Drilling Update

RNS Number : 9793I

Ovoca Gold PLC

23 March 2010

 

23 March 2010

Ovoca Gold Plc ("Ovoca" or the "Company")

Oleninskoye Update

Ovoca announces that it has completed the resampling and testing of previously drilled core material on the Oleninskoye deposit on the Kola peninsula (Murmansk Region, Russia) which was drilled to a depth of 285 meters. The Company announced it began a retesting programme on 7 December 2009 and released its initial results. Since then, Ovoca has retested the remainder of the core material using the same technique (as recommended by TsNIGRI, a leading Russian Institute). The technique used is geoelectric down hole survey to identify anomalous sections along the core length, as well as sample preparation to take into account the presence of free gold particles up to 0.5-1.0 mm in size in the drill core.

The table below shows results for a portion of the 510 retested samples compared to the previous results from the same samples (not including those previously announced).

No.	Bore Hole ID number	Sample	Interval, m			Au retest 2009/10, g/t	Previous Au assay, g/t
			from	to	length
1	C-BF-054	32	61,7	63,8	2,1	1,15	n/a
2	C-BF-064	3	22,0	24,0	2,0	2,63	0,71
3	C-BF-040	52	105,4	107,5	2,1	1,71	1,00
4	C-BF-039	35	59,2	60,2	1,0	2,10	1,71
5	C-BF-039	83	125,2	126,1	0,9	1,89	<0,30
6	C-BF-052	6	171,1	172,1	1,0	1,37	1,08
7	C-BF-052	37	226,6	227,6	1,0	1,53	1,19
8	C-BF-052	39	228,6	229,6	1,0	1,41	0,57
9	C-BF-052	46	235,7	236,8	1,1	1,18	0,53
10	C-BF-052	48	237,8	239,3	1,5	3,64	1,58
11	C-BF-074	11	59,7	60,7	1,0	1,54	0,70
12	C-BF-074	13	61,7	62,7	1,0	1,63	< 0,05
13	C-BF-049	12	146,1	147,1	1,0	1,81	0,39
14	C-BF-027	37	215,2	216,2	1,0	1,20	1,79
15	C-BF-027	39	216,2	217,9	1,7	5,23	4,97
16	C-BF-077	12	35,8	37,3	1,5	0,85	0,74
17	C-BF-077	15	39,3	40,3	1,0	2,23	0,70
18	C-BF-027	4	124,8	125,9	1,1	1,26	1,04
19	C-BF-027	38	215,2	216,2	1,0	2,86	1,79
20	C-BF-045	23	111,0	112,5	1,5	1,15	1,27
21	C-BF-045	29	118,3	119,3	1,0	1,11	1,35
22	C-BF-045	30	119,3	120,3	1,0	3,44	2,18
23	C-BF-079	11	72,0	73,0	1,0	1,54	< 0,05
24	C-BF-114	20	48,7	50,2	1,5	1,35	0,15
25	C-BF-157	6	8,5	10,0	1,5	4,20	0,90
26	C-BF-049	13	147,1	148,1	1,0	1,34	0,17
27	C-BF-048	19	94,3	95,8	1,5	1,35	0,12
28	C-BF-048	22	98,8	100,3	1,5	2,09	1,97
29	C-BF-048	23	100,3	101,4	1,1	1,21	0,53
30	C-BF-046	50	230,2	231,7	1,5	1,56	0,99
31	C-BF-028	13	95,4	96,5	1,1	20,25	0,34
32	C-BF-028	44/45	145,7	146,6	0,9	2,48	1,12
33	C-BF-028	51/52	179,2	180,1	0,9	5,76	3,23
34	C-BF-075	8	43,8	45,3	1,5	14,30	13,70
35	K-500	3	3,0	4,5	1,5	1,69	1,24
36	K-13C	23	22,5	23,5	1,0	2,74	2,20
37	C-BF-060	10	85,0	86,5	1,5	1,50	1,47
38	C-BF-060	17	95,0	96,2	1,2	5,53	4,17
39	C-BF-060	18	96,2	97,4	1,2	1,45	1,18
40	C-BF-057	6	62,7	63,7	1,0	1,65	0,93
41	C-BF-061	19	87,9	89,4	1,5	1,28	1,24
42	C-BF-061	21	90,4	91,4	1,0	3,09	2,57
43	K-BF-028A	17	19,1	19,9	0,8	1,71	0,90
44	K-J-1	4	3,3	4,4	1,1	2,41	0,09
45	К-BF-095	2	6,0	7,5	1,5	1,59	0,38
46	К-511	5	6,0	7,0	1,0	3,02	1,23
47	С-BF-029	37	93,8	94,6	0,8	1,68	0,49
48	С-BF-029	39	95,5	96,2	0,7	1,46	0,62
49	С-BF-029	52	120,6	121,8	1,2	2,62	2,90
50	K-BF-028А	20	21,6	22,1	0,5	1,09	1,20
51	K-BF-028А	24	25,2	26	0,8	1,67	1,20

