Sidon's Morogoro 3 mm nugget discovery spurs gold rush

2010-08-26 15:19 ET - News Release


Mr. Kamal Alawas reports
NEW GOLD DISCOVERY UP DATE COARSE GOLD 3 MM "NUGGETS"
Laurence Stephenson, principal of Kokanee Placer Ltd. and AFGF (Tanzania) Ltd., the optionors of Sidon International Resources Corp.'s Morogoro property, and operational manager on behalf of the foregoing parties, has visited the property on ThurSDay, Aug. 19, and with local equipment suppliers and engineers on Monday, Aug. 23, to confirm that there are over 1,500 gold rush miners on site digging gold out of the marshy valley on the east side of the ridge hosting the known bedrock gold mineralization. The deposit is alluvial gold but appears to be found in high-grade coarse gold flakes. One pan of material (approximately 400 cubic centimetres) was panned down by local miners and revealed at least a gram of gold in coarse pristine-type flakes that he observed to be in the three-millimetre range and suggest a very proximal source.
The gold discovery, approximately 300 metres south of the existing known hardrock workings and continuing southward to the Ruvu River, is located at two to three metres depth where the artesianal miners have dug through a cemented limestone boulder layer in a sandy river sediment. Beneathe this unit, the sand does not appear to contain gold, and no reports of intersecting the basal placer bedrock interface unit were noted. The workings follow the trend of the marsh stream mainly on the west side of the marshy plain. There are reports that some gold is found on the surface suggesting that the gold deposition in this very-low-energy gradient environment is relatively juvenile and that the whole alluvium could be prospective, especially the 100 to 300 metres of marshy plain to the east.
The company consultant has incorporated the proposed drilling access roads to expand the hardrock zone into developing truck and excavator access to enable the test mining of the placer deposit. In that regard, Mr. Stephenson has commenced the process to apply for a special mining licence to investigate the placer. He is preparing a volumetric calculation of the potentially auriferous placer sands and an operation plan as well a modified environmental impact assessment (EIA) which will be submitted to the regulatory authority in Tanzania. To augment the special mining licence application, the proposed licence will be with respect to the company's rights under its prospecting licence to complete exploration work including access roads and drill site preparation, and also take control of the placer area so as to mitigate the common unregulated artesianal mining practices which can cause environmental degradation. The engineers have already submitted a plan to the company consultant for the emplacement of the test placer plant and are busy surveying the access road in preparation of presenting with the equipment personnel a quote on the cost of preparation of the access road, site clearance and plant site with the appropriate equipment.
This new discovery of the auriferous placer 300 metres from where previous workings have been operated on the non-exposed east side of the vein suggests an additional gold source that has not been discovered. The planned drilling program and the development of the placer in a systematic way will be instrumental in revealing this source. The government has been asked by the company's Tanzanian partners to remove the illegal miners. That process is in progress.
The content of this release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Stephenson, PEng, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.