been partially defined with sampling programs set to continue.
- Trenching across the eastern-most gold-in-soil anomaly returned several wide, low-grade intervals with narrower higher-grade internal sections including:
- 29m @ 0.82g/t Au, including 9m @ 2.05g/t Au in GBTR005;
- 37m @ 0.51g/t Au, including 8m @ 1.54g/t Au in GBTR007; and
- 22m @ 0.42g/t Au in GBTR006
- Trenching program confirms the presence of gold within oxidised in-situ bedrock along the eastern-most anomaly.
- Property is located 35km along strike from the high-grade Kokoya deposit and has good access to road infrastructure.
Grand Bassa Property Exploration
Sarama's exploration activities in Liberia have primarily focused on the Cape Mount, Gbarpolu and Grand Bassa exploration properties (refer Figure 1). Sarama holds an 80% interest in these properties and can earn up to a 90% interest, subject to the achievement of certain milestones.
The Company's exploration at the Cape Mount Project and the Gbarpolu property in the west of Liberia has yielded encouraging results and recent activities at the Grand Bassa property in central Liberia are continuing this theme.
The Grand Bassa property is located in previously unexplored Archean-aged terrane, approximately 35km south-west of the high-grade Kokoya deposit for which a positive pre-feasibility study was recently conducted (refer AmLib Holdings Plc news release, August 12, 2013).
Figure 1 - Sarama's Exploration Properties in Liberia http://www.saramaresources.com/SARAMA/media/news_release_images/News_Release_2014-01-27_Figure_1.jpg
Identification of 14km-long Anomalous Gold-in-Soil Trend at Grand Bassa
Sarama has received assay results for a soil geochemical survey undertaken on parts of the 299km² Grand Bassa exploration property in 2012 and 2013.
A principal sample grid spacing of 800m (east-west) x 50m (north-south) was used for the surveys with several areas being sampled at a higher density (400m x 50m spacing) after being identified as high priority targets based on structural setting, airborne geophysical results and prevalence of artisanal mining activity.
The survey identified a 14km-long anomalous gold-in-soil trend in the western portion of the property, parallel to a regional structural feature (refer Figure 2). The anomalous zone is also co-incident with several geologically prospective features identified by an airborne geophysical survey conducted by the Company in 2012.
The anomalous zone is broadly defined by the 95th percentile of returned assays (Au>20ppb). Within this zone, several areas up to approximately 2km in length and 1km in width are defined by elevated gold-in-soil values of Au>41ppb.
Several other anomalous zones, 1.5km in length, were partially identified in the east of the property, with soil geochemistry surveys set to continue to fully investigate the trends.
Figure 2 - Anomalous Gold-in-Soil Trends at Grand Bassa Property http://www.saramaresources.com/SARAMA/media/news_release_images/News_Release_2014-01-27_Figure_2.jpg
Trenching Identifies In-situ Gold Mineralisation
An initial trenching program consisting of 7 excavations in north-south orientations was completed in Q4 2013, focusing on the southern portion of the 14km-long western anomalous zone and in the eastern-most anomalous zones.
The targets were principally generated from the soil geochemistry survey, but were also co-incident with active artisanal gold mining sites and several geologically prospective features identified by an airborne geophysical survey conducted by the Company in 2012.
The eastern trenching program returned several encouraging intersections including:
- 29m @ 0.82g/t Au, including 9m @ 2.05g/t Au in GBTR005;
- 37m @ 0.51g/t Au, including 8m @ 1.54g/t Au in GBTR007; and
- 22m @ 0.42g/t Au in GBTR006.
Results indicate the presence of broad low-grade zones of gold mineralization which demonstrate good continuity along strike. It is also encouraging to note the presence of higher grade zones within the broad intersections. The walls of the trenches were sampled at uniform 1m intervals over their length at a depth of approximately 2-3m below surface.
The weathering environment is similar to that observed at the Company's exploration properties in the west of Liberia, with high rainfall influencing the upper part of the regolith profile, leading to disaggregation of the upper part of the regolith profile. In this environment, the Company believes it is probable that near-surface geochemical and physical dispersion of in-situ gold has occurred at the level of trench sampling (2-3m depth).
Initial trenching in the southern portion of the western anomaly did not return any significant intersections, but subsequent phases of work planned will test the area more comprehensively.
Figure 3 - Grand Bassa Trenching - Eastern Area http://www.saramaresources.com/SARAMA/media/news_release_images/News_Release_2014-01-27_Figure_3.jpg
Sarama's President and CEO, Andrew Dinning, commented:
"We continue to be encouraged with the potential being shown on all of our Liberian properties, with all three now having kilometre-scale gold-in-soil anomalies and promising trench results. We have identified drill targets on both our Cape Mount and Gbarpolu properties and we look forward to completing preliminary exploration at Grand Bassa to allow the next steps to be determined. Liberia continues to be an important jurisdiction for Sarama and continues to provide exciting optionality for our shareholders."