Alecto Minerals acquire Gazelle Resources?

PUBLISHED: 17 Nov 2014 @ 22:30 | Comments (0) |

Low Cost Acquisition of the Advanced Kerboulé Gold Project in Burkina Faso

Alecto Minerals plc (AIM:ALO), the AIM quoted mineral exploration company focussed on West and East Africa, has expanded its portfolio of gold projects in West Africa by entering into an agreement with Kaizen Discovery Inc. for the acquisition, by way of all share consideration, of 100% of Gazelle Resources Incorporated which wholly owns the 399.5 sq. km. Kerboulé Gold Project located in the highly prospective Birrimian-age Djibo gold belt in northern Burkina Faso.

The Acquisition is in line with the Company’s strategy to identify attractive opportunities and to seek to add value to such projects at a low cost in order to expand its mineral resource portfolio with a view to achieving future production and strategic alliances.

Highlights:

· Extensive exploration and artisanal mining at Kerboulé has highlighted the presence of wide gold mineralisation with high grade shoots across the tenure

o Wide mineralisation demonstrated by long intercepts including 26 metres @ 2.37 g/t Au, 20 metres @ 2.39 g/t Au and 40 metres @ 1.94 g/t Au at Kerboulé South, and 38 metres @ 3.95 g/t Au, 29 metres @ 4.0 g/t Au and 5 metres @ 3.74 g/t Au at Kerboulé North
o High grade shoots are evidenced by bonanza grades including 1 metre @ 188.11 g/t Au, 2 metres @ 29.12 g/t Au, 1 metre @ 93.49 g/t Au and 1 metre @ 86.48 g/t Au

· Previous work has highlighted additional drill-ready targets, representing a further source of potential value upside
· The Acquisition includes a fully equipped exploration camp at Kerboulé and an office in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and bolsters Alecto’s existing inventory of in-house exploration drilling equipment, thereby facilitating the low-cost advancement of targets and resource-level drilling
· Excellent location with positive in-country dynamics for miners and close proximity to other producing projects:

o Kerboulé lies on the same regional trend, just 20km along strike, from the 5 Moz Inata gold mine owned by Avocet Mining plc which produced approximately 118,000 oz Au in 2013

· Initial consideration of £350,000 to be satisfied through the issue of 54,996,857 new ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each in the capital of Alecto at a price of 0.6364 pence per Ordinary Share
· Deferred consideration of US$1.5 million to be paid in shares or cash, at Alecto’s sole discretion, on Alecto attaining at Kerboulé:

o the definition of a JORC-code compliant inferred resource or equivalent of 1 Moz Au at a minimum cut-off of 0.5g/t Au, or
o a JORC-code compliant proven reserve or equivalent of 250,000 oz Au at a minimum cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au, or
o production of the first 75,000 oz Au from gold mining operations

· Kaizen is a Canadian-based technology-focused mineral exploration company. Kaizen’s divestiture of the Kerboulé gold project is aligned with its strategy to build a portfolio of highly prospective base-metal projects within the Pacific Rim.
· The Company believes that Kerboulé is ideally positioned for the definition of a preliminary JORC resource estimate – this, as well as on-going resource expansion, will be the near term focus to provide the basis for commencing a preliminary economic assessment

Alecto’s CEO, Mark Jones, commented:

“This low-cost, all share, strategic acquisition of the advanced and prospective Kerboulé Gold Project in Burkina Faso is a timely addition to our portfolio and in line with our strategy of acquiring complementary assets and rapidly seeking to unlock value at low cost. We believe that Kerboulé is capable of delivering significant returns for the Company and this Acquisition strengthens our asset portfolio by exposing our shareholders to a highly exciting project in a new territory, with extensive existing data and upside potential.

“Alecto has demonstrated that it is capable of delivering resource ounces at a very low cost, and turning acquisitions into desirable joint venture projects. Accordingly, we have a clear plan to establish a maiden resource at Kerboulé and thereafter expand on it while we identify and assess the earliest route towards monetisation.

“Whilst Burkina Faso may have been in the news recently due to the popular uprising that saw the departure of long-time President Blaise Compaoré, after 27 years in power, the country is now transitioning towards a newly elected government. Burkina Faso has already shown that despite the political changes it has remained open for business and our first class contacts and network in-country will allow us to operate effectively.”

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