Mauritania

• Country summary
• Permits
• SOMASO Joint Venture
• Exploration programme
• Exploration results

SOMASO Joint Venture

TransAfrika is a participant in the SOMASO Joint Venture with Agrineq, MAOA and Loucas Pouroulis. The SOMASO JV holds four permits directly, for gold, iron and uranium. These permits cover an area of some 446 000ha.

The SOMASO agreement covers the exploration activities and feasibility studies to be carried out in respect of the exploration permits, as well as any new permits granted by the government of Mauritania to Agrineq and TransAfrika after the incorporation of SOMASO. The share capital of SOMASO is held by TransAfrika (70%) and Agrineq (30%).

The Kaouat iron ore project falls within Exploration Permit No. 273 in the Kaouat area of Mauritania. It lies about 255km north-east of the capital, Nouakchott, and covers an area of 11km by 6km. Here the Banded Iron Formation (BIF) is exposed at five localities, and is shallow dipping and gently folded. Iron-rich lithologies consist of BIF and magnetite-bearing schist. Haematite, magnetite and quartz are the principal minerals in the BIF.

On the gold permit (Permit No. 272), mapping indicated a gossan occurrence near the village of Bou Zrabie. This occurrence was drill tested and 75 RC drill holes totalling 5 728m, covering a strike length of 1 700m, were completed. Anomalous gold was intersected along the entire strike length, with the best intersection returning more than 1.4g/t Au over 1.6m, with best values of 8.475g/t Au. The gold is usually associated with silver, copper and zinc. It is concluded that the anomalous gold represents post-genetic, stratiform hydrothermal mineralisation in a predominantly sericite schist package.

SOMASO 1 Joint Venture

SOMASO is a participant in the SOMASO 1 Joint Venture agreement with BMEX SA, a local Mauritanian company. SOMASO 1 holds two gold permits covering an area of some 297 000ha. The share capital of SOMASO 1 is held by SOMASO (95%) and BMEX (5%).

The gold permits (Permits No. 806 and 807) acquired are in the south of the country, below the SOMASO Bou Zrabie permit. These permits are in the same geological setting as Bou Zrabie which returned indicative results of up to 8.4g/t over 3m. Regional mapping to outline specific areas for geophysical surveys and drilling has been completed.