Mauritania Fieldwork Begins
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
08 March 2007
Alba Mineral Resources plc
('Alba' or the 'Company')
Mauritania Fieldwork Commences
Alba Mineral Resources plc, the UK-based exploration company, announces it's 50
per cent. owned UK subsidiary Mauritania Ventures Limited (MVL) has commenced
uranium exploration fieldwork in northern Mauritania.
Highlights
• Commencement of uranium fieldwork in northern Mauritania
• Total of 47 targets for follow-up investigation identified by remote
sensing alteration and structural study of ASTER satellite images.
• Iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential of southern Mauritania under
review, with reconnaissance field work planned in Q3 2007
• Three permits covering 4,465 km(2) awarded to date with an additional
three uranium exploration permits covering 4,478 km2 pending
The Company is pleased to announce that MVL, their 50 per cent. owned UK
subsidiary, has commenced fieldwork on their three uranium exploration permits
(311, 312 and 313), which cover an area of 4,465 km(2), in northern Mauritania.
The initial phase of this fieldwork has recently been completed. Field work is
focussed on 47 targets identified by Alba technical staff and an ASTER satellite
(remote sensing) study. Work conducted included ground-based radiometric
surveying, lithogeochemical sampling and reconnaissance mapping. Analytical
results and an interpretation of this phase of fieldwork are pending and will be
the subject of a future update.
A second field programme is scheduled during Q3 2007 to reconnoitre and
investigate permit areas within in the Mauritanide Belt which the Company has
under application and believes to have iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential.
The Mauritanide Belt hosts the Guelb Moghrein mine (23.7 Mt grading 1.88%. Cu,
1.41 g/t Au, and 143 ppm Co), which lies 260 kilometres to the northwest of
MVL's southern licences.
The map of the areas of interest can be found at the following link:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5811s_-2007-3-8.pdf
Michael Nott, Group Managing Director and Chairman, commented, 'We are please to
report that our fieldwork in Mauritania has begun, and look forward to reporting
the results of our reconnaissance work on the northern permits. Work is
progressing and we hope to carry out another field visit shortly. We believe
Mauritania to be under-explored and that the country has excellent potential to
host additional economic mineralization.'
ENDS
Enquiries
Michael Nott, Managing Director
Alba Mineral Resources plc Tel: +44 (0)20 7495 5326
Justine Howarth/ Victoria Thomas
Parkgreen Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7851 7480
Liam Murray
City Financial Associates Tel: +44 (0)20 7090 7800
Notes to Editors
Alba Mineral Resources plc is a committed, technically driven explorer with a
commodity focus on uranium, nickel and gold. Alba currently has interests in a
number of well researched properties owned in its own right or in conjunction
with other parties, primarily in Scotland, Mauritania and Sweden. The Company
also has gold and base metal interests in Scotland and Ireland.
The Company's overall corporate and exploration strategy will continue to be one
of developing a portfolio of well-researched, promising and prospective
exploration properties that will be pursued further, either in the Company's own
right or in conjunction with other parties.
To create value, projects will be either sold outright (in whole or part), spun
off into a separate company, joint ventured to include a cash consideration and/
or a 'Net Smelter Return' or developed into operating mines. The Company will
have a principal focus on the Arthrath nickel-copper-platinum group metals
project in Scotland, uranium and copper-gold in Mauritania, and nickel and
copper-gold in Sweden.
Alba will actively assess, as a priority, the uranium potential of the three
uranium permits awarded in Mauritania, and are committed to continuing nickel
exploration in Sweden as part of a collaborative exploration effort part funded
by the Altius Minerals Corporation of Canada.
Precious- and base- metal properties in Ireland and Scotland will continue to
form part of the company portfolio and will be carried forward on a timely
basis, with a view to seeking joint ventures on each where warranted.
Policies on Environment, Community & Social Responsibility and Safety
It is the objective of Alba Mineral Resources not only to increase value for our
shareholders, but to do so in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
We expect employees and contractors alike, to respect the cultures and
traditions of the communities we work with, and in.
Alba is a member of Environmental Excellence in Exploration (E3) a project
coordinated by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). As a
minimum standard we will abide by the applicable environmental laws within the
administrative areas that we work and ensure that all our employees have the
right to a safe and healthy working environment.
Geology and Mineral Potential of the Mauritania Permits
The three uranium permits held, and the three uranium permits pending, by MVL
are considered by the Company to be highly prospective for hosting
unconformity-type uranium mineralization, analogous to that seen in the
Athabasca region of Canada. The permits awarded cover significant areas of an
unconformable contact between early Proterozoic reworked granitic terrane and
overlying sediments of late Proterozoic to Carboniferous age.
Airborne geophysics flown on behalf of the Mauritanian Government indicates
radiometric anomalies within organic-rich units near the base of these
sedimentary sequences, coincident with large, deep-penetrating crustal shear
structures. Uranium mineralization is known to the north and northwest of the
permit area, and is hosted in granites and rhyolites cut by these shear
structures. Airborne radiometrics has been shown to be an effective technique
in uranium exploration in Niger where radiometric anomalies are associated with
all known uranium deposits in the area surrounding the Arlit and Akouta uranium
mines in the east of the country. Niger, some 2000 km east of MVL's current
exploration activity, is the world's third largest producer of uranium after
Canada and Australia.
Dr Sandy M. Archibald BSc. MSc. PhD, Technical Director of Alba has reviewed the
information contained herein.
Dr. Archibald has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of
mineralisation under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking as a
qualified person as defined by the Guidance Note for Mining and Oil & Gas
Companies under the AIM Rules for Companies.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange