8 March 2017
Sula Iron & Gold plc
("Sula" or the "Company")
Ferensola Gold Project - Drilling Commences at Dalakuru
Sula (AIM: SULA), the gold exploration company focused on Sierra Leone, is pleased to announce that the first of the two drill rigs has now commenced drilling at the Company's Dalakuru Exploration Camp on its Ferensola project site (the "Dalakuru Exploration Camp"). This start-up of drilling operations is in line with Sula's plan to phase-in drilling by commencing with one rig and then, once drilling is proceeding smoothly, to commence drilling with the second.
The first rig is focusing on Sula's Eastern Target. As outlined previously, this 4km long ridge has a very strong Induced Polarisation ("IP") anomaly, which Sula believes is indicative of pyrite mineralisation. Elsewhere on the Ferensola licence, this pyrite mineralisation is associated with gold. As announced by Sula on 2 February 2017, oxide ore collected from a road cutting over the Eastern Target, near to where the first holes will be drilled, returned a grade of 4.8g/t gold.
The second rig will drill additional holes on Sula's Sanama Hill, where Sula has an Exploration Target, as defined by SRK Consulting of 5 to 7 million tonnes grading at between 4g/t - 8g/t for 0.8 - 1.5million ounces of gold. This rig will test for extensions of the known gold mineralisation.
As announced on 26 October 2016, the 50km IP survey Sula conducted over a section of its 153km2 Ferensola licence identified a total of 8.5km of strong IP anomalies. The current work programme is drilling the largest anomaly, being the Eastern Target, but a further 4.5km of untested prospective anomalies remain to be tested in the future.
A photograph of the initial drill rig on site at the Dalakuru Exploration Camp is displayed via the link below:
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Roger Murphy, Sula's CEO, commented:
"I'm very happy that drilling has now commenced. We are very excited by the potential at our 4km Eastern Target, which is now being drilled for the first time. The size of the Target's IP anomaly and our recovery of oxide gold from a road which cuts the target gives us high hopes of success. Within a short period, our second rig will then start drilling at Sanama Hill, where we already have a JORC-Compliant Exploration Target of 5-7Mt at 4-8g/t for 0.8-1.5Moz of gold. We look forward to providing a further update in due course."
For further information, please visit www.sulaironandgold.com or contact:
Sula Iron & Gold plc Roger Murphy (CEO) |
+44 (0) 7788 913794 |
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Strand Hanson Limited (Financial and Nominated Adviser) James Harris / Matthew Chandler / James Dance |
+44 (0) 20 7409 3494 |
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VSA Capital Limited (Broker) Andrew Raca |
+44 (0) 20 3005 5000 |
Ongeza Mining (Technical Adviser) Iain Macpherson Ilja Graulich
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+27 (0) 11 469 0629 |
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
Note to editors:
Sula is a multi-commodity exploration company focused on Sierra Leone. The Company's main objective is to explore and advance its 153km2 Ferensola Project in Northern Sierra Leone, which is highly prospective for gold, iron ore and coltan. In July 2015, the Company defined a JORC Exploration Target on its Ferensola Gold Project. The Exploration Target centres on Sanama Hill, with a tonnage range of between 5 and 7 million tonnes ("Mt"), grading at between 4 and 8 g/t Au, which equates to between 0.8 and 1.5 million ounces ("Moz") Au. The Exploration Target was restricted to a 2km strike length segment of the regional fold belt that is believed to extend for over 10km. In December 2014, the Company achieved a corporate milestone in delivering its JORC MRE for the BIF 1 iron ore project. A total resource of 514.5Mt @ 31.8% Fe was identified and total oxide resource of 55.5Mt @ 45.39% Fe.