Linear Metals Corporation is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling on the Awuoro-Kanga areas, on the SE portion of Linear’s SPL 258 concession. The SPL 258 concession is located in the northern section of Linear’s Nyanza Project, covering an area of over 1,000 square kilometres (“km”) in Nyanza Province, Kenya, along a prolific gold hosting greenstone belt. Phase I of this drilling program is anticipated to comprise approximately 2000 metres (“m”), and will initially test ten different priority targets within a 7.5 x 2 km grid area.
Initial soil and rock data from the area identified a minimum of four potential sub-parallel regional auriferous structures that extend over at least 12 km in strike length. Initial geophysics results, including induced polarization and ground magnetic surveys, have outlined a variety of chargeability targets associated with the previously reported gold-in-soil anomalies (up to 2,500 ppb Au) and high-grade Au-Ag mineralization from nearby workings and outcrops (up to 37.8 g/t Au and 34 g/t Ag). Preliminary results of the magnetic survey indicate that several of these trends on the Kanga grid appear to be associated with large, deformed, banded iron formations (“BIFs”), a mineralization type that is reported from the greenstone belt elsewhere in Kenya as well as in Tanzania (e.g Anglogold Ashanti’s Geita Mine and Barricks’ Golden Ridge Mine).
Recently, additional sampling of workings on the Ruga trend (Kanga grid), one of the 10 priority drill targets, returned a tip sample of 12.45 g/t Au with 24 g/t Ag, approximately 250 m NW of a large strong chargeability feature that has been field-named “Atlantis”. The Atlantis anomaly appears to be part of a large, complexly folded BIF. Please see the compilation map on the website for further details.
Linear’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian MacEachen, added, “The commencement of this drill program is an exciting milestone for Linear as we continue to advance our district scale property package in Kenya. With over 1000 square kilometres of prospective property, we are optimistic that drilling can continue to deliver positive results for our shareholders over an extended period going forward.”
Based on contemporary descriptions by mappers of the Kenyan Geologic Survey, the Colonial mines within SPL258 generally mined individual high-grade quartz veins to a maximum depth of approximately 20 m, based on depth of oxidation and the level of the water table, as well as the limitations of available equipment and supplies. These mineralized zones are expected to extend at depth and along strike, as indicted by the soils and IP anomalies.
The mineralization within the Awuoro-Kanga areas is hosted in silicified felsic volcanics and associated sediments, generally within sulphide-bearing, vuggy, quartz-vein stockworks along NW-trending structures. In several areas it clear that the mineralization occurs along large BIF trends.
This press release was prepared under the supervision of Matthew Ian Rees, M.Sc., P.Geo., VP Exploration for Linear Metals, who is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Rees has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this press release. All assays reported were performed by ALS Chemex, with samples initially prepped in Mwanza, Tanzania, and pulps analyzed in either South Africa or Canada.