11 July 2017
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).
Greatland Gold plc
("Greatland" or "the Company")
Announces New Exploration Programme at Ernest Giles East
Greatland Gold plc (AIM:GGP), the precious and base metals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce a new exploration programme at the Ernest Giles gold project. The new programme will target the Eastern tenements of the Ernest Giles project, an area that has been subject to virtually no historical exploration, and will include Mobile Metal Ion surface ("MMI") geochemistry and ground gravity surveys. Results of the exploration programme are expected by September 2017.
Highlights
· New exploration programme launched across "Ernest Giles East";
· The Ernest Giles East project covers an area of approximately 600 square kilometres, including a large north-south trending sequence of prospective rocks which represent an extension of the gold prospective Ernest Giles greenstone sequences;
· Plans for the new exploration programme include orientation Mobile Metal Ion ("MMI") surface geochemistry, broad spaced gravity traverses and geological field reconnaissance;
· The key objective of the programme is to highlight the potential prospectivity of these virtually untested new licences and to establish gold exploration targets for further follow up work.
The Ernest Giles gold project is located in central Western Australia and covers an area of more than 1,800 square kilometres. The Eastern portion of the Ernest Giles project, "Ernest Giles East", is the most remote part of the project and is virtually unexplored. The new exploration programme announced today follows on from recent significant developments at the project including the identification of two large zones of gold mineralisation (announced 12 and 19 January 2017) at the Meadows target in the south-west corner of the project, and an agreement with Newmont Exploration Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining plc (NYSE:NEM), one of the world's largest gold producers (announced 16 May 2017).
Gervaise Heddle, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "This new exploration programme targeting the Eastern portion of the Ernest Giles gold project is designed with the same large scale, "big company" approach to exploration that has already yielded significant benefits on other parts of the Ernest Giles project.
"Greatland's technical team have designed a systematic exploration programme, including both geochemical and geophysical elements, that seeks to demonstrate the potential for large gold camps on the Eastern portion of the project.
"We will make further announcements as the various elements of the exploration programme commence. At this stage, we expect initial MMI and gravity results to be received by early September."
Overview of Ernest Giles Project
The Ernest Giles project is located in central Western Australia, covering an area of more than 1,800 square kilometres that includes over 200km of strike of gold and nickel prospective rocks. The area is covered by desert sands and sediments, making it virtually unexplored. The region is home to several successful exploration discoveries such as Tropicana (AngloGold ASX:AGG), which contains over 7 million ounces, and Yamarna/Gruyere (Gold Road Resources ASX:GOR), with over 6 million ounces. The Company is targeting large +5m ounce deposits and clusters of several camp-type +1m ounce gold discoveries at Ernest Giles.
Earlier drill programmes by the Company at Ernest Giles intersected gold mineralisation and large alteration systems in wildcat drilling of blind structural targets defined by airborne geophysics. This was considered a major achievement for such a large prospective area with virtually no historical work.
In late 2016, the Company completed a comprehensive broad spaced Reverse Circulation "RC" drilling programme at Meadows in the south-east of the project area which tested several large areas based on work completed by the Company and earlier work by Western Mining Corporation. This RC drill programme comprised 23 holes for 5,581m. Holes were drilled on a broad spaced grid pattern of 1,600m x 800m.
Mineralisation was observed in 13 of the 23 holes and several holes exhibited gold anomalous zones over tens of metres, peaking at 0.78g/t gold with mineralisation at end of hole. Two large zones of mineralisation were identified; Western 6km x 1.5km and Eastern 2km x 1.5km. Additional 1m sampling of several intercepts was undertaken to confirm preliminary results and better define mineralisation with many significant gold results returned up to 2g/t. Results confirmed mineralisation is present over a large area at Meadows and suggest that Greatland has discovered a new gold province in this largely unexplored region.
