Exploration Update for Queens

RNS Number : 2392X

Solomon Gold PLC

02 December 2010

 



                2 December 2010

Solomon Gold Plc

("Solomon Gold" or the "Company")

Exploration Update:

Near surface gold intersections at Rannes and Mount Perry Projects,

Grant of the Fauro East Prospecting Licence

Solomon Gold plc (AIM Code: SOLG), exploring for recent drilling for gold and copper in Solomon Islands and Australia, is pleased to announce results from its 100% owned projects in Queensland, Australia.  Assay results have been received for the Brother, Cracklin Rosie and Crunchie Prospects (Rannes) and the Bania Prospect (Mt Perry).

KEY POINTS

Rannes:

•     Best result from Brother (BRO08); 10m at 2.0g/t Au and 1.1g/t Ag from surface, 2m at 2.22g/t Au and 1.03g/t Ag from 26m and 4m at 1.34g/t Au and 0.66g/t Ag from 76m.  Potential for a significant resource discovery at Brother is indicated.

•     Best result from Cracklin Rosie (CLK12) 6m at 1.37g/t Au and 8.88g/t Ag from 8m and 14m at 0.75g/t Au and 10.00g/t Ag from 32m.

•     Latest Crunchie hole CLK66, 4m at 2.43g/t Au and 76g/t Ag (3.46g/t gold equivalent) from 108m.

Mt Perry:

•     Work continues at Bania, Spring Pig, Flying Pig, Nickos South and Augustine Prospects.

•     Best result from Bania (BAN21), 62m at 1.03g/t Au, including 24m at 2.08g/t Au, from a depth of 16m.

•     Following completion of drilling at Flying Pig, the drill rig will move back to Bania.

Fauro:

•     Grant of the Fauro East prospecting licence over Masamasa and Piru Islands, east of the existing Fauro Prospecting licence.  The grant of Fauro East is expected to double the available inventory of rich gold and copper targets in the Fauro Caldera for Solomon Gold plc.

•     Fieldwork (geological mapping, trenching BLEG and rock sampling) continues over the Fauro Prospects.

•     The 9,900m drilling program is expected to commence on Schedule in mid-December.

Commenting on the recent results from the Queensland Projects, Nicholas Mather, Chief Executive of Solomon Gold plc said: "Solomon Gold is pleased to report that results from recent drilling at various Queensland Prospects continue to support the targeted resource definition of 1Moz gold equivalent as gold and silver.  The company is particularly pleased with the recent drill result from the Brother Prospect at Rannes in Central Queensland, where potential for a near surface mineable resource is indicated.  Further drilling is planned for Brother.  Further encouraging gold intersections have also been returned from holes at Cracklin Rosie and we are seeing depth extensions to the mineralisation at Crunchie.

The Company continues discover mineralised prospects returning significant gold intersections in drilling over a 25km long north westerly trend at Rannes.  The discoveries provide further support for Solomon Gold's discovery of a new Carlin style sediment hosted gold trend on the eastern margin of the southern Bowen Basin in Queensland.

Similarly the Bania prospect at Mt Perry, near to the Newcrest Mt Rawdon Mine has yielded further encouraging results and we are optimistic that the prospect will yield a significant resource to contribute to the maiden Mt Perry resource statement.  Preparations are being made for the upgrade of resources at Rannes and the maiden resource statement at Mt Perry.  Excessive rain in south east and central Queensland has delayed the collection of drilling and assay data at the optimum rate and accordingly the resource upgrades have been delayed as indicated.

The grant of the extension licence over the Fauro prospect is indeed encouraging and exciting for Solomon Gold as we regard the eastern rim of the Fauro Caldera, represented by Masamasa and Piru islands as being similarly prospective to the west side where the company has already received and reported high grade mineralisation coincident with strong magnetic anomalies interpreted to be concealed porphyry systems.  Known gold anomalism and magnetic anomalies on Masamasa and Piru are therefore certainly very encouraging.

