Solomon Gold reports solid progress from Newmont Mining Joint Venture

High impact exploration is the name of the game at Solomon Gold PLC (AIM: SOLG), which is exploring for large deposits in the Solomon Islands, a region considered to be one of the best addresses for world class discoveries.

This morning the junior gold exploration company updated investors on its joint venture with heavyweight Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE: NEM) on the Guadalcanal project, Solomon Islands.

Newmont Mining is earning up to 51% in the project through expending US$6 million over three years, with an option to increase its stake to 70% thereafter by expending a further US$6 million within 2 years.

Solomon Gold reported on multiple exploration activities since the joint venture was signed in March 2009. Highlights from exploration to date were aplenty, and it was mainly focused on early stage rock sampling, mapping and preliminary interpretation of recently completed airborne electromagnetic and magnetic data.

Solomon Gold, who is acting as manager of the joint venture, has been conducting mapping, sampling and trenching across a number of target areas, including several prospects in the Koloula Valley.

Newmont Mining has also completed a 1,300 kilometer electromagnetic survey, and while still under interpretation, preliminary results have already identified “several anomalous areas” which require follow up field mapping and sampling.

More specifically, Solomon Gold reported that outcrop mapping has now been completed in the Chikora-Vurakara area of the Koloula Valley. A total of 486 samples was collected, including 255 trench samples, 40 bulk leach stream sediment samples, 31 rock chips and 160 rock saw channel samples. The results highlighted a 600 meter x 300 meter area of “intense veining and fracturing” at Vurakara, where 24 rock chip samples ranged from 0.5% to 2.8% copper. Molybdenum was also recorded. At 300 meters south of Vurakara, the company also recorded wide zones of highly altered and leached porphyry host rock with copper grades up to 3,000 parts per million (ppm).

Meanwhile, at Inammu, which lies 1.5 kilometers west of Levisivisi, a zone of gold vein mineralisation have been identified, with rock chip samples returning up to 27.8 grams per ton gold.

Encouraging first pass exploration results were also reported at Vatuchichi in the Mbetilonga tenement, on the western side of the Vuanimaho electro magnetic anomaly. Scattered sulphide mineralisation in silica cap material over an area of 500 meters x 750 meters was recorded. Outcrop results yielded up to approximately 13% copper and 5 grams per tonne gold from 59 rock chip and trench samples.

Looking ahead to the second half of 2009, Solomon Gold said that it was interpreting the data collected to date with Newmont Mining with a view to drilling a number of high priority targets. Approximately 2,800 meters of drilling is planned. The Vurakara area was noted as an important target for drilling.