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.
Stratex targets first gold production from Inlice at end of Q2 next year
Stratex International (LON:STI) said today that it has seen steady progress in the last six months on all fronts and is targeting first gold production from its Inlice project in Turkey for the end of the second quarter next year.
The gold and base metals firm released results for the six months to 30 June this year, which also highlighted that significant gold mineralisation system had been discovered within the Blackrock project in Ethiopia with bonanza gold grades of up to 60.4 g/t gold.
Stratex posted a loss before tax of £984,468 for the period, compared to a pre-tax loss of £2.1 million the previous year.
Its cash position stood at £3.41 million as at 30 June compared to £2.14 million in 2010.
Chairman Christopher Hall said the last six months had been very active.
" In particular, the geologists on the ground in Ethiopia have worked tirelessly under very challenging conditions," he said.
"I look forward with great enthusiasm to the coming months as we see the results of the Ethiopian drilling and the approach of cash flow from the first of what we hope will be a series of Turkish gold mines.
"Both have the potential to transform the company and deliver value for shareholders."
Stratex said its interests in Turkey were maturing. In April, it reported initial results of a feasibility study on the Inlice gold project, which is now 55 percent owned by partner NTF Insaat Ticaret Ltd Sti ('NTF').
The oxide reserve is around 60,000 ounces and Stratex says it is confident that a low-cost, short-life project will generate an attractive return, and subject to permitting, it anticipates production towards the end of the first half of 2012.
The firm also highlighted its Öksüt gold project, also in Turkey, where an upgraded resource was declared in March this year with an increase of 115 percent to 317,256 oz.
Stratex added that a maiden JORC inferred resource for Muratdere project in Turkey had been finalised with total metal contents of 186,000 tonnes copper, 204,296 ounces gold, 3.9 million ounces silver, 6,390 tonnes moly, and 17,594 kg rhenium.
The company identified the Rift region of Ethiopia and Djibouti as being prospective for an epithermal gold back in 2009 and has since been accumulating land.
In February this year, gold mineralisation was found at the 35 sq km Asal licence in the Republic of Djibouti which confirmed the extension of the Afar gold district across the border, and since then drilling has begun at Megenta and initial results, which were published in July 2011, were very encouraging, said the firm.
Stratex has a healthy cash position of £3.4 million, bolstered by the £3 million private placement by AngloGold Ashanti for an 11.5 percent stake and, as a result, it has not sought joint-venture partners for the remaining 1,144 sq km of exploration licences in the Rift.
To the north work has found additional discoveries - notably at the Blackrock project. Once the results at Megenta have been fully reviewed, plans will be made to undertake drilling on these targets, said Stratex.
