www.stratexinternational.com
Stratex International is an exploration and development company focusing on gold and high-value base metals. The company objective is to be a leading-edge and innovative explorer whilst creating revenue from gold and base metal production via well-managed joint-ventures.
Since formation, Stratex has rapidly amassed a portfolio of high-potential exploration licences in Turkey and Ethiopia, primarily focussed on gold.
Gold resource at Stratex Intl’s Öksüt project doubles after independent assessment
Stratex International (LON:STI) announced this morning that the gold resource at the Ortaçam zone at the Öksüt project has doubled as a result of an independent JORC compliant assessment.
The assessment has estimated a total resource of 317,256 ounces of gold in two of the six zones identified at Öksüt, which represents a 115 percent increase in previously reported in-house resource estimate of 147,814 ounces.
Oxide material likely to be suitable for open-pit mining and heap-leach recovery amounts to 241,440 ounces of gold, comprising 221,807 ounces at an average grade of 1.02 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold at Ortaçam and 19,600 ounces at the Ortaçam North zone.
Investors cheered the news, sending shares in Stratex up 5.5 percent in early deals.
The preliminary resource of 19,600 ounces for Ortaçam North has highlighted the potential of the 500 metre intervening area between this and the main Ortaçam zone, said Stratex, noting that it was based on just five short diamond drill holes.
“The release of this latest JORC-compliant resource provides a significant uplift for the project but is only another step in our exploration and evaluation of this complex multi-prospect high-sulphidation gold system.
“The potential also remains for the discovery of an underlying porphyry copper-gold system and our exploration and drilling programme will continue to probe for this exciting target,” said chief executive of Stratex International Bob Foster.
The company noted that the resource remains open-ended along strike and depth. In addition to that, Stratex said that based on the type of the mineralization recorded at Öksüt, there is potential of identifying large-tonnage near-surface mineralised bodies that may extend laterally for significant distances.
Stratex’s joint venture (JV) partner Centerra has committed to funding geophysical surveys between the Ortaçam and Ortaçam North Zones to commence Q2 2011, followed by a 4,600 metre diamond drilling campaign during 2011.
The 2011 programme will continue to focus on defining the nature and extent of the mineralised zones at Ortaçam North and to investigate the continuity of mineralisation between the Ortaçam North Zone and the Ortaçam Zone.
Additional targets with outcropping gold mineralisation assaying 0.2-0.3 g/t gold remain to be drill tested to the north of Ortaçam North Zone and south-west of Ortaçam zone.
Drilling will also be extended to include the yet undrilled Küçükmeşe and Kizilağil zones.
Stratex is looking to commence drilling operations in the second quarter of the current year.