This new data is significant for the Oleninskoye project, as it confirms the potential of the ore body is higher than previously thought before the retesting programme. This data is a major step in advancing a pre-feasibility study for Oleninskoye in the future.

Tim McCutcheon, CEO, comments: "We are pleased that this retesting program is completed, and now we can analyze the new data. Ovoca's geologists are assessing the potential of the ore body taking into consideration grade, total ore volume and mining widths to determine its economic potential. Ovoca is actively looking for strategic solutions for Oleninskoye and Pellapakh, which are both located on the same license. The strategic solution includes forming potential joint venture with companies that are equipped to work in the Murmansk Region, Russia."

Qualified Person

The above information has been reviewed and verified by Mr. Roger Turner for the purposes of the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in March 2006. Mr. Turner, with 40 years of mining engineering, management and consulting experience, graduated as a mining engineer from the Camborne School of Mines, has a M.Sc. degree in Economic Geology from Leicester University and is a member in good standing with the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a UK Chartered Engineer.

Notes to Editors

Ovoca Gold PLC ("Ovoca" or "the Company") is a mineral exploration and mine development company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (Ticker: OVG) and on the IEX market of the Irish Stock Exchange (Ticker: OVX). The Company's principal activity is gold exploration in the Magadan Region of the Russian Federation. Previously Ovoca acquired, developed and sold to JSC Polymetal the Goltsovoye silver project located in the Magadan Region.  Currently, Ovoca is aggressively exploring and developing its 100 per cent owned Stakhanovsky, Rassoshinskaya and Nevsko-Pestrinskoye licenses.

Stakhanovsky is located approximately 40 kilometres north of Susuman, the second largest city in the Magadan region.  It is accessible by year-round road and there is power infrastructure on site. Internal preliminary estimates suggest a gold resource (non JORC code of Russian standard compliant) of over 700,000 ounces.  The Company intends to put Stakhanovsky into production by 2013.

Rassoshinskaya is in the North Eastern part of the Magadan Region about 200 kilometres from the town of Simchan. There is no nearby infrastructure. Rassoshinskaya hosts an epithermal gold deposit named Olcha, which is the focus of Ovoca's exploration program. Olcha and nearby satellite deposits have the potential to host a high grade multi-million ounce gold resource.

Nevsko-Pestrinskoye is located in the central part of the Magadan region near the town of Omsukchan. A year-round road and powerline are near the site. The license completely surrounds the Goltsovoye silver deposit, which was owned by the Company from 2006 - 2009 and sold to JSC Polymetal for US$47.7 million at the time of closing. Ovoca intends to investigate and explore known mineral occurrences that extend beyond the Goltsovoye license area onto Nevsko-Pestrinskoye.

Ovoca Gold plc

Timothy McCutcheon [phone] [e-mail]

Mr Danesh Varma [phone] [e-mail]

Davy

John Frain [phone]

 

END

 

 

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