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Operational update
Alecto Minerals (AIM:ALO), an AIM quoted mineral exploration company focussed on West and East Africa, has provided an update on its operational, exploration and corporate activities.
Alecto, a gold and base metals exploration company with a focus on Africa, currently operates in four countries across the continent with projects at varying levels of the exploration-development pipeline.
Highlights:
· Alecto’s in-house exploration team is currently focussed on the recently acquired Kerboulé Gold Project in Burkina Faso where the Company believes it can rapidly enhance value at low cost
· Management is in early stage discussions regarding a potential joint venture for the advancement of the Kossanto West Gold Project in west Mali. Whilst these discussions are on-going, the Company will not undertake further exploration activities at Kossanto
· Preliminary project assessment commenced for the collaborative development of Alecto’s 247,000 oz Au Kossanto East resource area within a larger zone which hosts, in aggregate, a >500,000 oz Au resource
· Recent fieldwork has led to numerous new discoveries at the Karan Project in southern Mali, which has seen a large-scale increase in artisanal mining activities
– Significant gold mineralisation has been identified along lithological contacts outside of the areas drill tested by the project’s previous owners
· In Ethiopia, scout drilling, mapping, stream sediment, soil sampling and trenching by Centamin continues to meet the joint venture targets and enhance the understanding of these expansive high-potential projects
· A 9 km long gold-in-soil anomaly that tracks the Babizenda shear zone has been discovered at Aysid-Metekel in Ethiopia
Further information:
The Company continues to be focused on establishing joint ventures for the advancement or early monetisation of opportunities across its portfolio where appropriate. This strategy is being executed whilst acquiring new projects, such as Kerboulé, where the Company believes it can rapidly enhance value at low cost. Alecto’s rationale for this strategy is that whilst market conditions remain difficult, the responsible approach is to establish effective working relationships with mining companies that have both strong balance sheets and the necessary expertise to manage these types of projects. Effective joint ventures provide shareholders with exploration upside without financial exposure.
Key to creating JV opportunities is the acquisition and advancement of projects to a position where a compelling and cogent case can be made to prospective partners that the potential can meet internal hurdle rates necessary for investment. Alecto has shown that it has such a capability; in-house exploration teams with reverse air blast and auger drilling capacity at the Kossanto Project in west Mali have demonstrated that Alecto can advance projects at low cost. The 2013/14 work programme, including RAB and reverse circulation (‘RC’) drilling, increased the JORC code compliant inferred resource for Kossanto East at a direct drill cost of less than US$5.00 per ounce.
Accordingly, the Board continues to be focused on developing its assets through the roll out of the joint venture model across its portfolio where appropriate together with raising further funds, inter alia, to finance ongoing exploration work, including the 2014/15 field season.
