Resource Update

RNS Number : 5106A

Ovoca Gold PLC

02 February 2011

 

2 February 2011

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

Stakhanovsky maiden gold resource of 350,000 ounces

Ovoca is pleased to announce a Mineral Resource estimate in accordance with the JORC Code for the Stakhanovsky gold project, located in the Northwestern part of the Magadan Region, Russia. At a gold cut-off-grade of 0.5 g/t Stakhanovsky contains 9.1 Mt of Inferred Mineral Resources at an average gold grade of 1.2 g/t for a gold content of some 350,000 ounces gold.

For 2011 Ovoca intends to continue exploring the deposit using bulk sample analysis, which was successfully done by the previous owners of the project in 2009. The total bulk tonnage plan for 2011 is to take from multiple sites approximately 20,000 tons of ore that will be reduced to a concentrate on site and sent to a laboratory for analysis. In addition, about 4,000 metres of diamond drill work with wide diameter drill casing (HQ size - 94mm diameter) is planned for the 2011 season. This drill work will primarily confirm that the gold bearing quartz veins extend at depth to approximately 100 - 200 meters below the surface.  Although the plan for 2011 is quite intensive, the volume of work planned, if completed and with successful results, will allow Ovoca to register a gold resource with the Russian state authorities, a necessary step to begin feasibility studies and eventual mining.

The resource estimate was prepared by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK") using both historic data and data gathered by Ovoca in the 2010 exploration season. The historic data includes 3,013 metres of diamond drilling (27 holes ranging in depth from 50.9 metres to 200.3 metres, average 110m) and 3,042 metres of trenching. The data collected by Ovoca in 2010 includes 120 RC holes (ranging in depth from 12.8m to 151.0 m, average 59.3m) totaling 7,100m and 20 diamond holes totaling 1,168m (ranging in depth from 20.5m to 112.0m, average 58.4m).  Reverse Circular drilling ("RC")  was used in 2010 to achieve large volume samples from drill holes, which were felt to be more representative of the true grade of the deposit, particularly considering the frequent occurrence of course gold mineralization.

SRK has produced basic 3D models from the mapped outcrops and the drilling intersections in order to demonstrate the continuity of the dykes to which the gold mineralisation is confined. The dykes in SRK's resource model are generally 5-15m thick and dip shallowly to a depth of generally less than 120m and therefore the model is considered to have reasonable prospects for open pit extraction.

A 2D gridding method of weighting has been used to appropriately deal with new and old datasets which combine varying sample weights. The resultant grid model has been used to assign average grades over the whole thickness of each dyke. For reporting, the model has been divided into large areas in plan with 100m to 500m dimensions. This reflects Ovoca's intention to achieve a global grade estimate, whilst segregating the large scale high and low grade areas evident in the dyke grade models which are probably due to localised trends in the mineralisation in SRK's opinion.

The method employed by SRK relies on drillhole intersections with variable spacing or sometimes incomplete coverage, supported by mapped outcrop and trench results. Despite large sample volumes, the continuity of high grade intersections is not always well demonstrated hence relying on large scale reporting volumes. For these reasons the estimate has been classified as an Inferred Mineral Resource. More work is required to demonstrate grade continuity which will be addressed in Ovoca's proposed surface bulk sampling programme.

SRK's Mineral Resource Statement given in the table below is dated 1^st February 2011 and is reported using the terminology and guidelines given in the JORC Code. The resource is given above a 0.5 g/t cut off grade and comprises 7 areas from the Berezitoviy, Zabolocheniy 1 and Tainstvennaya 1 areas.

Million tonnes ore	Grade (g/t)	Gold (t)	Gold (thousand oz)
9.1	1.2	10.9	350

Generally, SRK considers the drilling to have covered only a quarter of the immediate area in which the geological mapping and grab sampling results have returned encouraging results; therefore exploration potential is considered to be good. There are a number of areas adjacent to the current model where SRK further work to increase the resource to be warranted, notably

·      Infill the 400m gap in Zabolocheny through the river valley,

·      infill Zabolocheny 1 - Stakhanovsky confluence (where very high grade grab samples are recorded) and extend southwards

·      extend southern part of Tainstvennaya 1 to north and to south (where a number of dykes are mapped with good grab sample grades)

·      drill new area Tainstvennaya 3 (where dykes are mapped and a good grab sample grade is recorded)

·      hanging wall dykes in Tainstvennaya 1, Zabolocheniy 1 and Berezitoviy

·      down dip extensions, particularly for high grade areas.

When Ovoca acquired Stakhanovsky in January 2010, the Russian classification resource was 1.2Moz gold in the P1 category. This JORC resource is part of the company's process to classify the resource to JORC standards as well as to upgrade and expand the resource.

