Project update for August 2008
posted on
Aug 13, 2008 06:16AM
Shoreham Resources Ltd.
Project Status Update – August 2008.
On behalf of the management team of Shoreham Resources Ltd., I am pleased to commence this commentary to provide all shareholders with the status of our projects, and I plan to issue regular updates in the future. We appreciate how important it is to ensure that information is made available on a timely basis and that strong communication is the basis for loyal shareholders to invest in this company.
Shoreham has a diversified base of property holdings that provide the company with flexibility and leverage to a number of commodities, and to different geographical regimes. Each of our projects has been advanced to the discovery stage by previous operators and now offers the potential to develop into high value deposit areas. Our objective is to continue with systematic exploration that may fully define economic resources and advance these projects up the value curve.
Our primary focus is currently on our Marudi Mountain Property in Guyana. Shoreham controls an option that allows us to earn up to 75% ownership in this project. Significant historic gold resources have already been established on the property but have not yet been confirmed subject to compliance within NI43-101 reporting standards. We are committed to completing an updated resource estimate for this project, but our priority is to follow up on the original discovery area to try and establish a much larger gold deposit. As we work towards this goal, we have already reported encouraging results, as our fieldwork has outlined 25 new target areas in proximity to the historic resource area. These results are based on programs of soil sampling, trenching work, and the use of man-portable drills across a large portion of the property.
More than 12kms of structure has now been mapped at surface. The gold-bearing mineralization at Marudi Mountain is hosted within wide, steeply dipping breccia pipes which often extend to depths of 200 meters or more, commencing from the surface. Average gold grades above one gram per tonne are common, as are much higher grade intervals (commonly in excess of 25 grams per tonne) which will be defined in more detail as work proceeds. Our first priority will be definition of large low grade zones which can be incorporated into a bulk mining model. These new zones represent the potential for a large tonnage of new deposit area with significant gold content and they have yet to be tested in a diamond drilling program.
Given the magnitude of this potential, Shoreham is working to improve the local infrastructure such that a systematic exploration campaign can commence. A landing strip is currently under construction that we expect to have completed by the fall. Heavy equipment is on site to allow for road improvement and building drill pads. Additional fieldwork continues to uncover new target areas. A drill has been contracted for the fall drilling season.
It is important to emphasize that while the project area is located in the southern portion of the country in a somewhat remote area, it is only 2 hours by truck from a major transportation hub in Brazil, and a short trip by plane. The intensity of our work programs was reduced during the rainy season that continued until late in July, but the improvements to the local infrastructure will enable us to sustain a very active exploration program in the fall and winter months to follow up on our early success.
At our other Guyana property, the Maple Creek - Potaro Project, we were pleased to announce last month that we had concluded an agreement with Midas Rex Corp. This will enable our partners to carry on small-scale alluvial mining along the lowland areas of the property, to recover diamonds, platinum, and gold. Shoreham will be entitled to a 20% royalty on all production. The shared infrastructure and support from this ongoing operation will offset and reduce the total operating costs incurred as we continue our work programs at our high priority targets in the highlands. This joint venture agreement is thus extremely beneficial for shareholders and greatly improves the financial considerations of our Guyana properties.
Shoreham also controls a 100% interest in the Setting Net Lake molybdenum property in Northern Ontario. There is a data set from historical work completed by a previous operator on the property to suggest the potential for more than 100 million tonnes of low grade molybdenum within the project area. Again, this resource is not compliant within contemporary reporting standards and our objectives are to prove up the historic numbers, and to explore for additional resource areas elsewhere on the highly prospective property area.
Given the sensitivity of First Nations Groups towards mineral exploration projects within their traditional territory, our priority is to prepare a formal agreement with the local groups first, before we commit to a large capital program that could jeopardize our goodwill. We have initiated discussion and are working through the process to arrive at a consensus, and thereafter we will look forward to resuming our exploration activity. We remain fully confident that an agreement can be reached that will be acceptable to all parties.
Also in Northern Ontario, Shoreham is continuing with exploration at the Favourable Lake Project, optioned from our joint-venture partner Gold Canyon Resources. This is an attractive property area which includes high grade silver results established at the Borland Lake target by previous operators, through geophysical surveying, surface trenching and sampling, and drilling work. Our objective is to follow up on these early stage results with a more comprehensive drill program to target further to depth and extensions along strike, in the hopes that a much larger system can be outlined. We plan to commence drilling work later this year.
Shoreham remains committed to our uranium exploration programs, through our Bearhead Lake joint-venture with RPT Uranium. During the summer exploration season we plan to complete surface prospecting, ground geophysics, and trenching programs to follow up on the aerial surveying work that has already established target areas. We are also reviewing a database of historic work results that will help to select targets for a drilling program that we plan to commence in the fall.
The current market conditions are very challenging for all junior exploration companies and this has weighed on the share price for our stock. We do not feel that the market has discounted fair value for all of the high potential prospects that Shoreham controls. The market often swings between episodes of bullish and bearish sentiment, and during the many years of work it takes to define a deposit area it is to be expected that difficult market conditions will persist at least some of that time. The management personnel are also shareholders. We remain committed to seize the opportunity presented within our property holdings and will work to realize the high goals that we have set for the company. We thank all of our shareholders for their confidence in the future, and we look forward to reporting a regular update on our progress to achieve success.
Sincerely,
Mike Kachanovsky
Consultant for Investor Relations