GOLD MINING IN GHANA WHERE PAST PRODUCTION IS IN EXCESS OF 40 MILLION OUNCES
Business Summary
PMI Ventures Ltd. has entered into an agreement to acquire an 85% interest in an extensive portfolio of Ghanaian properties.
To date, prospecting, trenching, and limited shallow drilling have indicated that these properties contain numerous historical gold showings and anomalies. PMI Ventures Ltd. selected targets to be drilled in the first quarter of 2003.
West Africa: the Properties
PMI Ventures Ltd. has entered into a letter of agreement with Goknet Mining Company Limited, a privately-held Ghanaian corporation, to acquire up to 85% of Goknet’s interest in exploration concessions/applications, covering a length of approximately 50 kilometers, and an area of some 486 square kilometers, along the axis of the Asankrangwa Gold Belt of south-western Ghana.
The Asankrangwa Gold Belt extends beyond 150 kilometers in length, and lies along the central axis of the KumasiBasin, approximately, 250 kilometers northwest of Accra, and about midway between the Ashanti and Sefwi Gold Belts.
The Asankrangwa Gold Belt already hosts the Obotan operation of Resolute Amansie, Ltd. of Australia that has to date produced over 1 million ounces of gold from shallow open-pit operations. Past production of the Ashanti Belt lying 40 kilometers to the east of Goknet’s project area is in excess of 40 million ounces of gold principally from the Ashanti and Tarkwa gold mines, while present resources are estimated at an additional 40-50 million ounces of gold.
The Sefwi Gold Belt, lying 30 kilometers to the west, hosts three producing gold mines with historic production of about 5 million ounces of gold, and current reported gold resources to the order of 12 million ounces.
The Republic of Ghana
GHANA is a country situated in West Africa near the equator and on the Greenwich meridian, bounded on the north and north-west by Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), on the east by Togo, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Ivory Coast. Ghana is well known for its friendly people and its aclaimed hospitality. Formerly a British colony known as the Gold Coast, Ghana was the first black nation in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence, led by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1957.
Government Ghana has had four republics with intermittent military rules. The first ran from March, 1957 to Feburary, 1966, President Dr Kwame Nkrumah; the second was from October, 1969 to January, 1972, Prime Minister Dr. Busia; the third was from June, 1979 to September, 1981, President Dr. Hilla Limann.The fourth has seen two presidents, former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd), from June 1993 to January 7, 2001 and Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor January 7, 2001 to present.
EconomyGhana is one of the most developed countries in tropical Africa. The GNP per capita is above average for western Africa. Ghana's economy is based mainly on agriculture and mining. Agriculture accounts for nearly half of the GDP and employs over 50% of the work force.
The main export crop is cacao. Coffee, palm products, and tropical fruits are exported in small quantities. Agricultural products include cassava, yams, corn, sorghum, and rice. Goats and sheep are the principal livestock reared. Timber is an important export. Fishing is significant to the domestic market.
Mineral exports, chiefly gold, manganese, diamonds, and bauxite, account for a large part of the country's earnings. Petroleum is extracted in small quantities offshore between Saltpond and CapeCoast, and exploration in other areas is under way. Industry, mining, and construction, account for about one-seventh of the GDP and employ about one-eighth of the work force.
Recent News: PMI VENTURES LTD. ANNOUNCES INITIAL DRILL RESULTS FROM ASHANTI II DEEP GOLD
PMI Ventures Ltd. has announced the results of the first of 8 to 10 diamond drill holes (1,050 meters in total) that comprise the first phase of the 2003 drill program on the package ofexploration concessions and applications covering an area of some 400 km² along a length of 50 km of the axis of the Asankrangwa Gold Belt in southwestern Ghana.The current drill program has been designed to follow up on targets defined in earlier shallow RC drilling.
Drill hole 03FBDDH-1 was drilled in the Fromenda Grid „B“ area to a total length of 86 meters (282 feet) at -45° using HQ drill string.The hole intersected a mineralized section of 30.0 meters (approximately true width).The mineralized intercept is located at a depth of about 20 meters below surface.Mineralization is characterized by highly altered and oxidized greywacke, crosscut by sheared quartz stringers. Follow-up drilling to test both strike extensions of the mineralized zone and down-dip extension of the zone is now in progress.
Bottle roll testing of representative samples of the mineralized zone will be completed to test the leachability of the mineralized material for a possible heap leach operation.
Results of this first drill intersection of the Fromenda Grid “B“ mineralized zone are considered to be very satisfactory since the grade and thickness of the zone as defined by the current diamond drill program are both better by approximately 40% than results obtained in earlier rotary percussion drilling undertaken in 1999 by TriStar Gold Corp. in the same area in an extensive program of shallow RC drilling.
Results of the ongoing drill program will be released as received over the next two to three weeks.Douglas R. MacQuarrie, P.Geo. (B.C.), the VP of Exploration for the Company and Goknet Mining Company Limited, supervised and directed all work associated with the drilling program.
All sample analyses were conducted at SGS Laboratory Services Ghana Limited in Tarkwa utilizing industry standard 50g fire assay and screened metallics fire assay techniques, with atomic absorption finish.
Fundamental Considerations: Company Highlights
The Goknet land holdings that are the subject of the letter of agreement contain numerous historical gold showings and gold anomalies that have been identified by prospecting, trenching and limited shallow drilling by earlier exploration programs.
Structural interpretation by Goknet has outlined a series of north-east trending, deep-seated thrust faults that are intimately associated with known gold mineralization and will be the focus of the ongoing exploration.
To date, insufficient exploration has been completed to identify a gold resource, but more than ten significant drill targets have been established. These data suggest that deep diamond drilling in the areas of the previously obtained high grade (15 to 50 g/t) but generally narrow, gold intersections, and other untested high gold in soil and geophysical anomalies, may outline deep seated bodies with potentially high grades and considerable dip extensions. The target model is of the Ashanti Obuasi, Campbell/Red Lake type.
Investments in exploration companies at an early stage must be considered risky, and only investors who can afford to take such risks should consider investing.
Technical Considerations
The gold price remains in a solid up-trend, which started in March 2001, and has been reconfirmed in April as the war premium has been unwound.
PMI Ventures is a young company with a short trading history and limited trading volume and is therefore only suited for investors who understand the risk involved in such an investment.
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