Latest News

Released 07:00 20-Feb-2013
Number 2455Y07

Stratex International Plc  

(“Stratex” or “The Company”)

West Africa Update –

Drilling to Commence at Dalafin and Expansion into Liberia

Stratex International Plc, the AIM-quoted exploration and development company focussed on gold and base metals in Turkey, East Africa and West Africa, is pleased to provide an exploration update on its activities in West Africa.

Highlights

Dalafin Project, Senegal

• 30,000 metre Rotary Air Blast (“RAB”) drilling programme to commence shortly at Madina Bafé, the first of five identified gold prospects
• Infrastructure improvements completed within the licence area to facilitate further exploration

Mauritania

• Initial mapping and soil sampling completed across the Azrag Exclusive Exploration Licence (“EEL”) and Adham Tamat EEL, with results expected H1 2013
• Mapping and soil sampling now underway at Tleimidi EEL
• Initial environmental baseline study report on all EELs accepted by the Ministry

Liberia

• Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) signed with privately owned UK-based mineral exploration company BG Minerals (“BG Minerals”), to explore its 967 sq. km North Suehn gold licence in north-western Liberia 
• Stratex West Africa (“SWA”) has an option to earn up to 75% by spending US$1.1 million over two years
• Licence-wide stream sediment sampling programme now underway, together with mapping and soil sampling around extensive artisanal gold workings

Dr Bob Foster, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our exploration of the Dalafin licence area in Senegal has moved to the next level with the intended commencement of drilling on the first of five areas previously defined by our geochemical exploration programme and reinforced by the results of the airborne geophysical survey. The RAB drilling offers a rapid and cost-effective method of evaluating the targets and we look forward to reporting the results to the market in due course.

The reconnaissance exploration programme in Mauritania is well advanced and once completed will enable us to determine which of the four licences merit further work. In the meantime we are pleased to establish a footprint in Liberia by having the option to earn-in to an extensive licence area that encompasses a number of active artisanal gold workings. The licence embraces similar geology to that hosting Aureus Mining’s nearby New Liberty discovery which has a resource of approximately 1.7 million ounces of gold.”

Further Details

Dalafin Gold Project, Senegal

Following Stratex’s 51% earn-in to the Dalafin gold licence in eastern Senegal, the Company will shortly be commencing a 30,000 metre RAB drilling programme to test five key gold targets identified within the licence area - Faré, Konkonou, Baytilaye, Saroudia, and Madina Bafé. Starting with Madina Bafé, the drilling will be undertaken along a series of fence lines to test the top 30-40 metres of weathered bedrock beneath the previously identified gold-in-soil anomalies. Importantly, this will enable evaluation of bedrock beneath extensive iron-cemented regolith (“cuirasse”) where gold enrichment has only been identified by the sampling of material from termite mounds.

Infrastructure improvements, including roads and accommodation, have been effected at the Company’s field office in Saraya and at its Madina Bafé target in the south of the licence, to facilitate the increased level of exploration.

Mauritania

Initial mapping and soil sampling programmes have now been completed across the Company’s Azrag EEL in north-central Mauritania and Adham Tamat EEL in central Mauritania and assay results are awaited. Mapping and soil sampling at Tleimidi, the Company’s EEL in the centre of the country, is now underway and should take approximately one month to complete. Reconnaissance evaluation of the fourth licence, El Faraa, has led to a decision not to undertake further exploration.

Initial environmental baseline study report on all the Company’s EELs, which were submitted to the Ministry in late 2012, has been accepted without comment and is thus approved.

Liberia

In January, Stratex released a corporate strategy statement outlining its intentions to use its offices in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Ankara (Turkey) and Dakar (Senegal) as hubs for regional exploration development. As such, the Company has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Stratex West Africa Limited, made a move to expand its West African portfolio through the signing of an MoU with UK-based private company BG Minerals in relation to its 967 sq km gold licence, North Suehn (or “the Property”), in north-western Liberia.

The Property, acquired by BG Minerals in 2011, is located 35 km NNE of Monrovia. Metavolcanic rocks, typical of greenstone belt terranes, dominate the licence and are cut by the NW-SE trending Todi Shear Zone that separates the Liberian- and the Pan-African-age provinces of the West African Craton. In the south of the licence, an initial interpretation indicates that mineralised structures cross-cut these metavolcanics,

Under the terms of the MoU, SWA can earn up to 75% by spending US$1.1 million within two years. Key elements of the agreement are as follows:

1) SWA has the right but not the obligation to spend US$ 400,000 on exploration within year 1 to earn a 51% interest in the Property. Once SWA has vested at 51% in the Property, the licence will be transferred to a new Liberian-registered joint-venture company, in which it will own 51%.

2) Subject to the results from the year-1 programme, SWA shall have the option to spend US$ 700,000 on exploration over a further period of 1 year to earn an additional 24% interest (a total 75% interest) in the joint-venture company.

3) Following SWA earning a 75% interest in the Property, further exploration shall be financed by each party using a standard contribute or dilute formula.

A programme of mapping and soil sampling has commenced around extensive artisanal alluvial gold workings in the eastern part of the licence and a systematic stream sediment sampling programme is underway over the entire licence.

For more information on our projects in West Africa, including a licence map of the new North Suehn project in Liberia, please visit

http://www.stratexinternational.com/operations/exploration/west-africa.aspx

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

Notes to editors:

Stratex International is a well-funded AIM-quoted exploration and development company focussed on gold and high-value base metals in Turkey, East Africa and West Africa. Since listing on AIM in 2006, Stratex has had an impressive track record of successful exploration supported by joint-venture partnerships, both with major international mining companies and local companies to maximise the potential of its discoveries.

In December 2012 the Company announced the sale of its 30% interest in the Öksüt gold project for cash of 20 times its original US$1 million investment and retained a royalty of 1% up to a maximum additional value of US$20 million.

It currently has a substantial portfolio of projects, with Altıntepe in Turkey scheduled for gold production in late 2013 or Q1 2014. To date Stratex has discovered more than 2.2 million ounces of gold and 7.9 million ounces of silver, as well as 186,000 tonnes of copper.