MINING IN AFRICA SPECIAL — Eden Roc looking to boost

Five diamond drills are back at work following a break for the holidays on a gold property operated by Eden Roc Mineral (TSE) in Ivory Coast.

The junior is 51.6% controlled by Marshall Minerals (ASE), and has as its main asset a 68% interest in Somiaf, a joint venture with the Ivorian government.

The partners are already producing gold from the concession, and ongoing exploration to test targets along the Afema shear zone is aimed at increasing the property’s overall reserve base.

Based on drilling completed by the end of December, Eden Roc announced it had surpassed its 1994 reserve projections of 1.4 million oz. by achieving year-end reserves of 1,453,458 oz.

This material consists of 4.4 million tonnes averaging 2.9 grams per tonne of oxide reserves (totalling 411,272 oz.) and 6.3 million tonnes averaging 5.1 grams of sulphide reserves (totalling 1 million oz.).

Eden Roc attributes the reserve increases to deep drilling at the Aniuri and Grid-X deposits, which confirmed the downdip continuation of these bodies into the sulphide zone, “as was expected, based on the Ashanti deposit model.” (Ashanti is a large producing gold mine in neighboring Ghana.) Based on this work (and based on an improved understanding of both the structures being drilled and the structural controls of the gold mineralization), Eden Roc management hopes to surpass its 1995 gold reserve target of 2.5 million oz.

Assuming results continue to be positive from this year’s drilling, Eden Roc intends to evaluate preliminary plans for a large sulphide mining and processing plant.

In the meantime, exploration drilling will test recently discovered geochemical soil anomalies along the 12.8-km extension northeast of current mining and drilling activity.

Eden Roc has been active in Africa since 1981, when it first took part in a Canadian syndicate exploring for gold in western Africa. Initial exploration was focused on oxide reserves amenable to heap leaching.

SOMIAF is producing gold from its concession in Ivory Coast at a rate of 2,500 oz. per month and at a total cash cost of US$150 per oz. (as recorded in the 1994 third quarter). Three pits are expected to enter production this year: Adiopan, Brahima and Aniuri.

In addition to its equity interest in Eden Roc, Marshall Minerals holds concessions which surround Eden Roc’s holdings.