This was coverage last year after the licenses were...

This was coverage last year after the licenses were secured.






Goldstone Resources (LON:GRL) Gabon changes the Game!

Goldstone Resources announced on 20th April that their long awaited gold exploration licenses in Gabon had finally been granted. This news was extremely significant yet the market still seems to be taking its time to digest. Such is life on the AIM market and therein lies the opportunity!



After the release of their Half Yearly Report on 18th November, things started to get a little quiet on the regulatory news front for Goldstone Resources. But after an operational update on 11th March and Ghanaian licences renewals on 15th April, the news has been flowing with gusto.



So back to the two licences in Gabon; In terms of grass roots exploration, this is about as good as it gets; with significant prospectivity, carefully selected projects, huge anomalies requiring serious investigation….. Well we could go on, but we thought it would be far better to ask the company to expand on this aspect of the news regarding Gabon. As usual, they were eager to share the news with investors:


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MM: You have been awarded two exploration licences in Gabon. Can you explain the significance to Goldstone of this development?

GRL: This is a very significant event for GoldStone because not only did we successfully enter a new underexplored country but we also managed to cherry pick the best targets identified by the recently completed 14 million Euro, EU sponsored SYSMIN survey.

MM: How you did you come across these licences and how did you select the specific licences which formed the basis of your application? In this regard, did the EU sponsored Sysmin survey assist in this process?

GRL: We intended to file an application for a prospecting permit and explore in Gabon before we were made aware of the existence of the SYSMIN data. During one of our preparatory visits we were told that the BRGM and South African Geological Survey conducted the SYSMIN survey over large parts of Gabon and that these results will be released at a conference that was to occur late in 2009. We attended the conference and were able to file the applications over the Ngoutou and Oyem license areas on the day that the embargo was lifted for the filing of applications over these areas. The areas we applied for were selected based on the SYSMIN data released at the conference.

MM: Can you outline the key prospective features of the Gabon licences?

GRL: Both areas are marked by a consistent gold in soil anomaly exceeding a length of 15 km. In the case of Ngoutou the gold anomaly coincides with elevated values of iron, vanadium and tungsten in an area were the French geological survey mapped gold-prospective Archean granitic rocks and amphibolites. This would point to a model where gold was precipitated from mesothermal solutions at lower crustal levels as a result of neighbouring rock types that differ in competence and chemistry. This model finds support in the results of an airborne geophysical survey over the area of interest.

At Oyem we are dealing with similar rock types . But differently from Ngoutou the results of the geophysical survey indicate that the gold anomaly is situated over a splay off a well-known regional structure. The gold mineralised zone occurs within a halo of strontium, barium, molybdenum and copper, probably pointing towards a ductile-brittle shear-zone hosted hydrothermal gold deposit which formed at higher crustal levels than Ngoutou.

The magnitude of both anomalies and the geological setting makes an explorationist’s heart beat faster and we believe that both areas have the potential to yield a significant discovery.