Turkey
KEFI Minerals has the following projects in Turkey:
Artvin and Gumushane in northeastern Turkey
Derinin Tepe and Muratdag in western Turkey;
Bakir Tepe in southwestern Turkey; and
Hasancelebi in central Turkey.
All of these projects are 100%-owned by KEFI Minerals.
KEFI Minerals also owns an extensive proprietary exploration database that contains information about approximately 100 sites in Turkey that are prospective for precious and base metals. This database provides the Company with a competitive advantage when identifying prospective areas for project generation in Turkey. The database was compiled by John Nethery, Ian Plimer, Gavin Thomas, and Omer Akinci over the duration of three field campaigns during the period 1989 to 1991. The database has been colloquially named the ‘Plethery’ database. The strategy behind the project was that the geological terrain was analogous to the volcanic island arc setting of the Pacific Rim, which contains numerous world-class gold deposits. Previous exploration and investigation of analogous mineral belts in Turkey had not recognised the potential for development of epithermal-style gold deposits.
Eastern Pontides Projects
KEFI Minerals’ Artvin and Gumushane Projects are located in the Eastern Pontides volcanic province in northeastern Turkey, which forms part of the Tethyan metallogenic belt. The Eastern Pontides province has a high level of geological prospectivity for three major styles of mineralisation – porphyry-style copper-gold deposits, volcanic-hosted massive sulphides (“VHMS”) base metal deposits, and both high-sulphidation and low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposits. The province contains numerous historically mined deposits (e.g. Lahanos), advanced projects (e.g. Altintepe) and currently producing mines (e.g. Cayeli, Murgul and Mastra). Significant VHMS deposits in the region include Cayeli with reserves of 9.0 million tonnes at 3.5% copper, 4.9% zinc, 0.5g/t gold and 41g/t silver; Murgul with resources of 80 million tonnes at 1.1% copper; and Cerateppe with reserves of 1.6 million tonnes at 8.8% copper, 1.1% zinc, 1.4g/t gold and 33g/t silver. The Mastra Gold Mine, developed on a low sulphidation epithermal vein system, has reserves of 0.87 million tonnes at 9.8g/t gold and 5.3g/t silver.
The Artvin Project comprises fifteen exploration licences covering an area of 254 square kilometres in the Artvin Province of northeastern Turkey. Mid-tier Canadian gold mining company, Centerra Gold, is earning an interest in the Artvin Project under the terms of a Joint Venture Agreement announced in October 2008. The funding provided by Centerra enables KEFI Minerals to accelerate exploration at Artvin and drilling programmes were completed in late 2008 and late 2009. Areas of extensive hydrothermal alteration have been recognised in the licence area as well as a number of small historical base-metal mines. These were exploited by Turkish and Russian miners during the last 150 years. More recently, in the 1990s, the area was explored for gold by Rio Tinto, Placer Dome and BHP. However, this exploration work was largely reconnaissance in nature. Foreign exploration companies are currently exploring the Berta and Ardala porphyry-style copper–gold deposits, 18 and 25km to the southwest of the Artvin Project, respectively.
Compilation and analysis of all geological, geochemical and geophysical information has produced a consistent lithostructural model that explains the controls on mineralisation at the historical mines, explains the location of and the geometry of recently mapped zones of hydrothermal alteration, and has generated more than 15 new prospects in the Artvin Project area. Initial results during 2007 were very encouraging with channel sampling returning up to 44m at 0.5g/t gold (including 1m at 8.2g/t gold, 1m at 1.4g/t gold and 1m at 1.0g/t gold), 45m at 0.12% lead, and 36m at 0.18% zinc in a silica-altered zone at the Yanikli Prospect. In 2008, induced polarisation (“IP”) geophysical surveying outlined a strong IP chargeability anomaly with partly coincident gold and base metals anomalies at surface. The initial five diamond holes, drilled in late 2008, at Yanikli were directed primarily at geological and geochemical targets. All holes intersected wide intervals of variably altered andesitic volcanic rocks with widespread disseminated and vein-style pyrite (iron sulphide) and sphalerite (zinc sulphide) with lesser galena (lead sulphide) and chalcopyrite (copper sulphide). A number of significant drill intercepts, including 2m at 20.9g/t gold, 14m at 0.96g/t gold, 2m at 1.25% copper and 44m at 0.57% zinc, were returned. In late 2009, four diamond holes were drilled to test the IP chargeability geophysical anomaly. All holes intersected wide intervals of strongly altered andesitic volcanic rocks with widespread disseminated and vein-style pyrite +/- lesser sphalerite-galena-chalcopyrite mineralisation. Maximum drill intercepts of 1.95m at 0.64g/t Au and 25.2g/t Ag, 1.3m at 2.26% Cu and 67m at 0.25% Zn were returned.
