African Gold Group Provides Shareholder Update
TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- African Gold Group, Inc. (TSX-V: AGG) (“AGG” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on the Company's developments at Kobada Gold project.
“I am very pleased to present an update about the progress made and our plans for the future at the Kobada Project” says Danny Callow, Chief Operating Officer for African Gold Group. “We have made significant progress in less than three months since we started operations again, and I am very confident that we will deliver the Definitive Feasibility Study and ESIA by the end of April 2020.”
Geological Update
During Phase 1 of the planned 15,000m infill drilling programme, five holes have been completed with the initial core logging showing several gold-bearing shear zones and quartz veins indicating significantly more mineralization than originally expected.
The first batch of samples has arrived at SGS facility in Bamako for assay testing. With a quick turn-around time, results for the hole No. 1 are anticipated at the beginning of November. From then onwards there will be a steady flow of results as the drilling and sampling is continuously ongoing.
“We are very excited to have intersected so many zones of mineralization already in the first holes”, says Dr. Andreas Rompel, Vice President Exploration for AGG, “this is more than we anticipated from our proposed drilling layouts and will contribute significantly to our resource account.”
Dr. Andreas Rompel, Vice President Exploration of AGG, further visited the SGS laboratories in Bamako, Mali, and was very pleased with their standards and procedures, their protocol for moving samples through the process and their ISO certification.
In the meantime, the Company, together with its partners Minxcon in Johannesburg, has incorporated all historical data, trenching, artisanal mining mapping, geochemical soil sampling and geophysics to produce an updated structural geological mineralization and resource model. This allows the Company to deduce further target areas north and south of the Kobada Main Shear and target shear zones running parallel. The initial drilling results also indicate that the mineralization continues in the southern direction along the main Kobada zone.
The Company's drilling contractor, AMCO has three drill rigs on site, that continuously operate on a day and night shift schedule. The fourth rig is currently being mobilized to site.
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Infrastructure Update
Since the last construction progress update, the infrastructure completion on the new camp has been increased to 95% from 55% reported on August 22nd, 2019. The Company expects to relocate key personnel to the new camp in the first week of November, ahead of schedule despite heavy rains and poor weather conditions at site.
The new senior camp will consist of multiple comfortable accommodation units with en-suite bathrooms, a large dining room, kitchen and office complex to cater for the start-up phase, as well as on site water and electricity supply. The coreyard has been extended to accommodate results of the 2019 drilling program and is currently 95% complete.
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ESIA
As a part of program to deliver a definitive feasibility study, the Company is working on updating approved environmental and social impact assessment (the “ESIA”). Environmental baseline data collection and studies are in progress with teams already at site with multiple field campaigns and monitoring programs planned.
The Kobada Gold project is fully licensed and permitted by the Government of Mali. However, in anticipation of the construction beginning in 2020, it was deemed necessary by the management to update the ESIA to include the results of the 2019 drill program and account for the developments at site. The management of the Company does not expect any major changes to the existing ESIA and therefore would not require any new applications.
The updated ESIA study will be prepared in accordance to the IFC and World Bank international guidelines.
Community Engagement
As a part of our community engagement program, our Company has been employing, where possible, workers from the local community. In addition, we have been focusing on utilizing only local and regional suppliers for the local procurement of goods and services.
Following the meeting between Chief Operating Officer, Danny Callow and Kobada Chief Dantoume Diawara, there has been a substantial decrease of artisanal miners at the site with only a handful still present. As the development of the Kobada Gold project progresses we expect to see all artisanal miners moved from the site.
AGG sees its commitment to the local community as one of the critical success factors in delivering the Kobada project and will continue to meet regularly and communicate with Kobada's chiefs as the development of the mine progresses.
Moving forward, our Company will continue to build a strong nurturing relationship with local communities and will continue to adhere to international corporate social responsibility standards.
“We are expecting a significant amount of newsflow over the coming weeks as we forge ahead with our drilling campaign and complete the infrastructure projects ahead of schedule,” comments Danny Callow. “We will be expecting an update on the ongoing metallurgical testwork in the coming weeks, which will enable us to start the design on an optimized process for recovering gold and provide good indication of future capital and operating costs.
Kobada remains an exciting, near construction project with significant upside in a highly prospective part of the Birimian Greenstone Belt in Southern Mali. We are very excited with the results we have achieved to date and look forward to delivering on our commitments over the coming months.”
About African Gold Group
African Gold Group is a Canadian listed exploration and development company on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: AGG) with its focus on developing a gold platform in West Africa. Its principal asset is the Kobada Project in southern Mali. For more information regarding African Gold Group visit our website at .
For further information please contact:
Stan Bharti
President and Chief Executive Officer
(416) 861 2267
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward looking information includes, but is not limited to, management’s, the Company’s development and exploration plans for the Kobada project, the timeline for the completion of the definitive feasibility study, the timeline for the completion of the ESIA, the timeline for receiving assay results and other statements with respect to the future plans or intentions of the Company. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", “aims”, "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of exploration activities; regulatory risks; risks inherent in foreign operations; and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
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