Latest News

Released 07:00 17-Dec-2013

Number 8069V 

Stratex International Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: STI / Sector: Mining

Stratex International Plc  

(“Stratex” or “the Company”)

Positive Drilling Results from Dalafin Project -

 Including Exceptional High-Grade Zone

Stratex International Plc, the AIM-quoted exploration and development company focussed on gold and base metals in Turkey, East Africa and West Africa, is pleased to report very positive intersections from the first phase of the follow-up diamond and reverse circulation (“RC”) drill programme of the Faré South prospect at the Dalafin project in Senegal.

Highlights

• RC drillhole FARC-07 returns 7 m @ 86.39 g/t Au from 19 m and 1 m @ 10.19 g/t Au from 36 m

• Other RC drill intercepts from Faré South include:
  • 10 m @ 2.34 g/t Au from 50 m (FARC-01)
  • 1 m @ 22.15 g/t Au from 46 m (FARC-04)
  • 1 m @ 10.19 g/t Au from 36 m (FARC-07)
  • 4 m @ 0.49 g/t Au from 56 m (FARC-07)
  • 3 m @ 0.94 g/t Au from 26 m (FARC-08)

• Diamond drillhole FADD-01 returned the following:
  • 4.5 m @ 0.85 g/t Au from 8.6 m
  • 19.0 m @ 2.20 g/t Au from 68.6 m

• Further diamond drill and RC assays awaited from Faré South

• Drilling also completed on Faré North prospect approximately 2,500 m along strike to the north-north-east

Bob Foster, Chief Executive Officer, said: “These are excellent results from the second phase of our drill campaign, which is focusing on the multiple gold occurrences identified by the 33,000 metre RAB drilling programme completed earlier this year. We are extremely encouraged by these initial results from what is the first RAB target to be drilled. We await further assays results from the remaining one RC and five diamond drillholes and these will be released in due course. We also intend to evaluate the very high-grade RC intersection further by twinning with a diamond drillhole as a priority.

“It is particularly exciting to note that the high-grade zone was intersected in an area where the near-surface RAB drilling had only returned intersections of 7 m @ 0.11 g/t Au and 4 m @ 0.14 g/t Au.”

Executive Director for West Africa, John Cole-Baker added, “These very early results from the first of our targets to be drilled appear to confirm the significant potential of the Dalafin licence.  We are now in the process of interpreting the results and using all the data to hand to define the geological structure at Faré. As with much of the Dalafin licence, the iron-rich lateritic cover has inhibited mapping but the airborne geophysical survey and our phased soil sampling campaigns have allowed us to define targets with some confidence. We look forward to receiving the remaining results, which should allow us to plan for the next phase of drilling.”

Further Details

The first phase of a combined diamond and RC drill programme on the Faré South prospect has been completed for a total of 623 m diamond drilling (6 drillholes) and 829 m RC drilling (11 drillholes). The drilling was conducted along three fence lines across the southern portion of a 4.5 km NNE-trending gold-bearing zone previously identified from the Rotary Air Blast (“RAB”) and Air Core (“AC”) drilling programme completed earlier this year (announcements dated 25 July and 2 September 2013). The three fence lines were 200 m apart and, as a result, provided intersections over a 400 m-strike length of the mineralized zone.

The northernmost line comprised four diamond drillholes and four RC drillholes but assays have only been received for three RC holes and the first diamond drillhole so far. One further diamond drillhole has been drilled on each of the other two fence lines together with seven RC holes. The outstanding assays are expected within 2-3 weeks and will be reported in due course.

Using a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off, the results are presented in Table 1. All holes were declined at 50^o.

Table 1. Significant intersections from Faré - 0.3 g/t Au cut-off

*The first drillhole (FADD-01) was drilled in an easterly direction, which, due to the absence of any significant outcrop in the area, was perceived to be the dip direction of the mineralized zone. However it was then recognized that the dip was approximately 75^o east and consequently all subsequent holes were drilled with an azimuth of 295^o. As a result, estimated true widths for FADD-01 will be 42% of the reported (downhole) intersection length, and for all other holes should be approximately 82% of the reported length. The mineralized material is intensely altered and weathered – core recovery for FADD-01 over the interval 73-92 m ranged from 48% to 87% and averaged 66%.

The drill core from diamond drilling was sampled on the basis of identifiable zones of mineralization whereas the RC holes were sampled at one-metre intervals.

The high-grade drill intersections from drillhole FARC-07 are as follows:

The average grade of this interval of 86.39 g/t over 19-26 m has been calculated as a simple numerical average of the six assays (above) over the 7 metre interval, using a value of 0 g/t Au for interval 20-21 m, where no sample was recovered due to a mechanical failure with the drill. It is quite likely that the missing interval of 20-21 m would also be high grade but this assumption will have to await validation by the twinned diamond drillhole. Furthermore this mean value has been calculated without “cutting” the highest value of 229.51 g/t – cutting is usually applied when there is one extreme value that introduces an unacceptably high bias to the mean. In this case all the values are exceptionally high.

However, the two high-grade sections reported for FARC-07 occur within a wider zone 18 -38 m that has a weighted average grade of 25.95 g/t using a top-cut of 100 g/t Au. The full 20 m intersection includes six samples that assayed less than 0.3 g/t Au.

The mineralized zones comprise quartz-pyrite mineralization in intensely altered brittle-ductile shear zones, with evidence of breccias in places and locally accompanied by tourmaline.

The results for the remaining five diamond drillholes and two RC holes will be reported when available, probably January 2014. Drilling of the Faré North prospect, 2,500 m north-north-east of Faré South, has also been completed and samples are being submitted for assay. The market will be updated on this phase of the programme once all results have been received.

For further information on our Dalafin project, please visit:

http://www.stratexinternational.com/project/dalafin/    

Sampling, assaying, and QA/QC

Stratex’s sampling of outcropping rocks, drill core, and other geological materials conforms to industry-wide good practice, with chain of custody being observed for all samples. Gold analysis for material sampled in this campaign is undertaken by Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories in Abidjan.

The Company maintains QA/QC on all analytical work via the use of certified reference materials, field duplicates, and blank samples in addition to monitoring of internal laboratory check-analyses.

Bob Foster, Chief Executive Officer, is a Competent Person as defined by various international instruments and takes responsibility for the release of this information.

* * ENDS * *

For further information please visit www.stratexinternational.com, email [email protected], or contact:

Notes to editors:

AIM-quoted (2006) Stratex International is focussed on the exploration and development of gold and high-value base-metal deposits in Turkey and East and West Africa.

It has discovered more than 2.2 million ounces of gold and 7.9 million ounces of silver and has a strong cash position following the US$ 20M sale of its interest in the Öksüt gold project in Turkey, and its c. US$ 20M future production royalties, along with the sales of 45 and 51 per cent of its Inlice and Muratdere projects, respectively. Stratex has a well-developed strategy to use its cash balance to move it towards a sustainable cash flow position from operations.

Its focus has been to form joint-venture partnerships with local private companies and major international mining companies, such as Antofagasta and Centerra in Turkey, and Thani Ashanti in East Africa while the corporate objectives are to progress majority-owned projects towards economic evaluation and development and to take advantage of quality opportunities in the smaller exploration company sector.