Latest News

Released 07:00 19-Feb-2014

Number 2769A

Stratex International Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: STI / Sector: Mining

Stratex International Plc  

(“Stratex” or “the Company”)

Positive Results from Dalafin –

59.6 m from surface grading 2.2 g/t Au including 18 m @ 4.27 g/t Au

Stratex International Plc, the AIM-quoted exploration and development company is pleased to announce new positive results from its first phase diamond and reverse circulation (“RC”) drill programme at the Dalafin project in Senegal, including broad mineralised zones at the Faré South prospect.

Highlights

• 4,880 m RC and diamond drill programme completed for 57 holes across three key zones at Dalafin – Faré, Baytilaye and Saroudia.

• RC and diamond drill results from Faré South include:
  • 14 m @ 2.94 g/t Au from 11.1 m, including 3 m @ 10.47 g/t Au (FADD-02)
  • 59.6 m @ 2.2 g/t Au from surface, including 18 m @ 4.27 g/t Au (FADD-03)
  • 13.5 m @ 2.31 g/t Au from 80.1 m (FADD-03)
  • 96 m @ 1.51 g/t Au from 4.1 m, including 10 m @ 5.07 g/t Au (FADD-04)
  • 7 m @ 1.64 g/t Au from 17.6 m (FADD-13)

• RC and diamond drill intercepts from Faré North include:
  • 3.5 m @ 2.06g/t Au from 14.10 m (FADD-07)
  • 2 m @ 1.81g/t Au from 25 m (FARC-19)
  • 2 m @  1.64 g/t Au from 7 m (FARC-20)

• Drilling yet to be undertaken on fourth target, Madina Bafé

• Ongoing work to include step-out and deeper diamond drilling at Faré

Commenting on the results, Stratex CEO, Bob Foster, said, “These latest drilling results for Faré South continue to indicate the existence of a substantial mineralised gold system that appears to be associated with a porphyry complex. The true dimensions and overall geometry of the mineralised body have yet to be clearly defined but the long intersections being returned are very encouraging indeed and follow-up drilling will be a priority. We are also reviewing the data from the Baytilaye and Saroudia target areas, as these shorter, lower-grade intersections could still be indicative of concealed mineralisation. Drilling key targets in the Madina Bafé area is also planned within the next 2-3 months, an area where previously we have identified outcropping gold-bearing veins and where our 2013 RAB drilling programme yielded some excellent intersections.” 

Further details

RC and diamond drilling has now been completed on three of four key prospects – Faré, Baytilaye and Saroudia – totalling 4,800 m across 57 holes. At Faré, 13 diamond holes and 35 RC holes were completed for a total 3,937 m. Early results from Faré South proved to be very encouraging (Press Announcement dated 18^th December 2013) and these have been reinforced by long intersection returned by the latest drilling – see Table 1. However diamond-drill twinning of the high grade RC intersection reported as 7 m @ 86.39 g/t Au in the announcement released on 18^th December returned only 7 m @ 1.64 g/t Au. The Company is confident that the quality controls that it has in place are rigorous and is in discussion with the analytical laboratory to assess how the discrepancy may have arisen and has also submitted duplicate samples to two laboratories for checks.

A number of 1-2 g/t Au values were also returned over 2-7 m from Faré North and some low-grade intersections were returned from the Baytilaye and Saroudia prospects. All are being evaluated in relation to depth of drilling and geological associations with a view to further possible drilling.

Best results from all three zones are presented in Table 1. All holes were drilled at a dip of -50 degrees.

Table 1. Significant intersections from Dalafin - 0.3 g/t Au cut-off

The drill core from diamond drilling was sampled on the basis of identifiable zones of mineralisation, although intense weathering in the near-surface environment (down to depths of as much as 40 m) renders any identification of mineralisation almost impossible and under those circumstances the clay-rich material is sampled as one-metre intervals. Longer intervals were occasionally sampled where recovery of relatively unconsolidated material was poor. RC holes were sampled at one-metre intervals.

Careful evaluation of fresh (unweathered) core from the Faré South prospect indicates an association of gold with a porphyry complex comprising three or more different porphyry bodies and a particular association with one or more intensely altered breccia bodies that appear to be aligned along the edge of the porphyry complex. Further drilling will assist in understanding the three-dimensional form of the mineralized zone. In the meantime it appears that the width of the mineralised zone along the northernmost drill fence (Line 4) is approximately 75 m. The mineralisation is open to the north where the Company’s airborne magnetic survey identified a concealed magnetic body approximately 600 m to the north that may be indicative of the same or a similar mineralised porphyry system. Drilling 200 m to the south of Line 4 did not intersect any significant mineralisation. Drilling will now be undertaken on 100 m lines northwards and one to the south and also deeper drilling beneath the identified zone. 

Some of the relatively low-grade zones in Baytilaye defined by a cut-off of 0.3 g/t Au are surrounded by wider envelopes of mineralisation defined by 0.1 g/t Au cut-off and these are to be evaluated carefully in relation to deep weathering, which may have resulted in leaching of gold and thus be camouflaging deeper mineralized zones.

In the meantime, detailed mapping of the most southern target area, Madina Bafé, has been completed and will be utilised to determine which of the extensive soil anomalies, accompanied in some cases by outcropping gold-bearing veins, should be prioritised for drilling. Previous rotary air blast (“RAB”) drilling at Madina Bafé returned a number of excellent intersections including 2 m @ 10.00 g/t Au and 8 m @ 2.82 g/t Au (Press Announcement dated 2^nd September 2013).

This Madina Bafé drilling will be undertaken in parallel with the drilling of Faré South, and will commence within the next 2-3 weeks.

For further information on our Dalafin project, please visit:

http://www.stratexinternational.com/project/dalafin/    

Sampling, assaying, and QA/QC

Stratex’s sampling of outcropping rocks, drill core, and other geological materials conforms to industry-wide good practice, with chain of custody being observed for all samples. Gold analysis for material sampled in this campaign is undertaken by Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories in Cote d’Ivoire.

The Company maintains QA/QC on all analytical work via the use of certified reference materials, field duplicates, and blank samples in addition to monitoring of internal laboratory check-analyses.

Bob Foster, Chief Executive Officer, is a Competent Person as defined by various international instruments and takes responsibility for the release of this information.

* * ENDS * *

For further information please visit www.stratexinternational.com, email [email protected], or contact:

Notes to editors:

AIM-quoted (2006) Stratex International is focussed on the exploration and development of gold and high-value base-metal deposits in Turkey and East and West Africa.

It has discovered more than 2.2 million ounces of gold and 7.9 million ounces of silver and has a strong cash position following the US$20M sale of its interest in the Öksüt gold project in Turkey, and its c.US$20M future production royalties, along with the sales of Inlice and 51 per cent of its Muratdere project. Stratex has a well-developed strategy to use its strong cash balance to move it towards a sustainable cash flow position from operations.

Its focus has been to form joint-venture partnerships with local private companies and major international mining companies, such as Antofagasta and Centerra in Turkey, and Thani Ashanti in East Africa while the corporate objectives are to progress majority-owned projects towards economic evaluation and development and to take advantage of quality opportunities in the smaller exploration company sector.