NEWS RELEASE
October 1, 1999 99-02
COLUMBIA RIVER RESOURCES INC. TO ACQUIRE NORTHERN EXTENSION OF THE YAMFO GOLD BELT IN GHANA
Columbia River Resources Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board listed symbol "CRVV") is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a Letter of Intent with Ayaco (Ghana) Limited to acquire a 100% interest (less 10% payable to the Government of Ghana) in the Tanoso Reconnaissance License located on the northern end of the Yamfo Gold Belt (see attached map) in Ghana, Africa.
The Ayaco Reconnaissance Licence covers an area of 306.99 sq. kilometres and is located in both the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions of Ghana. The licence area is 380 kilometres northwest of Accra and 20 kilometres east of Sunyam. Travel time from Accra is approximately five hours.
The licence area is comprised of an eastern and western block which are separated by the Yaya and Mankrang Forest Reserves in the north and south, respectively. The western block lies within latitude 7º15' and 7º25'N and longitude 2º10' and 2º03'W, while the eastern part lies within latitude 7º20' and 7º30'N and longitude 2º05' and 1º55'W. The licence area is located on topographic Field Sheets 0703D2 and 0702C1.
Larger towns and villages in the licence include Asuakwa, Mankranho, Subenso, Krofofrom and Dagyamen in the western block, and New Takyiman, Tanaso, Mankranso, Eserentitia, Nyinatase and Adugyansu in the eastern block.
Access to the western block is either via the paved Kumasi-Sunyani-Kyeraa road, or by way of the paved Kumasi-Takyiman road to the east. A well-maintained road from Kyeraa, which passes through the southern end of the Yaya Forest Reserve, and connects Eserentitia with Afrantwo on the Kumasi-Takyiman road, links the two roads. Several maintained dirt logging tracks cross the entire area and are accessible by four wheel drive vehicles during the dry season.
The regional geology of western Ghana is comprised of thick sequences of steeply dipping metasediments, alternating with metavolcanic units of Proterozoic age (~2200-2300 Ma). These sequences extend along strike for approximately 200 kilometres in a number of northeasterly trending belts, including the 30 to 60 kilometre wide Sefwi-Bibiani Belt.
The Ayaco Reconnaissance Licence lies within the Sefwi-Bibiani Belt in southwestern Ghana. The Sefwi-Bibiani Belt is the second most significant gold-bearing belt in Ghana after the Ashanti Belt to the east. The belt hosts a major northeast trending regional structure with a strike length in excess of 200 kilometres, and is comprised of a sequence of Birimian upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks and locally foliated metasedimentary (CME,1997) with minor metavolcanic rocks.
Other gold mines and prospects in the Sefwi-Bibiani belt include the Bibiani Mine to the south, where current reserves are estimated to be approximately 56,000 kilograms of gold and production has been 37,000 to 53,000 kilograms gold. In addition, the Sewum, Tokosea, Ntubia and Aniuri Mines also occur within this belt. Structurally controlled quartz veins ranging in thickness from 1 to 8 metres along shear zones of several kilometres are the hosts to the ore zones at Aniuri. An evaluation of seven deposits has indicated a reserve base of 2.4 million tonnes grading 5.42 g/t gold (CME,1997). This includes both open pit “heap leachable” oxides and underground accessible sulphide targets. Annual production for 1994 was 871 kg of gold with plans to increase to 2426 kg gold per year. The Ntubia Mine produced between 1912 and 1939, a recorded 38,667 tonnes of crushed ore yielding 581,257 g of fine gold grading on average 15.1 g/t gold (Junner, 1973).
Southwest of Ayaco, are the licence areas belonging to Moydow Mines International Ltd. and Normandy LaSource and Rank Mining Ltd. Rank Mining is owned through a joint venture agreement between Moydow and Normandy. Six zones have been identified on the Ntotoroso Licence, which is owned by Rank Mining Ltd., and represents the northeast continuation of Normandy's Kenyase deposit. As of 1999, current resources at Ntotoroso, were estimated to be over 800,000 ounces of gold (Moydow, 1999) for two of the zones, with follow-up studies to occur in the other four zones. Of the 800,000 ounces, 700,000 ounces grading 2.5 g/t Au occur in a granodiorite. At Ntotoroso, gold mineralization occurs at both the immediate thrust contact with the underlying lower Birimian metasediments and along parallel shears developed entirely within batholiths at distances up to 2 kilometres from the thrust contact.
Immediately north and southwest of the Ntotoroso Licence, initial soil sampling in licences held by Normandy revealed gold anomalies over a strike length of 40 kilometres. Subsequent drilling by Normandy to mid-1998 outlined a resource estimated at 4.35 million ounces of gold, largely in deposits at Yamfo, Kenyase and Subenso (Normandy, 1999). Currently, the existing resources are estimated at 6 million ounces (Normandy, 1999), with potential to increase the resource between known mineralized zones. These deposits are located along the contact zone between the granodiorite and metasediments, and at all, gold is associated with the sheared margin between granites and metasediments.
Also to the southwest of the Ayaco licence is the Centenary Deposit, where resources have been estimated to be at 1.1 million ounces gold (Mbendi, 1999).
Results from Phase One Exploration can be expected shortly.
The terms for this acquisition call for the Company to issue a non-refundable one hundred thousand shares of common shares of its capital stock with a deemed value of US$0.15 per share to Ayaco (Ghana) Limited for an exclusive three month due diligence period. Upon election to proceed with this acquisition at any time on or before the due diligence period expires the Company shall have the right to earn a 100% interest by issuing five hundred thousand shares of its capital stock and a further five hundred thousand shares on the first anniversary of the date of the election. The Company also agrees to commit to a program of expenditures as outlined in a report by CME & Company.
We believe that this new acquisition is a very important milestone for the Company that brings a gold component into its portfolio of projects. Columbia River Resources Inc. is committed to identifying, exploring and developing mineral deposits in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in Ghana.
ON BEHALF OF COLUMBIA RIVER RESOURCES INC.
Robert Ferguson,
President
For further information or to view the complete CME Report on Ayaco visit our website at www.columbiariver1.com or contact us by telephone at (604) 688-1163
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