Gold Zones Identified By Drilling and Soil Geochemical Surveys
confirm potential for Navachab-style Gold Mineralisation
TSX-V Trading Symbol: HRC
VANCOUVER, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Helio Resource
Corp (TSX-V: HRC) is pleased to provide an update on its 100%-owned
(through its wholly owned subsidiary, BAFEX Exploration (Pty.)
Ltd.) Damara Gold Project ("DGP"), located in Namibia.
A Joint Venture agreement between Helio and Desert Minerals (UK)
Ltd was recently terminated, and the four licences (covering
396,000ha or 3,960km(2)), namely Etjo South, Okakango, Wilhelmstal
and Otjimbojo, that comprise the Damara Gold Project have now
reverted to Helio.
The exact location of the licences is presented in the link
below:
www.helioresource.com/i/pdf/2010-10-05_NRM1.pdf
The DGP is located between AngloGold Ashanti's (AGA) Navachab
Mine to the southwest and Auryx Gold Corp.'s Otjikoto Project to
the northeast.
A review of the data generated by Desert, and previously by
AngloGold Ashanti, suggests strong potential for Navachab- and / or
Otjikoto-style gold mineralisation on the four licences.
Highlights
----------
- Drill testing of various targets returned intercepts including 3m at
4.7g/t Au, 8m at 3.0 g/t Au, 3.4m at 3.0g/t Au (open), 4m at 6.1g/t
Au, 1m at 71g/t Au, 6m at 6.4g/t Au (open), 1m at 10.5g/t Au, 4m at
8.6g/t Au (open), and 34m at 0.9g/t Au.
- Drill hole OTRC30 (AGA) bottomed in 4m grading 8.6g/t Au, and the
last 1m sample of the hole assayed 18.8g/t Au. The nearest drilling
on strike from this hole is 250m away.
- Drill hole OTD 15 (AGA) bottomed in 3.4m grading 3g/t Au. The main
area of drilling is over 1,000m away.
- Rock chip sampling of mineralised outcrop by AGA returned up to 5m
grading 11.3g/t Au - never drill tested;
- The same geology that hosts the Navachab gold mine and Otjikoto
resource;
- A 7,000m long series of Au +/- As +/- Cu soil anomalies related to
folded neo-Proterozoic marbles, similar to the geological setting of
the Navachab gold mine;
- Numerous geochemical soil and bedrock sample anomalies never followed
up;
Navachab Gold Mine
------------------
The DGP licences are located between 20-100km to the east and
northeast of, and in the same geological terrain as AngloGold
Ashanti's Navachab mine as presented in the links below:
www.helioresource.com/i/pdf/2010-10-05_NRM1.pdf
www.helioresource.com/i/pdf/2010-10-05_NRM2.pdf
Navachab has been in production since 1989 and, as of
December 2009, has mined over 1 Moz
of gold and has a non-NI 43-101 compliant resource of 3.73 Moz
grading 1.13g/t Au (source AngloGold Ashanti Mineral Resource and
Ore Reserve Report 2009).
The Otjikoto Project
--------------------
Auryx's Otjikoto Gold Project, located approximately 150km
northeast of Helio's licences has a NI 43-101 indicated resource of
28Mt grading 1.34g/t Au and an inferred resource of 17.1Mt grading
1.28g/t Au for total of 1.93 Moz.
Helio's DGP Project
-------------------
Two of the four DGP licences, Wilhelmstal and Otjimbojo (located
25km east and 30km north-east of the Navachab Gold Mine,
respectively) have had significant exploration conducted on them.
Gold Kop, the first place where gold was mined in Namibia by German colonialists (who called it
Gold Kuppe) in the early 20th century, is located within the
Otjimbojo licence.
AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) conducted sporadic exploration on both
licences between the 1980s and the mid-2000s since the area was
underlain by the same prospective target horizons as Navachab as
presented in the link below:
www.helioresource.com/i/pdf/2010-10-05_NRM2.pdf
Work included stream sediment, soil and rock sampling, plus
percussion, reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling,
especially around the old gold workings in the vicinity of Gold
Kop.
Results from the main AGA soil-sampling grid (covering 4.1 x 1km
at a sample spacing of 20 x 50m) over Gold Kop and adjacent areas
outlined a major discontinuous Au +/- As +/- Cu anomaly over a
distance of approximately 7,000m on both limbs of a folded marble
unit, which is recognised as the most prospective geological unit
in the region.
A detailed map of the Gold Kop soil anomaly is presented in the
link below:
www.helioresource.com/i/pdf/2010-10-05_NRM3.pdf
The anomaly is open to the south. The geochemical response is
particularly well-developed over secondary fold hinges, which is
similar to the structural setting of the Navachab gold deposit.
The host lithology to the Gold Kop target, which is similar to
that at the Navachab Mine, can be traced for over 20km along
strike. No exploration has been conducted over the strike extents
of the target-host outside the 4,100m long soil sampling grid.
