RHA Tungsten Project Update

RNS Number : 7035T

Premier African Minerals Limited

07 October 2014

 



Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

For immediate release

7 October 2014

Premier African Minerals Limited ("Premier" or "the Company")

RHA Tungsten Project Update

Premier African Minerals Limited, the AIM-traded, multi-commodity natural resource company with mineral projects located in Southern and Western Africa, today provides an update on its RHA Tungsten project, in Zimbabwe.

Highlights

·     Dewatering of Old Mine workings commences following grant of a discharge permit.

·     Confirmatory trenching and mapping work has started on mineralised outcrops within the early stage open pit delineation.

·     Update of the September 2013 Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") is planned to be released during October 2014.

George Roach, CEO of Premier, commented: "A preliminary draft of the updated PEA has been received and is under review for release during October 2014. The preliminary draft confirms management's confidence in the project and compliments our decision to proceed to early production on a low capital cost basis immediately.

"Work underway at RHA at present is directed at facilitating early production from the low capital alternatives available to us. On the one hand, as soon as the Old Mine is dewatered, it will be made safe and accessed to allow confirmatory work on historic non-compliant ore reserves to commence, whilst surface work traces the full strike length of the lode 1 and 2 ore body that will be the initial open pit target."

Underground Old Mine

The historic underground workings at RHA potentially contain a historic non-compliant developed reserve as previously announced on 19 June 2014. Recently completed modelling of historic, non-compliant data by CAE Mining indicates probable extensions to mineralisation previously described in our announcements on 1 May 2014 and 18 February 2013. Access to the historic channel sampling on the 859 level that is currently submerged may, if matching assays confirm historic data, result in an increase in the overall resource.

Open Pit Mine

The open pit early production option targets high grade zones of the lode 1 and 2 resource. Initial open pit optimisation completed by CAE Mining indicates a run of mine grade in excess of 12kg/t WO₃ for the selected pit shell. Surface outcrops had been intersected in cross-cutting trenches within the open pit delineation and these surface outcrops are now being traced along their full length. Simultaneously, detailed work on the pit access and designs is currently being undertaken.

PEA Update

The draft update of the September 2013 PEA is under review at present and is planned to be released during October 2014. The draft under review indicates that management's confidence in this project is justified.

Qualified Person

Werner Swanepoel, Chief Operating Officer of Premier, has reviewed and approved this release to the extent that information contained herein relates to mining and mine development. Mr Swanepoel has 20 years' experience in the southern African mining industry and holds a Master's degree in Mining Engineering, an MBA and Mine Manager's Certificates in both Metalliferous and Coal Mining. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

The other technical information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Bruce Cumming. Mr. Cumming holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geology from the University of Cape Town and is accredited to the South African Counsel for Natural Scientific Professionals (SACNASP). Mr. Cumming has sufficient geological experience (over 35 years).

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions, competition, environmental and other regulatory changes, actions by governmental authorities, the availability of capital markets, reliance on key personnel, uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Although any forward looking statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward looking statements.

For further information please visit www.premierafricanminerals.com or contact the following:

Pamela Hueston	Premier African Minerals Limited	Tel: [phone]
Michael Cornish / Roland Cornish	Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Tel: [phone]
Jerry Keen/ Edward Mansfield	Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited	Tel: [phone]
Tim Blythe/ Halimah Hussain	Blytheweigh	Tel: [phone]

Notes

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity exploration and development company focused in Southern and Western Africa. The Company has a diverse portfolio of multi-commodity projects which includes tungsten, rare earth elements, gold, lithium, tantalum, graphite and uranium in Zimbabwe and Togo, which span from brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company holds 2m shares in Circum Minerals Ltd ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project. At inception, the shares had a fair value of USD$1.4m. Circum is fully funded to completion of feasibility study.

Glossary of technical terms

"Mineralisation" is the presence of a target mineral in a mass of host rock.

"WO₃" is tungsten oxide.

ENDS

 

END

 

 

MSCBLBDGGDGBGSR