Announcements: Sale of Yatik Gold Project, Turkey
15 April 2010KEFI Minerals, an AIM-quoted gold and copper exploration company, with projects in Turkey and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is pleased to announce the sale of the Yatik Gold Project in Western Anatolia to Turkish gold miner, Koza Altin Işletmeleri A.Ş. (“Koza”). The project was sold for a net cash consideration of US$150,000 and a 2.5% Net Smelter Return royalty on specified minerals such as gold, silver and base metals potentially produced from the property.
KEFI Minerals’ Yatik Gold Project hosts 400m strike length of a gold-bearing epithermal vein, which continues eastwards out of the licence area, with total length estimated to be at least 1.3km. Although up to 50m in width, the vein is on average 14m wide. Epithermal, chalcedonic quartz textures suggest a high level of exposure of the vein system with the potential for bonanza gold grades at depth with surface rock-chip sampling returning grades up to 11g/t Au. Limited reverse-circulation (“RC”) drilling to 60m depths by previous explorers returned up to 31m at 1.3g/t and 7m at 5.7g/t Au.
KEFI Minerals recognised the high level of exposure and significant gold potential of the Yatik epithermal system and successfully won a tender for the licence in mid-2007, which covered the western 400m exposure of the Yatik vein. Koza subsequently won a separate tender in mid-2008 which covered the remaining 900m of the eastern extension of the vein.
For the year ended 31 December 2008, the loss before taxation attributable to the Yatik Gold Project was £10,000 and its net asset value at 30 June 2009 was nil. The sale proceeds will be used to fund KEFI Minerals’ continuing exploration activities.
Koza is the owner of the Ovacik Gold mine, located 40km to the south of Yatik. The Ovacik mine has produced over 1Moz of gold from open cut and underground mining of epithermal veins.
KEFI Minerals’ Managing Director Jeff Rayner commented that:
“We believe that the Yatik vein has the potential to contain more than one million ounces in the Ovacik- Yatik gold corridor. Koza owns the operating gold mine and plant at Ovacik, and has demonstrated that it can successfully develop new gold mines in the Western Anatolia region of Turkey. It also owns the majority of the Yatik vein and is the logical company to continue the exploration and potentially develop a mine at Yatik.
“KEFI Minerals has created shareholder value by our early identification of Yatik. The cash component of the sale is greater than our expenditure on the project and we retain a valuable entitlement to potential future gold production via a 2.5% Net Smelter Return royalty.”
Enquiries
KEFI Minerals
Jeffrey Rayner +90 533 928 19 13
WH Ireland Limited
Katy Mitchell +44 161 832 2174
Bishopsgate Communications
Nick Rome +44 20 7562 3350
References in this announcement to exploration results and potential have been approved for release by Mr Malcolm Stallman, B.App.Sc. Mr Stallman is a geologist and has more than 20 years’ relevant experience in the field of activity concerned. He is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and has consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it appears.