Tim McCutcheon, CEO, comments: "The JORC maiden resource for Stakhanovsky is an important step in advancing the asset. Our work in 2010 combined with historical work, has positioned Ovoca to aggressively prove up and expand our resource base at the site, which we are excited to begin with our bulk sampling program in 2011. Also this year we have already started detailed metallurgical testing, geotechnical studies, and other work necessary to complete a feasibility study of the project. "

Significant historical drilling results from 2010 include:

Previously announced:

Bore hole ID number	Target	Interval, m			True thickness, m	Gold grade g/ton
		from	to	length
RCZ1-3	Zabolocheniy-1	125	143	18	18	4.48
RCZ1-6	Zabolocheniy-1	118	121	3	3	2.87
RCZ1-8	Zabolocheniy-1	86	89	3	3	12.78
RCZ1-9	Zabolocheniy-1	88	110	22	22	0.64
RCZ1-23	Zabolocheniy-1	39	51	12	12	0.82
RCZ1-27A	Zabolocheniy-1	58	71	13	12	3.09
RCBU-8	Burovaya	17	22	5	5	16.27
RCBU-9	Burovaya	26	31	5	5	3.82
RCBU-11	Burovaya	65	73	8	8	0.69
RCBU-12	Burovaya	88	94	6	6	1.54
RCBU-15	Burovaya	65	70	5	5	0.56
RCBR-15	Berezitoviy	24	32	8	8	0.76
RCBR- 20	Berezitoviy	29	37	8	8	1.74
RCBR-27	Berezitoviy	3	11	8	8	0.61
RCBR-30	Berezitoviy	12	14	2	2	0.95

Additional results:

Bore hole ID number	Target	Interval, m			True thickness, m	Gold grade g/ton
		from	to	length
RCZ1-4	Zabolocheniy-1	11	37	26	26	0.55
RCZ1-11	Zabolocheniy-1	54	72	18	18	0.49
RCZ1-25	Zabolocheniy-1	12	32	20	20	0.49
RCT1-12	Tainstvennay-1	36	39	3	3	0.87
RCT1-14	Tainstvennay-1	63	67	4	4	0.72
RCBU-4	Burovaya	24	29	5	5	0.51
RCBU-5	Burovaya	31	38	7	7	1.39
DDBR-15-2	Berezitoviy	30.9	36.2	5.3	5.3	2.45
DDBR-27-2	Berezitoviy	3.0	8.3	5.3	5.3	0.41

Geology

Stakhanovsky is composed of intrusive rocks (dykes) that vary from diorite-porphyry to granite-porphyry. These dykes are predominantly steep dipping in the Northwestern Magadan region, but they are shallow dipping in the area of the Stakhanovsky ore field.  The length of individual dykes varies from a few hundred metres to several kilometres, while the thickness of the dykes is from one to 20 metres, with the average about 7 metres. The dykes strike mostly in a northwest direction.

The gold mineralization in the dykes is characterized by relatively large grains (up to 5mm in diameter) of free gold unevenly distributed. Sample size in exploring Stakhanovsky is very important in order to negate the "nugget effect" of the gold distribution and give reliable results. As a result, Ovoca has decided to carry out exploration using RC drilling technology, which extracts more material per drilled meter due to the wider diameter of the drill hole.  Ovoca will also rely on bulk sampling from trenches to analyze large samples of ore from the site.

Ownership

The Stakhanovsky license is owned by OOO Magsel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ovoca Gold. The license is an exploitation license which allows for exploration work, mine development, and mining. The license terms ends 07.05.2027 and can be extended upon successful petition to the appropriate Russian authorities. 

Location

Stakhanovsky is situated in the Northwestern part of the Magadan Region. The total license area if 73 square kilometres. The site is 40 kilometres from a large regional town (Susuman, population 7,500) and is approximately 700km from Magadan, the region's largest city and capital.

Metallurgy

The metallurgical characteristics of the ore are very amenable to conventional gravitation, as initial test work has shown that a significant majority of the gold mineralization at the site is free gold embedded within the diorite quartz veins. Simple ore crushing and gravitation achieved over 60% recoveries on a 260 ton bulk sample taken from the site in 2009.  Management believes that additional test work could significantly raise the gold recovery rate by gravitation methods alone.

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 for US$47.7 million at the time of closing 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.  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, as well as other gold and gold-silver targets. 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. 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]

Davy

John Frain [phone]

The above information has been reviewed and verified by Mr. Gareth O' Donovan for the purposes of the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in March 2006. Mr. O' Donovan, with 25 years of mining engineering, management and consulting experience, graduated as Ba Hons from Keele University, has an MSc from Rhodes University, is a Fellow of both the Geological Society and the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining and is a Chartered Engineer.

The Mineral Resource estimate was undertaken by Mr. Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, a Principal Resource Geologist with SRK (UK) Ltd  who has some 15 years relevant experience in the estimation of gold deposits and is considered a 'Competent Person' suitably qualified to report this Mineral Resource Estimate according to the JORC Code.

 

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