🕐05.05.11 - 08:54 Uhr
AFFERRO MINING: NKOUT DRILLED STRIKE LENGTH INCREASES TO 5.9KM
Please find attached and below todays Afferro Mining announcement on an
update on its Nkout project in Cameroon.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISSEMINATION TO US
NEWS WIRE SERVICES.
May 5, 2011
TSX-V: AFF
AIM: AFF
AFFERRO MINING INC.
NKOUT DRILLED STRIKE LENGTH INCREASES TO 5.9KM
Afferro Mining Inc.
("Afferro" or the "Company"), formerly known as
African Aura Mining Inc., the TSX-V / AIM (AFF) listed exploration and
development company with iron ore projects in Cameroon and Liberia, is
pleased to announce an update on its Nkout project in southern Cameroon,
the first since the mineral resource estimate ("MRE") dated 1 February
2011.
Highlights:
* Further 4,248m drilled in Q1 2011 at Nkout Centre and Nkout
East
* Hole NKDD012 at Nkout Centre intercepts 548.5m of banded iron
formation
* Potential direct shipping ore identified in 3 additional holes
over 1.5km of strike at Nkout Centre
* Reconnaissance drilling at Nkout East adds 2.4km of drilled
strike length
* A minimum initial target set at 500Mt for Nkout East
* Revised Mineral Resource Estimate expected in September 2011.
Luis da Silva, Chief Executive of Afferro, commented:
"The work on the ground has continued unabated in parallel to the recent
corporate restructuring.
The total metres drilled since Februarys 1Bt
resource estimate have doubled and we intend adding further drill rigs
to aggressively expand the work programme.
The Company is employing a
drilling strategy to add BIF resource, upgrade the resource category and
identify zones of high grade ore whilst stepping out either side of
Nkout Centre giving us coverage of some 8.5km of drilled continuous
strike.
The substantial upside is even more evident than before."
On the 1 February 2011, Afferro announced the results of the maiden
Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") for the Djoum licence area in
Cameroon.
The MRE focussed on the Nkout Centre deposit with 1.04 Billion
Tonnes ("Bt") grading at 34.2% Fe being reported by independent
consultants SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK").
The Inferred mineral
resources reported were generated from assay results obtained from 32
drill holes and 4,359m of drilling over a 3km strike length.
The Nkout Centre drilling now covers a 3.5 km portion of an east-west
trending magnetite bearing banded iron formation ("BIF") and associated
oxidised cap of dominantly haematite mineralisation; the drilled section
is part of a much larger, 20 km long, strongly magnetic anomaly.
Afferro has strategically drilled a further 3,098m at the Nkout Centre
deposit and 1,150m at the Nkout East target.
Drilling completed to date
has confirmed and refined the geometry of the known mineralisation at
Nkout Centre and has proven the style and strike extent of the
mineralisation at Nkout East.
In addition, drilling at Nkout West has
recently commenced with approximately 1,300m of reconnaissance drilling
planned over a 2.6km long magnetic anomaly.
Once this drilling is
completed, the coverage of continuous strike length will total
approximately 8.5km.
To assist in the design and control of the current and future
exploration and resource definition drill programmes, Afferro
commissioned SRK to embed an onsite exploration and resource geologist
within the team.
This will allow the resource model to be continually
updated and refined, enabling optimum drill planning and a rapid
turnaround of results thereby providing detailed and continual market
updates.
Nkout Centre:
Since completion of the maiden MRE on the Nkout Centre deposit, drilling
has continued to focus on the Nkout Centre target with over 3,000m
completed within the first quarter of 2011.
Seven holes targeting BIF
mineralisation totalling 2,783.4m and three shallower holes totalling
314.7m have been drilled into the higher grade saprolite.
Additional
targets for potential direct shipping ore ("DSO") within the defined
saprolite haematite cap are being discovered through the ongoing drill
programme allowing future drilling to focus on these higher grade units.
The current drilling is resulting in an increased level of confidence in
the deposit geometry and grade continuity within the main BIF.
New
intercepts within the BIF have indicated an increase in thickness within
the western portion of Nkout Centre by in excess of 200m, 548.5m of
interpreted BIF was intercepted in drill hole NKDD012.
Assay results
have been returned for all drilling completed up to 4 March 2011.
Table 1: Summary of recent high grade intercepts from the
saprolite-haematite mineralised cap rock at Nkout Centre.
Drill Hole
From
(m)
To
(m)
Interval
(m)
Fe%
NKHC006
4
20.1
16.1
59.6
NKHC010
8
15.5
7.5
60.7
NKHC020
14.5
17
2.5
58.2
NKHC020
27.5
32
4.5
60
The holes are spaced over 1.5km of strike.
