Haneti Nickel and Imweru Gold Projects Update

RNS Number : 8998V

Kibo Mining Plc

19 December 2013

 



Kibo Mining Plc 

("Kibo" or "the Company")

Dated: 19 December 2013

                     Haneti Nickel and Imweru Gold Projects Update

Haneti

·    Soil sampling results provide infill coverage and better resolve anomalous nickel and nickel indicator element trends with nickel  values up to 10,000 ppm (1%)

·    Recently mapped new ultramafic occurrences show similar anomalous soil geochemistry to main Haneti trend with nickel values up to 6,850 ppm

·    Confirmation of high coincidental nickel, PGMs and related elements at Mihanza Hill in outcrop including 10,000 ppm (1%) nickel, 0.5 ppm  platinum and1.3 ppm palladium

·    Expanded geological database supports next phase of project, which will include drilling of initial targets

Imweru

·    Final drill results now being received and detailed results announcement expected in early January 2014

Kibo Mining plc ("Kibo" or the "Company") (AIM: KIBO; JSE AltX: KBO), the mineral exploration and development company focused on coal, gold, nickel, and uranium projects in Tanzania is pleased to announce that following the  completion of field activities at its wholly owned Haneti project, it has now received final laboratory results for 2013. The Company is still in the process of receiving laboratory results from its recently completed drill program on the Imweru gold project and will provide a further update in January, when complete results have been fully compiled and assessed.

Haneti Project

The latest soil sampling  results, which comprise a total of 290 samples, provide further infill sampling coverage over the Mwaka, Sanato, Kwahemu and Yobo Hills areas, where the Company previously reported anomalous nickel, cobalt, chromium, iron and gold values. The results provide further confirmation of the anomalous soil sample results from historical sampling over these areas and also expanded and further resolved these anomalous trends. Highest metal-in-soil values from these latest results for nickel, cobalt, chromium and iron are 10,000 ppm (1%), 414 ppm, 1,410 ppm and 12.35% respectively. Copper and gold values are up to 321 ppm and 0.747 ppm respectively. The Company is encouraged by the soil sample results which correlate well with results that it has previously reported for these areas.

Results have also been received for reconnaissance soil sampling lines across recently mapped serpentinised ultramafic occurrences at Mukulungu North, Mukulungu South, Ndolomoti, Mitu and Mihanza South. The results which comprise a total of 1,090 samples at these locations show anomalous values consistent with levels encountered over similar rocks comprising the main Haneti ultramafic trend and establish these outlying areas as valid nickel-PGM targets for follow up work. Metal-in-soil values in these areas were up to 6,850 ppm nickel, 218 ppm cobalt, 1,140 ppm chromium 202 ppm Cu and 0.287 ppm gold.

Rock sampling results have also been received for a total of 82 grab samples  over the mapped ultramafic occurrences, 42 grab samples from the regional mapping and 36 trench samples across  a gold-in-soil anomaly near Mihanza Hill. Nickel values over ultramafic occurrences are comparable with the results from historical samples over the area and vary between 1000 ppm and 10,000 (1%) ppm. Rock sample results for other nickel indicator elements and for gold are not significantly anomalous with one important exception. An outcrop sample from a location on Mihanza Hill confirmed high coincidental anomalism across a range nickel sulphide indicator elements which is shown on the table below, together with similar results from historical sampling at the same location.

Mihanza Hill   Location  with high Ni-PGM related geochemistry
Sample No,	Ni ppm	Co ppm	Cr ppm	Cu ppm	Pd  ppm	Pt ppm	Au ppm	Ag ppm	Fe %
BA65 (2013)	10000 (1%)	960	675	828	1.325	0.495	0.079	0.5	11.65
MHR02 (2006)	135920 (13.6%)	2529	2037	927	1.930	0.413	0.078	0.8	16.44
HNR001 (2007)	32000 (3.2%)	430	No Analy.	780	No Analy	No Analy	0.087	No Analy	No Analy

The occurrence of anomalous platinum and palladium and copper together with high Ni is considered a significant indicator of the potential presence of nickel sulphides. The confirmation of the previously sampled coincidental elevated nickel indicator element geochemistry at this location makes it a key area for follow up work, including drilling.

The presence of a previously reported weakly anomalous platinum value (0.21ppm) at Igari-Cheni approximately 4 km North of Mihanza in a rock sample also supports the nickel-PGM style mineralisation potential at these localities. The gold results from a suite of 42 regional rock samples  and  36 trench samples did not return any significant gold values, but high arsenic values including two samples exceeding 10,000 ppm  (the upper detection limit of the geochem. method), at one location is considered significant and will be field investigated further, as a potential alteration vector to gold mineralisation.