In late 2014, the Company completed a restricted programme of Mobile Metal Ion ("MMI") surface geochemistry over several target areas which were outlined from interpretation of detailed aeromagnetics. Sample spacing was at a nominal 800m x 200m. Results from this sampling were positive over the Meadows area (peaking at 68ppb gold), and at the Empress area. At Empress many samples returned +5ppb gold, which is quite high for MMI results, plus several above 40ppb gold peaking at 338ppb gold at the eastern extremity of three consecutive sample lines potentially outlining a significant anomaly 3km long by 1km wide which remains open to the east.
It should be noted that the Ernest Giles project area covers over 1,800 square kilometres and is host to a number of other high priority targets such as Wishbone (a high priority structural target), and Maple (a coincident MMI and structural target in the west of the project area).
The recent acquisition of additional ground sees Greatland dominating the landholding in the region. Over 800 square kilometres of new acreage was acquired to cover extensions of known prospective sequences which are an integral addition to the project. Success from previous work over recent months has demonstrated the potential of the region to host very large mineralised systems and securing further ground is an important step for the overall development of the project.
A detailed airborne survey was recently acquired over the new areas, particularly over the northern sequences and the newly acquired Ernest Giles East block which includes a 600 square kilometres area covering an 80km long north-south trending sequence of rocks that represents a continuation of the gold prospective greenstone sequence.
A comprehensive ground gravity survey was completed over parts of the Western licences at a station spacing of 1,600m x 200m. Data was collected over the Empress, Wishbone and greater Meadows area. The ground gravity data integrated with airborne magnetics has highlighted several additional targets conducive to gold mineralisation at each of the areas surveyed.
Greatland intends to complete initial work over the Eastern block during the current quarter. The Eastern block, covering 600 square kilometres, represents an extension of the gold prospective Ernest Giles greenstone sequences. Work will include geological reconnaissance along with broad spaced gravity traverses and orientation MMI sampling. Gravity work will be carried out initially at a nominal station spacing of 3,200m x 400m and then closed to 1,600m x 200m if results are considered positive. Orientation MMI sample traverses will be completed at a similar density to the gravity stations with results to be assed in conjunction with aeromagnetic and gravity data. We expect integration and review of these data set to be complete in early September.
Greatland's successful efforts to date have highlighted the potential of the Ernest Giles project to host several, very large, mineralised systems.
During May 2017 Greatland entered into an agreement with Newmont Exploration Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) over the Ernest Giles project.
Additional information on the Ernest Giles project can be found on the Company web site at www.greatlandgold.com/projects
Competent Person:
Information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr Callum Baxter, a director of Greatland Gold plc, who is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Baxter has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which has been undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code) and under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr Baxter consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears.
Enquiries:
Greatland Gold PLC
Callum Baxter/Gervaise Heddle
Tel +44 (0)20 7747 9980
Email: [email protected]
www.greatlandgold.com
SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Mark Brady/Sean Wyndham-Quin/James Keeshan
Tel +44 (0)20 3368 3550
SI Capital Limited (Broker)
Nick Emerson / Andy Thacker
Tel +44 (0)14 8341 3500
Luther Pendragon (Media and Investor Relations)
Harry Chathli/Ana Ribeiro/Alexis Gore
Tel +44 (0)20 7618 9100
Notes for Editors:
Greatland Gold plc is London listed (LON:GGP) natural resource exploration and development company with a current focus on gold and nickel exploration projects.
The Company has six main projects; four situated in Western Australia and two in Tasmania. All projects are 100% owned by Greatland or Greatland has the right to take 100% ownership.
Greatland is seeking to identify large mineral deposits in areas that have not been subject to extensive exploration previously. It is widely recognised that the next generation of large deposits will come from such under-explored areas and Greatland is applying advanced exploration techniques to investigate a number of carefully selected targets within its focused licence portfolio.
The Company is also actively investigating a range of new opportunities in precious and strategic metals and will update the market on new opportunities as and when appropriate.
