MMS.L Regulatory News (MMS)

21 Jul 2005 11:26

Maghreb Minerals PLC21 July 2005 PROGRESS REPORT - TUNISIA HIGHLIGHTS • An Independent Study confirms the exploration potential of Fej Lahdoum and nearby areas to host economic lead-zinc mineralisation. • Exploration will focus on Fej Lahdoum for the remainder of 2005, where a 17-hole drill programme is planned to commence next week. • A 3,000m drill programme on the Fej Lahdoum Mine Concession is expected to be completed by October 2005 earning the Company the right to negotiate the acquisition of the Fej Lahdoum mine concession area. • Field work at Fej Lahdoum has identified more high grade mineralisation, in old workings approximately 0.7 Km south of Dar N'Hal Sud. Gordon Riddler, Chairman of Maghreb Minerals, commenting on the progress inTunisia to date stated that: "The independent study commissioned to evaluate the potential to develop amining operation at Fej Lahdoum has confirmed management's view on the highlyprospective nature of this region to host economic lead-zinc mineralisation.Delays caused by unusual snowfalls at the start of the year and the requirementfor Maghreb Minerals to undertake work on the Company's other explorationpermits, which were due for renewal in July 2005, has delayed work at FejLahdoum. However, Maghreb Minerals is now in a position to push ahead with itsdrilling programme and exploration at Fej Lahdoum. Assays from two drill holesat Fej Lahdoum are awaited and core from a further three drill holes is in Tunisawaiting logging and shipping to the assay lab in the United Kingdom. New HQdrill rods have arrived in Tunisia and the planned 17 hole drill programme onthe southwest boundary of the Fej Lahdoum mine concession will commence in thenext week." Further Enquiries: Maghreb Minerals Plc Westhouse Securities LLPRobyn Storer/ Richard Collier Richard MorrisonTel: 44 (0) 20 7618 6411 Tel: 44 (0) 20 7601 6100 Maghreb Minerals Plc ("Maghreb Minerals" or "The Company") (MMS.L) commissionedan independent study, by Resource Engineering & Development Limited, to reviewthe resource potential of the Fej Lahdoum - Djebba region and to evaluate thefeasibility of the expansion of mining operations at Fej Lahdoum. The report did not support an increase in production at the current Fej Lahdoumoperations. However it did conclude: "There is a solid case for the continued exploration of the area, to determinean increase in the resource base at Fej Lahdoum and its nearby deposits and toundertake the necessary technical, engineering and economic studies to seek toconvert resources to mineable reserves." "In the Fej Lahdoum area, there are excellent opportunities for exploration tosucceed in defining resources in relation to the four principal targets." Deposit Resource Target (million tonnes) Dar N'Hal Nord, Fej Lahdoum 1.2Dar N'Hal Sud, Fej Lahdoum 0.4Satellite Deposits, Fej Lahdoum 1.5Djebba 1.8All Deposits Fej Lahdoum - Djebba 4.9 "Although it cannot be expected that the above resource targets will translatedirectly into mineable reserves, it is evident that this scale of resource isrequired to put Fej Lahdoum on a par with Bou Grine - the latter having from theoutset, a mineable reserve of about 4.38 million tonnes and a production rate of1,200 tpd." "On this basis, the model for exploration would be to identify a cluster ofsmaller deposits (as identified above) that collectively could contribute to acentralised mining and milling complex. This situation is most likely to favoura site to the Northwest of Fej Lahdoum, for example on the slopes of the OuedArcou in the vicinity of where the old Bulgarian adit development was formerlystarted." Fej Lahdoum - Focus of exploration for remainder of 2005 The study by Resource Engineering & Development Limited, of the resourcepotential at Fej Lahdoum, supports Maghreb Minerals decision to focus itsexploration efforts near term on the Fej Lahdoum exploration permit and mineconcession. Maghreb Minerals holds an option on the mine concession whereby the Company, bycompleting 3,000m of drilling, will earn the right to negotiate with theTunisian Mines Department for Maghreb Minerals to assume responsibility for theFej Lahdoum mine concession. A 17 hole drill programme is planned on the southwest boundary of the FejLahdoum mine concession, to test the mineralisation to a depth of about 500m.The strike extent to be tested is approximately 2 km in length. Included inthis programme are several drill holes which are expected to satisfy the balanceof the Companys' undertaking to the Tunisian Government to drill 3,000m on theFej Lahdoum mine concession. The company anticipates satisfying thisundertaking by October 2005. The Company has, to date, completed 1,060m of drilling pursuant to satisfyingthis obligation. Dar N'Hal Nord - Drilling to test down dip extension of mineralisation The Company has a planned exploration programme at Dar N'Hal Nord to testmineralisation below the 571m Level. Of the estimated 1.2 million tonnes of reported resources remaining at Dar N'HalNord, questions remain about their precise spatial distribution, lead and zincgrades, Pb/Zn ratio and