MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - May 19, 2009) - SearchGold Resources Inc. ("SearchGold")(TSX VENTURE:RSG)(FRANKFURT:S1O) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement with Somika SARL ("Somika") to acquire a 100% interest in the 500 km2 Gueguere Gold Property ("Gueguere") located in southwestern Burkina Faso.
The Gueguere property is located 180 km west of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, in the Boromo birimian greenstone belt between the past producing Poura mine and Orezone Resources' Bondi project. The Poura past producing mine is located approximately 35 km north-east of Gueguere and produced over 800,000 ounces of gold before its closure in 1999. The Bondi project is located approximately 30 km south-west of the Gueguere property and is presently being developed by Orezone Resources Inc. which has outlined measured and indicated resources of 4.1 million tonnes @ 2.12 g/t Au for 282,000 ounces of gold.
The north-north-east trending Boromo greenstone belt consists primarily in birimian metavolcanics and metaandesites. These metavolcanic rocks are intruded by mafic and ultramafic plutonic bodies and by granitoids. On Gueguere, these various formations hosts quartz veins and are transected by numerous lineaments.
On the Gueguere property, geochemical and geophysical surveys executed in 2003-2004 have outlined gold geochemical anomalies over a strike length of 1,700 m and over which follow-up RC drilling in 2004-2005 confirmed significant gold grades at less than 100 m vertical depth.
See attached figure "Gueguere Property Geology":
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Property_Geology_0515.pdf
- DRC007 : 15.30 g/t Au over 2 m from 14 to 16 m
- DRC004 : 13.42 g/t Au over 3 m from 59 to 62 m
- DRC002 : 1.83 g/t Au over 9 m from 56 to 65 m
- DRC013 : 1.40 g/t Au over 20 m from 2 to 22 m
No cut-off grade was reported for the calculation of the above intersections and even though exploration drilling attempts to intersect the mineralized structures at a high angle to determine exact widths, the above intersections do not represent perfect true widths.
SearchGold can acquire a 100% interest in Gueguere over three years by meeting the following conditions:
- Paying Somika a total of $US50,002 as follows: $US2 upon signature; $US20,000 two years after the date of signature and $US30,000 three years after the date of signature;
- By issuing Somika a total of 500,000 SearchGold shares as follows: 200,000 shares upon signature; 100,000 shares on the first anniversary date; 100,000 shares on the second anniversary date and 100,000 shares on the third anniversary date;
- By incurring a total of $US800,000 in exploration expenditures over three years ; $US200,000 during the first year ; $US200 000 during the second year and $US400 000 during the third year.
Following SearchGold's acquisition of a 100% interest, Somika will retain a 2% Net Smelter Return (the "NSR"). SearchGold will have the right to purchase up to half of the NSR held by Somika (or 1%) for $US500,000 per 0.5% NSR bracket, or for a total of $US1,000,000 for 1% of the NSR held by Somika. Moreover, SearchGold holds a right of first refusal on the remaining 1% NSR corresponding to the second half of the 2% NSR.
The optioning of the Gueguere property from Somika represents the continuation of SearchGold's development in West Africa, and specifically in Burkina Faso, a country recognized for its strong gold potential.
See figure "SearchGold Burkina Faso":
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Burkina_Faso_0515.pdf
High River Gold Mines Ltd. commenced production from the Taparko gold deposit in July 2007 and three more recently outlined gold deposits are Etruscan Resources Inc.'s Youga deposit; Semafo Inc.'s Mana deposit and Wega Mining Inc.'s Inata deposit. Furthermore, other historically renowned regions, such as the Poura mine, produced over 800,000 ounces of gold confirming the country's potential.