Rannes

Figure 1 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com shows the location of the prospects within the Rannes Project area.

Brother

The latest set of results from the Brother drilling are summarised as:

BRO07            14m at 0.69g/t Au and 0.95g/t Ag from 48m.

BRO08            10m at 2.00g/t Au and 1.1g/t Ag from surface, 2m at 2.22Au and 1.03g/t Ag from 26m and 4m at 1.34Au and 0.66g/t Ag from 76m.

BRO09            6m at 0.76g/t Au and 1.45g/t Ag from 66m.

BRO10            8m at 0.63g/t Au and 0.76g/t Ag from 4m and 2m at 0.83g/t Au and 0.59g/t Ag from 56m.

The location of the drill holes are shown in Figure 2 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com.

Brother is a concealed (unexposed), extensive vein system situated at the junction of two interpreted major fault structures evident in aero magnetic survey coverage.  Soil sampling contours suggest a north-west and north structural intersection.  Detailed mapping and sampling program are also underway in order to resolve the evidently complex geology.

The Brother Prospect has the potential to ultimately yield a significant resource as it appears to be contiguous with the Police Camp Creek Prospect to the south-west (see Figure 1 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com) and with mapped quartz veins and silicified zones and coincident gold in soil anomalies several hundred metres long to the east and north.  Altered and silicified limestone fragments in the soil profiles are common to both Brother and Police Camp Creek Prospects at the drilling locations.  Solomon Gold regards the silica replacement features in the limestone host rocks to be an important element in the exploration program for Carlin style carbonate hosted resources.

The Brother drilling results to date are complex, indicating at least two sets of mineralised veins.  At least two zones of intense bleaching alteration contain gold in stock-worked, sulphidic, dark grey quartz veins and gold mineralisation also occurs with weak sulphide and silicification dipping north-east.

The mineralised rock package consists of an interbedded sequence of andesite volcanics and muddy limestones with an extensive low grade alteration and silicification, characterised by the development of diagnostic red jasper and hematite (iron oxide) veinlets.  The limestone, where mineralised, is clay altered and bleached white, brecciated, and contains a network of fine to massive dark grey silica veins over zones up to 12 m thick.

The mineralisation as with the Cracklin Rosie Prospect is characteristically low in silver and other metals in comparison to the silver rich Crunchie Prospect to the north.

Cracklin Rosie

The latest set of results from the recent Cracklin Rosie drilling are summarised as:

CLK008          4m at 0.91g/t Au and 14.0g/t Ag from 52m.

CLK009          2m at 1.30g/t Au and 2.27g/t Ag from 4m.

CLK010          No significant values.

CLK011          No significant values.

CLK012          6m at 1.37g/t Au and 8.88g/t Ag from 8m and 14m at 0.75g/t Au and 10.0g/t Ag from 32m.

The location of the drill holes are shown in Figure 3 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com.

Cracklin Rosie forms a north-north-west trending ridge extending over 700m long.  It is by far the largest outcropping prospect in Solomon Gold's Rannes Project prospect portfolio.  Brecciation / silicification / pyrite and clay alteration is resistantto erosion, forming outcropping zones.  Cracklin Rosie demonstrates features indicating a deeper erosion level and more epithermal gold vein styles similar to the Cracow Gold mine system to the south.

Crunchie

The latest drill hole result from the Crunchie prospect, hole CRU66 returned assay results of 4m at 2.43g/t Au and 76g/t Ag (3.46g/t gold equivalent) from 108m.  CRU66 is located in the north-east area, as shown in Figure 4 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com.

Mount Perry

Figure 5 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com shows the location of the prospects within the Mount Perry Project area.

Bania

The best gold result from the recent drilling at the Bania Prospect, BAN21, 62m at 1.03g/t, including 24m at 2.08g/t, 16m from surface.  BAN19 returned 20m at 0.54g/t from 10m from surface.  BAN18 had no significant result.  See Figure 6 in the Appendix to this announcement in the 'Latest News' section on the website, www.solomongold.com for the plan of the holes drilled and their corresponding results.  Drilling will continue at the Bania Prospect and the Company is targeting a significant resource to contribute to the maiden resource statement for Mt Perry.

