Great Quest Metals Ltd.: Phase 1 Tilemsi Phosphate Drilling Completed with Favorable Results
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/26/11 -- Victor J.E. Jones, President and CFO of Great Quest Metals Ltd. ('Great Quest' or 'GQ') (TSX VENTURE: GQ)(FRANKFURT: GQM), is pleased to report that the Phase I drilling campaign recently completed at the Company's Tilemsi phosphate project has confirmed the presence of high quality P2O5 phosphate mineralization, showing a strong correlation with the targets from the remote sensing study and prior reconnaissance work carried out on the concessions.
A total of 275 drill holes for 5049 meters were drilled using two contractors, covering a small portion of the company's 737 km2 project. The program was executed on 2 of the presently defined 5 target areas - the Tin Hina (TH) and Alfatchafa (AF) hills. The highly prospective Chanameguille target was not tested in the initial round of drilling. Only some of the visually distinguishable occurrences of mineralization were sampled. At Tin Hina drill holes intersected 2 distinct horizons (seams) of phosphate mineralization. Seam 'A' averaged 23.73% P2O5 present in 104 of the drill holes and averaged 1.43m thick at an average depth of 6.62 m. These holes include 4 deeper holes which intercepted a second seam which averaged 27.60% P2O5 with an average thickness of 1.75m at an average depth of 8.00m below the seam A. The lower seam may extend further but shallow drill holes would not have intercepted it. Successful drill holes cover a surface area of approximately 6.75km2 on Tin Hina.
Drilling on the Alfatchafa target identified a single seam with samples averaging 22.69% P2O5 from 72 drill holes with an average thickness of 0.90 m at an average depth of 18.75m. Successful drill holes covered an area of approximately 6.70km2 on this target area. The overburden in both areas consists of loose sands and silts.
Assay results from the drill samples suggest the phosphate rock in both target areas is identical and of very high quality. The phosphate rock is very low on many of the common impurities that plague phosphate ores including cadmium, and uranium, making it amendable to direct application. It also has negligible organic carbon and the CaO/P2O5 ratio points to ore clean of calcite. No size fraction analysis or concentration tests were attempted in this phase of work but historical work suggests that inexpensive techniques could be used to achieve attractive concentrate grades, and removal of alumina and ferro-oxides would be simple.
The average percent of analyzed major oxides in the phosphate rock are presented below:
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Area P2O5 SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO Na2O
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AF 22.69 17.44 4.71 6.76 33.42 1.15 0.23
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TH a 23.73 16.08 4.22 7.13 34.65 0.85 0.23
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TH b 27.60 9.49 2.77 5.63 40.56 0.69 0.27
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Area K2O TiO2 MnO BaO LOI CaO/P2O5
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AF 0.24 0.36 0.93 0.09 10.14 1.47
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TH a 0.24 0.38 1.35 0.20 9.73 1.46
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TH b 0.17 0.22 1.31 0.14 9.30 1.47
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Mr. Ehud Levy a phosphate expert and Director of the company, who up to two years ago was managing director of Bateman Chemical Technologies, the Chemical division of the Bateman Litwin Group stated, 'the preliminary results from the exploratory drilling are promising and show that the phosphate rock is of high quality, which is most likely to make it suitable for direct application, as well as phosphoric acid and fertilizer production.' Natural phosphate rock is favoured for the generally acidic soils of the agricultural zones in Mali.
This first phase of drilling was accomplished using an aircore drill rig for the first 36, followed by Rotary Air Blast 'RAB' for the rest of the holes. With both rigs, drilling in overburden proceeded with samples taken every 1m. The sampling protocol required that on or before entering the phosphate layer the sample intervals were reduced to 25cm to enable overburden and seam thickness determination. These phosphate rock samples were later combined and shipped to the ALS Minerals facility in Bamako, Mali for sample preparation. Sachets of the ground weighed samples were sent to the ALS Minerals Vancouver lab for XRF analysis of P2O5 and major oxides. ALS standards and standads from a third party source were added to the sample list. Multi-element ICP analysis was also carried out on selected samples, about 1 for every 10 samples.
This first phase of drilling has confirmed the presence of significant areas of phosphate mineralization. A second phase is planned that will follow up on the success and seek to extend areas identified at both Tin Hina and Alfatchafa, which both remain open in multiple directions, particularly to the east and south of Tin Hina. Company prospecting and remote sensing work suggest the mineralization could extend materially. The company also intends to drill test the Chanameguille target and other targets to the north of the areas drilled. The Company's Malian subsidiary is proceeding with plans for continued drilling, bulk sampling, concentration tests and preparation of a Preliminary Economic Assessment, which will provide an initial techno-economic evaluation of the project.
Follow link to remote sensing work outlining prospective targets on the Tilemsi property: http://www.greatquest.com/i/pdf/Tilemsi-Project-Remote-Sensing.pdf
Qualified Person
Jed Diner (P Geo) is the Qualified Person responsible in accordance with NI 43-101 for the content, review and approval of this News Release. Mr. Diner completed his MSc in Applied Earth Science at Stanford University in 1983 and works internationally on mineral exploration and resource development projects. He has consulted on Phosphate projects in Uzbekistan, Peru and Angola.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF GREAT QUEST METALS LTD.
Victor J.E. Jones, President
Great Quest Metals Ltd. is a Canadian mineral exploration company with assets in Mali, West Africa. The Company is focused on developing the Tilemsi Phosphate Project, encompassing 737 km2 in eastern Mali. The Company also holds several gold concessions in the productive Birimian gold belt in western Mali. Great Quest is listed on TSX Venture Exchange (GQ), and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (GQM).
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