Environmental Report Approval for Cascabel

RNS Number : 2633M

SolGold PLC

22 August 2013

 



22 August 2013

SolGold Plc

("SolGold" or the "Company")

Environmental Report Approval Received from Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment

Drilling Expected at Cascabel in September

Highlights:

Ø  Environmental report approval received from Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment.

Ø  Mobilisation of drill rig to Hole 1 at Alpala Prospect awaits final clearance.

Ø  Commencement of drilling anticipated in September.

The Board of SolGold is pleased to announce the following update on the Cascabel Project, the Company's copper gold project in northern Ecuador.  SolGold currently holds a 30% interest, and can earn up to 85% interest in Exploraciones Novomining S.A. ("ENSA"), an Ecuadorean registered company which holds 100% of the Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador.  Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone") currently holds the other 70% of ENSA.  Cornerstone has been in Ecuador for 6 years and employs Ecuadorian geologists to carry out exploration and related administrative functions for the Cascabel project.

References to figures relate to the images visible in the PDF version of the announcement hosted on the Company's website (www.solgold.com.au).

Environmental Report Approved

The Company has been advised by Cornerstone that written approval for the Cascabel Estudio de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) report was received on 21 August (Ecuador time) from the Ministry of Environment in the nation's capital, Quito.

The approval of the EIA report by the Ministry of Environment now facilitates the issue of the Environmental License that will enable the commencement of drilling on the Cascabel concession.  The Environmental License is expected to be issued within the next few weeks.

Mobilisation of Drill Rig to Hole 1 

Recently the Company mobilised the drill rig some 5 kilometres to the Alpala field camp in preparation for the commencement of drilling.  The Company will mobilise the drill rig and associated equipment from the Alpala field camp to the Drill Hole 1 pad immediately upon signing of the Environmental License by the Minister.  This final mobilisation is expected to take approximately 7 days and, if there is no weather delay, it is anticipated that drilling should commence in September.

Location of Drill Holes 1 and 2

Figure 1 shows the location of planned drill holes CSD-13-001 and CSD-13-002 at Alpala.  These first two drill holes will be drilled at a 60 degree angle towards the southwest and west respectively to intersect a northwest-trending set of sheeted and stockwork quartz veins within a dacite porphyry intrusion.  

The first hole will drill under Trench TR46, which encountered 45.64m @ 0.59% copper and 0.81 g/t gold at surface (Figure 1).  The second hole will drill under Trench TR56, which encountered 56.93m @ 0.34% copper and 1.16 g/t gold at surface (Figure 1).  The holes are currently planned to drill to 300m and 250m depth respectively, however if the holes end in mineralisation, the Company will continue to deepen both holes beyond their initial target depth.

Commenting on today's update, CEO Alan Martin stated: "This is a very exciting time for SolGold.  The Alpala Prospect at Cascabel has the potential to be a company maker, delivering substantial value to SolGold shareholders.  With most of the major regulatory conditions now satisfied and all equipment mobilised to the Alpala field camp, we are now very close to drilling our first hole through the mineralised stockwork zone at Alpala."

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SolGold has a total of 553,354,342 fully-paid ordinary shares, 1,500 Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares, 10,788,000 options exercisable at 50p, 2,750,000 options exercisable at 28p and 1,750,000 options exercisable at 14p on issue.

By order of the Board

Karl Schlobohm

Company Secretary

Qualified Persons

Information in this report relating to the exploration results isbased on data reviewed by Mr Nicholas Mather (B.Sc. Hon), the Executive Director of the Company.  Mr Mather is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy who has in excess of 25 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules.  Mr Mather consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Contacts:

Mr Alan Martin

Solgold Plc (Chief Executive Officer)                                                      Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

Mr Nicholas Mather                                                                                       Tel: [phone]

SolGold plc (Executive Director)

[e-mail] 

Mr Karl Schlobohm                                                                                        Tel: [phone]

SolGold plc (Company Secretary)

[e-mail]  

Mr Ewan Leggat / Katy Birkin                                                                     Tel: [phone]

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Broker)

[e-mail]  

Mr Stephen Weir                                                                                           Tel: [phone]

RFC Ambrian Limited (Nominated Advisor)

[e-mail] 

Mr Dominic Barretto / Anna Legge                                                         Tel: [phone]

Yellow Jersey PR Limited (Financial PR)

[e-mail]  

NOTES TO EDITORS

SolGold's strategy is to be an integrated gold and copper discoverer, developer and miner.

SolGold's exploration projects are located in northern Ecuador, Australia, and the Solomon Islands.  In Ecuador, they consist of a JV with Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. on the Cascabel copper-gold project.  In Australia, SolGold holds 100% of the Rannes, Mt Perry, Cracow West and Normanby Projects, all in southeast Queensland and in the Solomon Islands they comprise the Fauro Project (located on Fauro Island), the Florida/Ngella, Malukuna licences, and the Lower Koloula and Kuma licenses, both of which are located on Guadalcanal.

In July 2012, SolGold and Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. announced that they had signed a definitive option agreement whereby SolGold may acquire up to 85% of Cornerstone's 100% owned 5,000 hectare Cascabel gold-copper-silver property in northern Ecuador.

The Cascabel project is located approximately 120 km north of Ecuador's capital, Quito, 20 km south of the Colombian border, and 75 km inland from the coastal city of San Lorenzo.  The copper-gold porphyry project is located within the Andean western cordillera, host to numerous tier 1 world class copper-gold deposits through Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

At the Rannes project SolGold has announced indicated and inferred resources of 18.7 million tonnes at 0.9 g/t gold equivalent (gold + silver) for 550,146 ounces of gold equivalent (296,657 ounces of gold and 10,137,736 ounces of silver; see announcement dated 23 May 2012 for details of the resource statement and gold equivalent ratios).

In the Solomon Islands, a JV partner is being sought for the Fauro project to pursue drilling of gold-copper targets defined in the 2011 exploration program. 

SolGold's Board includes accomplished professionals with strong track records in the areas of exploration, mine development, investment, finance and law.  Board and Management have significantly vested interests in the Company, holding approximately 15.1% of its issued share capital.

SolGold is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.  The Company listed on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 2006, under the AIM code 'SOLG' and currently has a total of 553,354,342 fully-paid ordinary shares, 1,500 Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares, 10,788,000 options exercisable at 50p, 2,750,000 options exercisable at 28p and 1,750,000 options exercisable at 14p on issue. Further details concerning the Company's key projects and personnel can be found at: www.solgold.com.au

 

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