The style of alteration and mineralisation suggests that the property has potential for volcanogenic massive sulphide copper-zinc deposits and porphyry-style copper-gold deposits.
The Gumushane Project comprises four exploration licences covering an area of 68 square kilometres in the Gumushane Province of northeastern Turkey. The project is located 40km along strike to the southeast of Mastra Gold Mine. KEFI Minerals has evidence of gold anomalies detected by stream geochemical surveys and zones of extensive hydrothermal alteration have been recognised in the project area, as well as coincident areas of interest identified from ASTER data interpretation. The Gumushane Project is located within geologically favourable Jurassic- to Tertiary-aged volcanic-sedimentary rocks. The area is prospective for intrusive-related mineralisation and low sulphidation epithermal-style mineralisation.
Central Anatolia Projects
The Hasancelebi Project, in the Malatya Province of the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, is considered to be prospective for high-sulphidation epithermal gold mineralisation and Iron-Oxide Copper-Gold (“IOCG”) mineralisation. Limited field reconnaissance has found silicified and clay-altered rocks beneath extensive areas of younger cover rocks.
Western Anatolia Projects
KEFI Minerals has the Derinin Tepe, Muratdag and Bakir Tepe Projects in the Western Anatolia region of Turkey. Surface exploration undertaken by KEFI Minerals at the Derinin Tepe Project in the Balikesir Province during 2007 identified gold-silver mineralisation in low-sulphidation epithermal-style quartz veins with cumulative strike lengths of over 2km and widths of up to 8m at surface. Extensive ancient workings were exposed by trenching, revealing 100-200m strike lengths of underground workings in the West, Central and East veins. Assays from channel-chip sampling and grab sampling undertaken by KEFI Minerals had returned up to 152g/t gold and 1,320g/t silver from these outcropping veins. The initial nine-hole diamond drilling programme in mid-2007 returned a maximum intercept of 3.6m at 3.35g/t gold and 89.9g/t silver. Deeper, follow-up drilling with eight holes in early 2008 returned a maximum intercept of 2.85m at 16.05g/t gold and 54.8g/t silver.
At the Muratdag Project, geological mapping, rock chip sampling and soil sampling commenced in mid-2007. The Muratdag Project consists of two tenements in the Usak Province that are considered to be prospective for Carlin-type gold deposits and laterite-hosted nickel-cobalt mineralisation. A number of historical workings for mercury are present immediately to the west and north of the project area. A triangular shaped gold-silver soil anomaly up to 350m north-south and 250m east-west at >20ppb gold has been defined within the northern tenement.
The Bakir Tepe Project, in the Denizli and Burdur provinces of southwest Turkey, comprises seven tenements, which total 78 square kilometres in area. The tenements were acquired in mid-2008 and are considered to be prospective for copper-gold bearing, Cyprus–type volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (“VHMS”) style of mineralisation. Exploration activities carried out during the 2007 and 2008 field seasons led to the identification of outcropping, high-grade, copper-gold mineralisation. Subsequent detailed exploration, involving geological mapping, rock chip sampling, pole-dipole IP surveying and petrographic studies, highlighted the previously unrecognised potential of the area to host Cyprus-style VHMS mineralisation. Up to 3.6% copper, 4.6g/t gold, and 67g/t silver was returned from limited rock chip sampling. Following the success of the co-operation between KEFI Minerals and Centerra Gold at the Artvin Project, a joint venture agreement covering the Bakir Tepe Project was finalised with Centerra Gold in late 2009. An initial drilling programme, comprising four diamond drillholes, was completed in early 2010. The programme was designed to test IP chargeability highs +/- IP resistivity lows, which were interpreted to represent sulphide mineralisation down dip of the surface geochemical anomalism, beneath barren cover rocks. No significant precious or base metals assays were returned from this drilling programme.