viability. The Dar N'Hal Nord mineralisation isinterpreted to be contained in progressively smaller separated lenses below the646m level. The grade of the lead and zinc at Dar N'Hal Nord is also reportedto decrease with depth from 12% combined lead and zinc (down to about the 646mlevel) to about 8% combined at lower levels. More drilling is required to clarify the structure and grade of mineralisationat depth. Drilling in the first half of 2005 confirms mineralisation D'Nal Hal Sud Maghreb Minerals' exploration strategy in the Fej Lahdoum area has to dateconcentrated on the Dar N'Hal Sud area where a previous exploration drillingprogramme (2152m), by the O.N.M. (Tunisian Office Nationale des Mines) haddelineated a resource of 400,000 tonnes, grading 13.3% combined Pb/Zn. Maghreb Minerals has completed 7 drill holes at D'Nal Hal Sud, which haveconfirmed the nature of the mineralisation and the geometry of the orebody,identified by the O.N.M. Potential Satellite Orebodies - exploration programme planned for 2005 Mineralised zones outcrop at several localities in the Fej Lahdoum area overabout a 2km strike length. These zones include: Sidi Belgacem, Fernana, BouKcherida and Zone Lutetienne. Fieldwork is planned for the second half of 2005to understand the geology and to identify potential drilling targets on thesesatellite areas. New zone of mineralisation identified south of Dar N'Hal Sud In addition to the areas of known mineralisation included in the ResourceEngineering & Development Limited study, recent field exploration has identifiedold adits, 0.7 km south of the known mineralisation at Dar N'Hal Sud. Theproposed exploration programme for the second half of 2005 will include drillingto test the extent of this newly defined area of lead-zinc mineralisation. Regional programme - Djebba, Ouled Moussa, Koudiat El Louatia and Koudiat Sidiiexploration permits Four of the Companys' exploration permits in Tunisia were due for renewal inJuly 2005. A regional drilling programme has been undertaken on the Company'sDjebba, Koudiat El Louatia (Lorbeus) and Ouled Moussa exploration permits tosatisfy commitments made by Maghreb Minerals to the Tunisian Government. TheCompany anticipates that these permits will be renewed for a further 3 years.This exploration has confirmed the prospectivity of these permits to hostsignificant lead-zinc mineralisation. More work is required to establish thefull potential of these permits. Given the early stage nature of exploration on the Koudiat Sidii explorationpermit, Maghreb Minerals has decided not to actively pursue the renewal of thispermit. Djebba A drilling programme is in progress at Djebba (located approximately 10km fromFej Lahdoum), to confirm the results obtained by the O.N.M in 1988. Thisprogramme will also test the along-strike, and down-dip extension of thesuspected "feeder-fault" that defines the eastern boundary of the Miocene-hostedlead-zinc mineralisation at Djebba, that was the subject of a CanadianGovernment funded preliminary feasibility study in 1988. In addition tocorroborating the results of previous work, the focus of the current explorationprogramme is to identify and outline a body of high-grade lead-zincmineralisation which would be amenable to underground mining. According to the Canadian Government funded preliminary feasibility study, theDjebba deposit is reported to have an open-pit mineable resource of about800,000 tonnes (with a further potential resource of over 1 million tonnes). Open-pit mining on the known deposit at Djebba may necessitate the re-locationand re-settlement of part of a small village community. Although, the TunisianGovernment is reported to be in favour of the development of the Djebba deposit,social and environmental issues will have to be addressed An exploration programme at Djebba, planned for 2006, will include a detailedgravity survey, structural geology and further drilling in the southwest near anold shaft (on lead-zinc mineralisation), and in the northeast (near the old "Carriere du Bey" open pit lead-zinc mine) of the Djebba exploration license. NOTES TO EDITORS Maghreb Minerals has a planned exploration programme in Tunisia and Algeriausing modern exploration techniques. Its exploration programme for lead and zincmineralisation in Tunisia and Algeria is based on a broad conceptual model basedon Mississippi Valley Type deposits. Maghreb Minerals believes that itsconceptual model for the control of mineralisation in the region represents asignificant departure from the exploration model applied historically to thismetallogenic rich province. The Company believes that exploration to date hasfailed to test the full mineralisation potential of the region. In addition, and in line with its planned strategy to extend its explorationefforts throughout the Maghreb region, the Company has acquired an 85% interestin the Tan Chaffao gold rich base metal project, and a 100 sq. km ExplorationLicense, in Algeria. Maghreb Minerals will commence an exploration programme atTan Chaffao at the beginning of the field season (late September 2005). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange