Kibo Commences 3,000 metre Drill Programme

 

Kibo Mining Plc

(Incorporated in Ireland)

(Registration Number: 451931)

(External registration number: 2011/007371/10)

Share code on the JSE Limited: KBO

Share code on the AIM: KIBO

ISIN: IE00B61XQX41

("Kibo" or "the Company")

 

Dated: 28 October 2013

 

Kibo Commences 3,000 metre Drill Programme at Imweru

 

Kibo Mining plc ("Kibo" or the "Company") (AIM: KIBO; AltX: KBO), the mineral exploration and development company focused on gold, nickel, coal and uranium projects in Tanzania, is pleased to announce that it has commenced a 3,000 m drill programme at its Imweru project in northern Tanzania. The project is located in the gold prolific Lake Victoria Goldfield and is situated approximately 35 km west of and along strike of AngloGold Ashanti's world class Geita deposits which have an estimated pre-mining gold endowment of ~ 23 M oz @ 4g/t.  Imweru, together with Lubando (approximately 35 km East of Geita) contain a total gold resource of 797,900 oz and  are two brownfield exploration projects recently acquired by the Company (refer Kibo RNS dated 13 August 2013 as well as resource table under the "General Background & Strategy" section below).

 

The drill programme at Imweru will comprise approximately 750 m of diamond drilling and 2,250 m of reverse circulation drilling (total 3,000 m) in 20 holes and has been designed to further evaluate the gold mineralized zones identified by previous operators on the project. These mineralized zones extend over 10 km along strike and have been drilled to a maximum depth of about 200 m. Based on this drilling a NI 43-101 compliant Inferred gold resource of 629,000 oz. of gold was calculated for Imweru, the details of which are shown in the table below (taken from report by EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd Report dated March 2010).

 

TABLE1:IMWERU MINERAL RESOURCE SUMMARY - BASECASE*
Category	Measured Resource	Indicated Resource	Inferred Resource
Resource(t)	-	-	17,649,900
Grade(g/t)	-	-	1.11
Grade(oz/ton)	-	-	0.032
Total Gold(oz)	-	-	629,600

 

The current drill programme is designed to infill drill one of the western mineralized zones on the project in order to evaluate it both along strike and at depths of >200m. The drill programme is scheduled to be completed within two months. Kibo anticipates that the results of the drilling will enable it to produce a JORC-compliant resource that will improve on the existing resource and resource categorization, based on the additional geological data from the drilling as well as the re-modeling of the resource, utilizing the current gold price (which is >US$1,300/oz compared to the US$850/oz used in the previous resource estimate).

 

Louis Coetzee, CEO of the Company, commented today:

 

"The Company is very pleased that it has been able to quickly mobilize a drilling team to the Imweru project to fulfill its previously announced objective of completing a drill programme in this area before the end of 2013. The Imweru programme represents the first phase of drilling on its recently acquired projects (Imweru and Lubando) in the Lake Victoria Goldfield, where the Company is confident it can both increase the resources in the mineralized zones outlined to date and also make further significant discoveries."

 

Contacts

 

Louis Coetzee	+27 (0)83 2606126	Kibo Mining plc	Chief Executive Officer
Andreas Lianos	+27 (0)83 4408365	River Group	Corporate Adviser and Designated Adviser on JSE
Jon Belliss	+44 (0) 20 3216 2630	XCAP	Broker
Stuart Laing	+61 8 94802500	RFC Ambrian Limited	Nominated Adviser on AIM
Matt Beale	+44 (0)7966 389196	Fortbridge	Investor Relations

 

Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on its website www.kibomining.com

 

General Background & Strategy

 

Kibo was established in early 2008 to explore and develop mineral deposits in Tanzania, East Africa and was admitted to AIM in London on 27 April 2010 and AltX in Johannesburg on 30 May 2011.  The Board of Kibo is composed of professionals whose experience include mineral exploration, mine development, mining finance, tax, law, mergers and acquisitions, and financial control of public companies. It is supported by competent and motivated a Tanzanian staff that operates from Kibo's operations office in Dar es Salaam.

 

The mineral assets of the Company comprise five projects areas in Tanzania - Haneti (nickel, PGE and gold), Morogoro (Gold), Lake Victoria (Gold), Rukwa (Coal) and Pinewood (Coal & Uranium).

 

The Lake Victoria project covering a gold prospective licence portfolio in Tanzania's premier gold mining region, the Lake Victoria Goldfield, been recently enhanced by the addition of two brownfield gold projects Imweu and Lubando. Both projects have NI 43-101 compliant total gold resource of approximately 798,000 ounces (total of Measured, Indicated and Inferred for both projects).

 

TABLE1: IMWERU MINERAL RESOURCE SUMMARY-BASECASE*
Category	Measured Resource	Indicated Resource	Inferred Resource
Resource (t)	-	-	17,649,900
Grade (g/t)	-	-	1.11
Grade (oz/ton)	-	-	0.032
Total Gold (oz)	-	-	629,600

*Numbers are rounded. Composites capped at 25g/t gold. Cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold based on a gold price of US$850/oz and assumed100% metallurgical recovery .CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.

 

 

TABLE2:LUBANDO MINERALRESOURCE SUMMARY-BASECASE*
Category	West Zone	East Zone South	East Zone Mid	East Zone North	Total
Measured Resource
Measured Resource (t)	107,900	4,880	16,900	54,440	184,150
Grade (g/t)	1.69	2.52	1.72	2.48	1.95
Total Gold (oz)	5,900	400	950	4,340	11,500
Indicated Resource
Indicated Resource (t)	280,710	18,330	61,000	149,350	509,420
Grade (g/t)	1.61	2.23	1.89	2.73	1.99
Total Gold (oz)	14,500	1,300	3,700	13,120	32,600
Inferred Resource
Total Resource (t)	1,090,000	65,470	209,340	535,330	1,900,140
Grade (g/t)	1.27	1.56	3.34	3.13	2.03
Total Gold (oz)	44,550	3,300	22,500	53,900	124,200

*Numbers are rounded. Composites capped at10.85g/tgold. Cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold based on a gold price of US$850/oz and assumed100% metallurgical recovery .CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.

 

These projects provide the Company with drill ready targets supporting its objective to increase the size and quality of the existing resource in the short term.

 

The Haneti project is the subject of a joint venture with Brazilian Votorantim Metais Participações Ltda, a member of Votorantim Group. The Rukwa and Pinewood projects are situated close to the Mtwara Corridor, an area where the Tanzanian Government has committed to significant infrastructure development and which has seen recent multi-million dollar investment in coal and coal-fired power stations and uranium exploration.

 

The Rukwa project is substantially more advanced than Kibo's existing exploration projects, with a significant Mineral Resource of thermal coal already defined. The project enjoys strong support expressed by the Tanzanian Government for the expedited development of a coal mine and mine-mouth coal-fired power plant and which is further enhanced by the now formal relationship between the Korean Government owned Korean East - West Power Co. Ltd. ("EWP") and Kibo. In this relationship the parties have entered into a formal MOU which states the parties' respective commitments towards the joint development of the Rukwa Coal to Power Project ("RCPP"), where EWP will be responsible for developing and operating the power generation side of the RCPP and Kibo will be responsible for developing and operating the mining side of the RCPP.

 

RUKWA COAL RESOURCE SUMMARY- GEMECS (Pty) Ltd
	SEAM	NI 43-101	IN SITU
SEAM	THICKNESS	CLASS	MILLION TONS
S4	1.14	Indicated	2.17
S3U	2.04	Indicated	6.92
S3L	2.3	Indicated	12.63
S2	3.45	Indicated	23.43
S1U	2.48	Indicated	7.34
S1L	2.92	Indicated	17.4
S0	1.08	Indicated	1.44
Total Indicated Resources			71.34
S4	1.31	Inferred	1.38
S3U	2.24	Inferred	2.94
S3L	2.27	Inferred	3.86
S2	3.42	Inferred	7.94
S1U	2.05	Inferred	6.5
S1L	3.15	Inferred	12.83
S0	1.06	Inferred	2.6
Total Inferred Resources			38.05
TOTAL RESOURCES			109.39

 

 

Kibo's objective is to build shareholder value in a sustainable manner.  This objective will be pursued primarily through active exploration of its own projects and by using the Company's experience in Tanzania to acquire attractive exploration and development assets on competitive terms that can be moved swiftly up the value curve by using the Company's own skills base whilst also seeking to benefit from strategic collaborative relationships with industry leaders who have special skills and competencies within their chosen fields of focus.  Kibo will undertake continual risk assessment of its projects and take whatever actions it believes are necessary to ensure that these risks are mitigated.

 

Review by Qualified Person

 

The information in this announcement that relates to the Imweru and Lubando mineral resources is taken from reports titled "Technical Report on the Imweru property (Updated), Mwanza, Tanzania" dated March 1, 2010 and "Technical Report on the Lubando property, Mwanza, Tanzania" dated 31^st August 2009" (the "Reports") Both Reports are NI 43-101 compliant and were prepared for Great Basin Gold Rusaf Gold Limited by Nathan Eric Fier C.P.G., P.Eng. Market Director for EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd and a Senior Mining Consultant. Mr. Fier is registered as a Certified Professional Geologist with the American Institute of Professional Geologists, Registration No 10062, and a professional Engineer in British Columbia, Canada Registration No. 135165. He has extensive experience in the evaluation and reporting of Archaean Gold projects and is a "Qualified Person" for reporting gold resources to the NI 43-101 Standard.  Theinformation in this announcement that relates to the Rukwa coal resource is taken from  a report "Independent Technical Report for the Rukwa Coal Project, Mbeya Region, United Republic of Tanzania" dated 19^th April 2012 by CD van Niekerk Director and Principal Geologist with  the firm GEMECS (Pty) Ltd. Mr van Niekerk is a Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), Registration No. 400066/98 and a Fellow Member of the Geological Society of South Africa. He has relevant experience and technical qualifications to be a "Qualified Person" for reporting coal resources to the NI 43-101 Standard.The Company's Exploration Director, Noel O'Keeffe has also reviewed the technical reports and the references to them in this announcement.

 

Johannesburg

28 October 2013

 

Corporate and Designated Adviser

River Group