Falkland Gold and Minerals Ltd
18 October 2005
Falkland Gold and Minerals Ltd ('FGML' or 'the Company')
Strategic Review and Operational Update
• Concept of an economically viable gold deposit in the Falkland Islands
remains strong
• Strategy, as communicated at the time of the Company's flotation on AIM
in December 2004, remains in place
• Current and planned expenditure is on target - FGML expects to complete
its two year, initial exploration, programme on budget
Overview
Having completed approximately 25% of the planned drilling programme the Board
of FGML has carried out a strategic review of the Company's original exploration
programme set out in its November 2004 prospectus. The Board has concluded that
this original strategy, and the timetable of planned activity within it, remains
the optimum work programme to identify gold and minerals in the Falkland
Islands.
To enhance the exploration work FGML is appointing independent consultants to
review the selection and siting of new drill holes and ensure that no
opportunity has been overlooked. In addition, a series of extensions to ground
geophysics and ground geochemistry on sub peat soil sampling has been approved
by the Board. This is intended to define further anomalies for drilling.
The Board is pleased to note that drilling continued throughout the Austral
winter.
Drilling Operations
Drilling activity began in March 2005 and by 30 September 2005 a total of 6,000
metres of core had been drilled, testing seven of the originally identified
nine priority targets. FGML remains on target to complete Stage 2 of its
programme on schedule and to drill approximately another 18,000m, by Q4 2006, on
the other fourteen of the twenty three identified targets, and any other targets
subsequently identified.
Initial broad scale geochemistry has indicated promising new targets in the
Glorious Hill region. These targets will be followed up with further soil
sampling and drilling.
Drilling results have, to a large extent, confirmed prior geological
interpretation and are being used to further refine target selection. The
results to date, and the knowledge
derived from them, have allowed the original model to be refined and improved
and will focus future drilling activity. Progress to date has covered more of
the identified targets than was originally planned and the improved model will
continue this trend.
Financial
The total cash outflow is expected to be of the order of £100,000 per month
until the conclusion of the exploration phase of the drilling at which time
there will be in the region of £5.5million available for the definition drilling
programme, which if required, could commence by Q4 2006.
Richard Linnell, Executive Chairman of FGML, commented:
'Our strategic review has confirmed my original confidence that the Falkland
Islands represents an exploration target with real potential for a gold deposit.
I am satisfied that we have sufficient financial resources to complete our
preliminary exploration activity and define any discoveries'
Enquiries
Falkland Gold & Minerals Limited
Richard Linnell, Chairman +27 82 440 6710
Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial
Nick Lambert +44 (0) 20 7861 3232
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.