www.solomongold.com
Solomon Gold holds several tenement positions in the Solomon Islands, for minerals exploration, focusing on copper and gold rich porphyry systems and high grade epithermal gold mineralisation. In relation to its main tenement holdings on the island of Guadalcanal, the Company enjoys a Joint Venture with Newmont Ventures providing for Newmont to earn a 70% interest by expending US$12m over 5 years. Solomon Gold is the current manager. On 2 December 2009, the Company announced the acquisition of two Queensland (Australia) based gold exploration companies, Acapulco Mining Pty Ltd and Central Minerals Pty Ltd.
Solomon Gold says drilling at Rannes gold project defines 1.5 km mineralisation zone
Solomon Gold (AIM: SOLG) said drilling at its Rannes gold project in Queensland intersected wide intervals of mineralised host rock in seven holes at Crackling Rosia, while more extensions to Crunchie at Odyssey, Soggy and Mushy defined a possible zone of mineralisation of 1.5 km (kilometres) long with mineralisation open ended.
Resource calculation is currently underway at Crunchie, where holes 38 to 49 produced intersections of 16 metres at 0.66 g/t (grammes per tonne) gold equivalent, 34 metres at 1.2 g/t gold equivalent, 24 metres at 1.37 g/t gold equivalent and 36 metres at 1.88 g/t gold equivalent as well as 2 metres at 4.25 g/t gold equivalent and 32 metres at 2.75 g/t gold equivalent.
The company said that veining at Crackling Rosie was similar to that at the Cracow mine, which has a resource of 0.6 Moz (million ounces) of gold grading 8.2 g/t, producing 80,000 oz (ounces) per annum.
Drilling at the Porcupine and Crunchie prospects is now complete and the rig has been moved to Crackling Rosie.
“At Porcupine, the deeper gold resource indicated by previous explorers has been linked to earlier intersections nearer the surface. At the Crunchie Prospect, an open ended gold and silver resource is inferred. Initial drill logging from Crackling Rosie has intersected wide intervals of silicified breccias and Cracow style banded veining lying under these breccias,” said chief executive Nicholas Mather.
The assay results are currently pending.
Solomon Gold said that Rannes exhibited structures and geochemistry similar to the Carlin trend in Nevada, which is considered to be one of the most prolific gold producing belts in the world with more than 200 Moz of combined resources and production to date. The company holds licence area 200km along a prospective zone in Central Queensland with more than 13 targets to follow up.
Solomon Gold is targeting a gold resource in excess of 1 million ounces at Central Rannes, with extra large targets at Copper and Policeman Camp Creek.
In late 2009, the company finalized terms for the acquisition of Acapulco Mining, which holds extensive tenements over a large project area in and around Mt Perry and which sits only 15 km (kilometres) from Lihir Gold's Mt Rawdon mine with a 1 million oz resource producing 100,000 oz pa (ounces per annum) of gold in Queensland. The second acquisition of the year was for Central Minerals, which holds exploration licences covering a huge area along the eastern edge of the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland including Rannes.
Both Queensland projects acquired are 100% owned and operated by Solomon Gold, which has set out a six months exploration plan and budget for the assets with the intention of defining a resource and bringing it into production as soon as practicable.