Fauro Update

Fieldwork (geological mapping and trenching) continues over the Ballyorlo, Meriguna and Kiovakase Prospects.  BLEG and rock sampling continues over the other Fauro Prospects.

Preparations are being made for the arrival of the UPD Solomons Limited diamond drill rig in Mid December as previously advised (As announced 15 Nov'10 and on the Solomon Gold website).  On arrival in the Solomon Islands and completion of custom formalities, the drill rig will be shipped to Fauro Island and commence its planned 9,900m program by mid-December.

Qualified Person

Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Nicholas Mather (B.Sc. Hons Geol.), the Chief Executive Officer 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.

By order of the Board

Karl Schlobohm

Company Secretary

Contacts:

Mr Karl Schlobohm                                                                           Tel: [phone]

Solomon Gold Plc (Company Secretary)

[e-mail]

Mr Ewan Leggat                                                                                Tel: [phone]

Fairfax I.S. PLC (Broker)

[e-mail]

Mr Stephen Weir                                                                               Tel: [phone]

RFC Corporate Finance (Nominated Advisor)

[e-mail]

Mr Dominic Barretto                                                                         Tel: [phone]

Yellow Jersey PR (PR & IR)

[e-mail]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Solomon Gold Plc's original and core gold exploration projects are located on the Solomon Islands and are the major focus of the Company.  The discovery in September 2010 of extensive and rich gold mineralisation on Fauro Island, just south east of Bougainville Island in neighbouring Papua New Guinea, presents Solomon Gold with potential for a world class gold and copper-gold-molybdenum discovery on the south west Pacific Rim of Fire.  The region is one of the world's most strongly endowed gold and copper provinces, hosting Grasberg, Lihir, Panguna and Ok Tedi, each with in excess of 40Moz gold equivalent metal endowment.  The Company also holds a comprehensive and extensive tenement position on the main island of Guadalcanal where its JV partner, NVL Solomon Islands Limited (a subsidiary of NYSE-listed Newmont Mining Corporation) can earn a 51% interest in the project by expending US$6 million by 1 April 2012, and a 70% interest by expending a total of US$12m by 1 April 2014.  The GJV has outlined high priority gold-copper porphyry targets at Chikora, Mbetilonga, and Kuma.

Solomon Gold has also extended its strategy to include becoming an integrated gold explorer, developer and miner with projects in lower risk theatres as well as the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Gold's projects in Queensland include Rannes, Mt Perry and Normanby.  At Rannes, the Company has outlined a 22km long prospective zone in a 200km long trend on the eastern edge of Queensland's Bowen Basin in the same geological setting as Newcrest's 100,000 ounce per year Cracow Gold Mine.  This extensive exploration licence position hosts three mineralised projects at Cooper, Rannes Central and Police Camp.  The exploration area is believed to host mineral systems which are geologically similar to the Carlin trend in Nevada USA.  At Rannes Central, the Company has encountered potentially economic mineralisation in five different prospects targeted to yield at least 1 Moz.  A maiden 200,000 ounces has been defined to date at the Crunchie Prospect.

At Mt Perry, the Company is investigating an area of approximately 1,500km² hosting over 50 historic mines and workings near Newcrest's Mt Rawdon Gold Mine.  Mt Perry has yielded potentially economic drill intersections on nine of the ten prospects tested to date.

Solomon Gold's Board includes accomplished professionals with strong track records in the areas of exploration, mine development in Australia and Melanesia, investment, finance and law.  Board and Management have significantly vested interests in the Company holding approximately 15.91% of its issued share capital following the proposed placing announced on 22 October 2010.

Solomon Gold is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.  The Company listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in 2006.  Further details concerning the Company's key projects and personnel can be found at www.solomongold.com.

 

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