Gabriel expands resource at Romanian gold project

The Rosia Montana gold-silver project in Romania is shaping up as one of Europe’s biggest.

Operator Gabriel Resources (GBU-T) reports that an independent estimate on Rosia Montana pegged inferred mineral resources at 45 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.7 grams gold per tonne, for 2.4 million contained ounces — nearly double the original estimate.

Gabriel holds a 65% interest in Rosia Montana, and has the right to earn another 15% from its partner, Regia Autonoma A Cuprului Deva (Regia Deva), a Romanian state-owned mining company.

The resource calculation was prepared by Resource Service Group of Australia, using three-dimensional modeling and the results of a re-assay program. Only the two largest deposits on the Rosia Montana property, the Cetate and Carnic deposits, were considered.

The resource was calculated to a depth of less than 200 metres in the Cetate, and to depths between 130 and 180 metres in the Carnic deposit.

Mineralization is said to occur at much deeper levels.

Rosia Montana has the potential to reach 100 million tonnes, says Frank Timis, Gabriel’s executive chairman.

“That would make it the largest gold-silver deposit in Europe,” he notes.

Resource Service Group re-assayed 3,500 pulps from the deposits using fire assay with an atomic absorption finish. Some lower gold grades (up to 3.5 grams per tonne) were boosted by up to 100%, said Gabriel President Tim Wood. at higher grades, the new values were more in line with the previous fire assays, which employed a gravimetric finish.

The company found the silver values were overstated in the previous calculations. The new assays peg the silver-to-gold ratio at about 8-to-1.

“What makes the resource more exciting is that there are so many areas of the Rosia Montana system that have not yet been explored,” Timis said. Other deposits, such as the Gauri, Jig-Voidoia and Orlea deposits have yet to be drilled.

Now that Gabriel has permission from the Romanian government to drill, the company plans to start a 30,000-metre program as soon as possible. The company required 32 separate approvals before drilling could begin; it received the last of them in November.

Gabriel plans to drill on a grid measuring 80 metres by 160 metres over the two main deposits, with the intention of coming back and tightening the spacing to 80 metres by 80 metres over the higher-grade areas. This spacing will be sufficient for a planned feasibility study, Wood says.

Gabriel has also commissioned Analabs of Perth, Australia, to install a new sample preparation and assay laboratory at Rosia Montana.

In other news, the company signed an agreement to acquire a private exploration company, Castle Europa, for 5 million shares, US$425,000 in cash and 6 million warrants.

The warrants are exercisable at $1.50 each for a period of three years.

Castle Europa owns several properties within Romania’s Golden Quadrilateral (an area where gold has been produced for more than 2,000 years), as well as other joint venture interests in gold projects in Bulgaria and Serbia, and a nickel-gold property in Australia.

As part of the agreement, Gabriel will also provide a loan of US$355,000 to the joint venture company recently incorporated by Castle Europa and Regia Deva.

The joint venture will operate the Certej-Sacarimb and Zlatna-Hanes projects, with Castle Europa holding an initial 60% interest. It can increase its holdings to 80% with additional contributions.

Castle Europa has three shareholders: Albion Holdings (one of whose principle shareholders is Timis), Lex Trust, and Avenger Investment Holdings.