Drilling was conducted by AGA sporadically over a 2,500m strike
length of the Gold Kop target. This drilling focussed on one of the
parasitic fold hinges in the centre of the soil-sampling grid
covering 250m of strike. No drilling was conducted over the main
fold hinge, possibly because the geochemical response of soils here
is relatively low. However, rock grab samples grading (greater
than)1g/t Au were collected by AGA from the main fold hinge
area.
AGA drilled 22 open-hole percussion holes (for 530m), 32 RC
holes (for 2,014m) and 21 diamond drill holes (for 1,696m).
Resource estimates were made by AGA for the Gold Kop prospect, but
these are not NI 43-101 compliant.
Desert drilled 18 RC holes (for 1,485m) and three BQ-sized
diamond drill holes (for 530m). Holes were drilled close to the
main focus of the AGA drilling. All holes were focussed on the
near-surface mineralisation. Results obtained from the AGA and
Desert drilling include the following intercepts:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hole Comment Source From (m) Length (m) Grade (Au g/t)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD4 AGA 50 1 6.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD4 AGA 52 1 2.8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD5 AGA 19 20 0.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and AGA 47 1 2.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD6 AGA 26 3 4.7
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD7 AGA 24 21 0.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and AGA 57 1 7.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and AGA 66 8 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD8 AGA 3 27 0.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD13 AGA 44 1 5.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD15 OPEN AGA 72 3.4 3.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD22 DESERT 38.2 4 6.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTD23 DESERT 62.6 12.9 0.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTP16 AGA 3 1 71.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC8 AGA 5 1 2.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC9 AGA 6 3 2.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC13 OPEN AGA 58 4 1.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC16 AGA 13 1 4.8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC18 OPEN AGA 54 6 6.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC20 AGA 8 1 10.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC27 AGA 19 1 3.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and AGA 5 1 3.9
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and AGA 42 5 1.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC28 AGA 44 1 6.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC29 AGA 16 3 1.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC30 OPEN AGA 56 4 8.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
including OPEN AGA 59 1 18.8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC45 OPEN DESERT 40 43 0.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC46 OPEN DESERT 0 13 0.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC47 DESERT 7 25 0.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and DESERT 53 12 0.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTRC48 DESERT 1 2 3.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
and DESERT 46 34 0.9
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Results demonstrate the potential for both high-grade and
bulk-tonnage gold targets at Gold Kop. Mineralised zones are open
in both strike directions and to depth. Numerous geochemical and
structural anomalies remain to be drill-tested.
Please note that these drill results are not NI 43-101
compliant, due to the analytical laboratories used (Navachab Gold
Mine lab in the case of the majority of the AGA holes). Eleven of
Desert's RC holes were not assayed, and Helio anticipates that it
will submit samples from the Desert drilling to an accredited
laboratory in the near future.
Gold mineralisation occurs with massive and disseminated
sulphides (pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite) with or without quartz
veins, together with pervasive and vein-type tremolite alteration.
In these respects, mineralisation is similar to that found at and
around the Navachab mine. The Company believes that the potential
for discovering a Navachab-style deposit at Otjimbojo is good.
At Wilhelmstal, the prospective marble units occur in a large
synform and can also be traced for over 20km along strike.
Geochemical soil sampling by AGA over a 3 x 2.5km area on a 100m by
50m grid identified six discrete gold-in-soil anomalies 35km from
the Navachab Mine. Two of these, approximately 2,500m apart (E-W)
were drill tested by open-hole percussion drilling. The best holes
in the western area included 1m grading 4.6g/t Au and 3m grading
3.2g/t Au. Intersections from the eastern area include 7m grading
2.2g/t Au and 1m grading 4.5g/t Au. No follow up work has been
conducted, and the anomalies remain open in all directions.
Outside of the main gridded area, AGA conducted rock sampling on
an anomaly 5.5km east of the easternmost drill holes. Grab samples
up to 20.7g/t Au and channel samples of 5m grading 11.3g/t Au were
reported. No follow-up work was done here.
The other licences comprising the Damara Gold Project, Okakango
and Etjo South, both contain soil and stream sediment anomalies
similar to those on Wilhelmstal and Otjimbojo, together with the
same prospective rock units. A regional prospectivity analysis is
ongoing, in order to develop targets for further work.
The projects are favourably located, within 30km of the main
paved road and railway, with the main Ruacana-Windhoek power line
crossing both the Otjimbojo and Wilhelmstal licences. Both areas
are also located close to a major (seasonal) river, and have higher
rainfall than is found at Navachab.
The Damara project licences form an excellent addition to
Helio's portfolio, complementing the forthcoming NI
43-101-compliant resource on Helio's SMP Project in Tanzania, which is anticipated within this
month (Company Press Release dated 29th
September 2010).
Chris MacKenzie, M.Sc., C.Geol.,
Helio's COO and a Qualified Person as designated by NI 43-101,
supervises the exploration at the Damara Gold Project, including
the sampling and quality assurance / quality control programmes,
and has reviewed the contents of this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"Richard D. Williams" "Chris MacKenzie"
Richard D. Williams, P.Geo Christopher J. MacKenzie, C.Geol.
CEO COO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release
SOURCE Helio Resource Corp.
Copyright t. 5 PR Newswire