Further drilling will confirm
if these intercepts form part of a contiguous lens.
Drilling will continue to explore the Nkout Centre deposit and to test
areas that are supported by the regional magnetic anomaly, now known to
be associated with a magnetite BIF, but that are not currently included
in the maiden MRE area.
SRK believes that these areas within Nkout
centre provide considerable upside to the project.
Nkout East
Early indications from the first phase reconnaissance drill programme at
the Nkout East target show the continuation of a BIF unit, with similar
geological and mineralisation characteristics to the Nkout Centre
deposit.
To date, a BIF strike length of 2.4km has been identified from
1,150m of diamond core drilling from 12 shallow holes (see Table 2)
which have been logged but for which assays are not yet received.
With
an apparent width of between 120m and 165m of BIF, SRK considers that a
reasonable exploration target at this stage of the programme to be in
the order of 500 million tonnes ("Mt").
Afferro will now target the
deeper parts of the Nkout East BIF to assess the down dip continuity.
Table 2: Summary of drill meters completed at Nkout East (up to and
including the 13th April 2011)
Prospect
Target
Number of Holes
Drilled
(m)
Fe interpreted mineralisation
Nkout East
SAP
12
1,149.7m
747.7m
This drill programme at Nkout East allows areas of potential high grade
DSO material to be identified at the earliest possible time as well as
delineating the target zones for further resource driven exploration
programmes.
Current drilling within the Nkout East target has shown that
65% of all drill core in the weathered zone has been interpreted as
magnetite-haematite BIF.
As a direct result of the strategic drilling
and geological interpretations, Afferro and SRK have greater confidence
when targeting the BIF at depth and the lateral extent of
mineralisation.
This will enable the development of resource models on a
truncated timeline with optimum budget expenditure.
Assay Results
All assay results are being generated at the accredited OMAC Laboratory
in Ireland.
Afferro and SRK are currently processing the first batch of
new assay results which will be incorporated into future market
releases.
Early indications show the presence of additional high grade
intercepts in the surface oxidised cap (as shown in Table 1) and BIF
assays similar to those generated in the maiden MRE.
About Afferro Mining Inc.
Afferro Mining is an established exploration and development company
listed on the TSX-V (AFF) and Londons AIM (AFF).
Afferro Minings
portfolio includes a 100% interest in the Nkout iron ore project (the
"Nkout Project"), which has an estimated Inferred Mineral Resource of
some 1.04 billion tonnes grading 34.2% Fe, 43.0% SiO2 and 2.9% AL2O3 and
0.05% P, and surrounding iron targets in Cameroon which is subject to a
resource expansion drilling programme targeting 4Bt.
Afferro Mining also
has a 38.5% interest in the Putu iron ore project in Liberia (the "Putu
Project"), which has an estimated Inferred Mineral Resource of 185 Mt of
oxide material with a grade of 37.8% Fe, 17 Mt of haematite itabirite at
48.25% Fe, and 2,173 Mt of magnetite itabirite at 33.7% Fe.
The Putu
Project is subject to a resource expansion drilling programme and is
moving through pre-feasibility managed by joint venture partner
Severstal Resources (the mining division of London and Moscow listed OAO
Severstal).
In September 2010, Putu was granted a 25 year renewable
Mineral Development Agreement by the Government of Liberia.
Afferro Mining Inc.
Luis da Silva, President & CEO
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7257 2930
Evolution Securities Limited
Jeremy Ellis/ Neil Elliot / Tim Redfern
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7071 4300
Pelham Bell Pottinger
Charles Vivian / James MacFarlane
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7861 3232
Qualified Person
The technical information contained in this press release relating to
the Nkout Project is from the technical report entitled "Mineral
Resource Estimate for the Nkout Centre Iron Project, Community of Djoum,
Cameroon" dated January 28, 2011 and prepared by Howard Baker, an
employee of SRK and a "qualified person" within the meaning National
Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), and Robert Goddard, an employee of SRK.
Copies of the above-noted technical report is available under Afferro
Minings SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or at
www.afferro-mining.com .
Howard Baker has some ten years experience in the exploration,
definition and mining of iron ore Mineral Resources.
Mr.
Baker has
sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation
and type of deposit under consideration, and to the type of activity
which he is undertaking to qualify as a "qualified person" under NI
43-101 and a Competent Person as defined in the June 2009 Edition of the
AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies.
Howard Baker consents to
the inclusion in this press release of the matters relating to iron ore
in the form and context in which they appear and confirms that the
information is accurate and not false or misleading.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Ends
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