• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Midlands Minerals Reports Gold Resource on Sian Up 98%-Ghana

Posted on: Thursday, 3 April 2008, 09:00 CDT

Midlands Minerals Corporation ("Midlands" or the "Company")(TSX VENTURE: MEX) is pleased to report that consistent with the targets set by the Company, the gold resource on Sian has increased by 98.0% to a new total of 395,750 ounces, up from 200,000 ounces. The indicated resource has increased by 92% up from 100,000 ounces to 192,400 ounces (2,568,000 tonnes at 2.33 g/t Au) and the inferred resource is up from 100,000 ounces to 203,350 ounces (2,694,000 tonnes at 2.35 g/t Au), an increase of 103.4%.

This represents 5,262,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.34 g/t. The Company's objective is to increase the tonnage on Sian, an open pit gold producer until 2004. Sian has a CIL plant built in 2001 and had a gold recovery rate of 91%.

"The Sian resource estimation has come in on schedule and we are very pleased with this significant increase given that in 2007, we drilled approximately 12,400 meters and drill tested only the soil anomalies that are less than 2 km from the Esaase open pit mine. All other soil anomalies along the 16 km strike length corridor have yet to be drill tested. This significantly increases our confidence in our soil assays and puts us right on track to get Sian to a feasibility stage before 2008 is out," said Kim Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Geostat Systems International Inc. ("Geostat") was retained by the Company to conduct an NI 43-101 resource estimate and they have now completed a 43-101 compliant and classified resource estimation on the Sian gold project. The resource estimation was conducted under the supervision of Claude Duplessis, P. Eng., a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. The resource has been reported in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 standards and a 43-101 compliant report will be filed on Sedar within 45 days.

"Having found 395,750 ounces of gold thus far, we are well positioned to achieve the Company's near-term objective of 500,000 ounces of gold. We have just started a 2,500 RC drilling program which should be able to find another 100,000 ounces and that should take us to our short term target of 500,000 ounces by the middle of this year," said Kim Harris.

Midlands' short term target is to find a minimum of 500,000 ounces of gold on direct extensions of the resource and within a 3 km radius of the Esaase open pit and CIL milling plant. The second objective is to drill the other new zones discovered through the scout drilling program conducted between April and September of 2007 to find an additional 500,000 ounces. "Clearly," said Kim Harris, "our objective of finding a multi-million ounce deposit on Sian/Praso is both realistic and achievable."

Sian, a fully permitted recent open pit gold producer with a 30 year mining lease is located on the prolific Ashanti Gold Belt, just 30 kilometres northeast of Newmont Mining's 8.7 million oz Akyem gold deposit. Plant, power, roads buildings and water are in place. The Sian gold mineralization is a silica-carbonate alteration with disseminated pyrite, similar to that found at Newmont's Akyem gold deposit.

- The estimate used historical data from the previous owner as well as new Midlands Minerals validation and exploration holes.

- The database has 211 holes with 18767 assay intervals.

- From Geostat's interpretation, a total of 116 mineralized intercepts were defined for the resource model.

- The property has several mineralized zones, the main resources zones are Esaase and Esaase East.

- A block model was created for the main zone at Esaase while the others are estimated with a simple sectional polygonal method.

- The resource model excludes all mined-out material as per a new March 2008 topographic survey of open pits surfaces on the Sian property.

- All gold assays were capped to 31.1g/t.

 SIAN GOLD DEPOSIT - GHANA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLASSIFICATION                  MODEL      TONNAGE   Au G/T          OUNCES Indicated Zone Main Esaase                     Block    2,568,000     2.33         192,400 Total Indicated                                                     192,400 Inferred Zone  Main Esaase                     Block      997,000     1.95          62.500 Others                  Section model    1,697,000     2.58         140,850 Total Inferred                                                      203,350 Resources above       0.5 g/t cut-off       SG 2.8          Numbers Rounded ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Resources are generally within 100 m from the surface, except for the main zone which has been intersected at a 200 meter depth. The Indicated resource is classified within the main ore zone of Esaase, at approximately 230 meter to 60 meter elevations. All remaining material in the envelope is inferred, as are all the other satellite zones. A specific gravity of 2.8 and a minimum horizontal mining width of 2 meters have been used. The horizontal width of the zones varies from 2 meters to 50 meters. The Qualified Person for this resource estimation is Claude Duplessis, P.Eng.

PLANNED SIAN/PRASO EXPLORATION PROGRAM FOR 2008 - GHANA

At least 20,000 meters of drilling are planned in 2008 in order to bring the Sian project to a feasibility stage by the end of the year, with gold production expected by the end of 2010. The March/April 2008 RC drilling program will be approximately 2,500 meters and is designed to increase the resource to at least 500,000 oz of gold. The program will test the south extensions of the Esaase Main and Esaase East resource and will follow-up in the area of previously drilled RC 53 which intersected 2.25 g/t Au over 15m. This hole is associated with a 1 km gold soil anomaly which is a target in the Company's next drill program.

The scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed by Marc Boisvert, P.Eng., Vice President Exploration, who is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

About Midlands Minerals

Midlands operates in Ghana and Tanzania, two stable low risk countries with a history of gold mining. The Company has a diversified portfolio of high quality gold and diamond properties located near major gold deposits and on known prolific gold producing belts. The Company has a highly qualified management and technical team with extensive experience in the countries in which the Company operates.

On behalf of the Board

Kim Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer

Research Coverage

Midlands Minerals is one of 30 companies covered in the Haywood Securities Junior Exploration Index. The Haywood Junior Explorer Index ("HJEI") tracks the performance of the group of junior exploration companies relative to the market. The HJEI is a bi- monthly publication by Haywood Securities Inc. Midlands Minerals Corporation is also covered by e- Research and Objective Capital Limited (UK) Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements. Such forwardlooking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from actual results and achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forwardlooking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions which may prove to be incorrect.

The Company adds a cautionary statement to the effect that the potential quantity and grades referred to in this press release are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource. Further, the Company is uncertain if further exploration will result in discovery of a mineral resource. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. Readers are also advised to consider such forward looking statements while considering the risks inherent in the business of mineral exploration. For more information, investors should review the Company's filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

 Contacts: Midlands Minerals Corporation Kim Harris President and Chief Executive Officer CEO Direct Line: (416) 447-6882 or  (416) 492-6992 (416) 492-6993 (FAX) Email: info@midlandsminerals.com Website: www.midlandsminerals.com

SOURCE: Midlands Minerals Corporation

Source: MARKET WIRE

More News in this Category