These results mark the completion of the  Haneti work programme for 2013, which was funded under a JV with Brazilian company Votorantim Metaís Participações Ltda (Votorantim). The design of the 2013 work programme was influenced primarily by Votorantim's requirement to verify and expand on historical surface sampling results prior to implementing any drill programme on targets that Kibo had previously established. The exploration programme successfully achieved this objective and by doing so generated a much expanded geochemical database over the project. This database will prove invaluable to the Company in better understanding the geology and mineral potential of the project, better resolving established drill target areas e.g. Mihanza and Mwaka Hills and generating new target areas. Similarly the regional reconnaissance and mapping programme results have provided new data which will assist in rationalising the project and focus resources on areas showing the best mineralisation potential.

The Company now awaits the availability of recently flown Tanzanian Government aeromagnetic data over a region which includes the Haneti project in order to integrate it with its own exploration data and plan work programmes for the 2014 field season.

Imweru Project

The Company is still in the process of receiving laboratory results from its recently completed drill programme at the Imweru gold project, where a NI 43-101 compliant 629,600oz resource has already been outlined from previous work. Preliminary review of partial hole results received to date indicates that previously drilled mineralised zones are been intersected from the infill drilling over comparable widths and grades.

The Company will provide a detailed update on the drilling results in early January 2014, once it has received all laboratory results and has carried out all QA/QC checks.

Kibo Mining CEO Louis Coetzee said :

"The Company is extremely pleased with the progressmade on the Haneti project during 2013. The results achieved validated our belief in the mineral potential of the project and provided us with an expanded technical database which will enable our exploration teams to confidently subject the project to a first phase drill programme in 2014, as well as prioritising regional target areas for follow up work during the same field season.

Kibo Mining - Notes to editors

Kibo was established in early 2008 to explore and develop mineral deposits in Tanzania. The company was admitted to AIM in London on 27 April 2010 and the AltX in Johannesburg on 30 May 2011. The Company is developing the Rukwa mouth-of-mine thermal power station and controls one of Tanzania's largest mineral right portfolios, including the Haneti (nickel, PGE and gold), Morogoro, Lake Victoria (Gold), and Pinewood (Coal & Uranium) projects.

Its projects are located both in the established and gold prolific Lake Victoria Goldfields, the emerging goldfields of eastern Tanzania and the Mtwara Corridor in southern Tanzania where the Government has prioritised infrastructural development attracting significant recent investment in coal and uranium.

Kibo's objective is to build shareholder value sustainably. This will be achieved primarily through exploration of its own projects and leveraging the Company's experience in Tanzania to acquire exploration and development assets on competitive terms. The focus is on assets that can be moved swiftly up the value curve whilst benefitting from strategic relationships with industry leaders with special skills and competencies within their chosen fields.

Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on its website www.kibomining.com 

Contacts

Louis Coetzee	[phone]	Kibo Mining plc	Chief Executive Officer
Andreas Lianos	[phone]	River Group	Corporate Adviser and Designated Adviser on JSE
Jon Belliss	[phone]	XCAP	Broker
Stuart Laing	[phone]	RFC Ambrian Limited	Nominated Adviser on AIM
Daniel Thöle	[phone]	Bell Pottinger	Investor and Media Relations

Review by Qualified Person

The information in this announcement that relates to the Imweru mineral resources is taken from reports titled "Technical Report on the Imweru property (Updated), Mwanza, Tanzania" dated March 1, 2010 from which the following table has been extracted

TABLE1: IMWERU MINERAL RESOURCE SUMMARY-BASECASE*
Category	Measured Resource	Indicated Resource	Inferred Resource
Resource (t)	-	-	17,649,900
Grade (g/t)	-	-	1.11
Grade (oz/ton)	-	-	0.032
Total Gold (oz)	-	-	629,6000

*Numbers are rounded. Composites capped at 25g/t gold. Cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold based on a gold price of US$850/oz and assumed100% metallurgical recovery .CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.

The Report is NI 43-101 compliant and was prepared for Great Basin Gold Rusaf Gold Limited by Nathan Eric Fier C.P.G., P.Eng. Market Director for EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd and a Senior Mining Consultant. Mr. Fier is registered as a Certified Professional Geologist with the American Institute of Professional Geologists, Registration No 10062, and a professional Engineer in British Columbia, Canada Registration No. 135165. He has extensive experience in the evaluation and reporting of Archaean Gold projects and is a "Qualified Person" for reporting gold resources to the NI 43-101 Standard. The Company's Exploration Director, Noel O'Keeffe has also reviewed the technical report and the references to them in this announcement together with all other technical information contained therein.

Johannesburg

19 December 2013

Corporate and Designated Adviser 

River Group

 

END

 

 

MSCTPBATMBBBBAJ