Desert Gold Letter to Shareholders
(firmenpresse) - VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/26/12 -- Dear Desert Gold Shareholder:
On November 30, 2011, Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE: DAU) ("Desert Gold" or "we") completed the acquisition (the "Acquisition") of all of the outstanding shares of TransAfrika Belgique S.A. ("TransAfrika"), a private Belgian company which owns interests in three advanced exploration-stage gold deposits in central and western Africa through subsidiaries in Rwanda, Mali and Senegal.
The Acquisition has refocused the company into primarily developing its promising West African and Rwanda permits to proven resource status and develop those properties to mining operations, in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. The Company is very excited to have acquired such highly prospective gold properties, particularly in Mali and Rwanda, the latter having a 43-101 compliant(1) inferred mineral resource of 5,551,000 tons at a grade of 1.48 Au g/t for 265,000 oz of gold.
Desert Gold also continues to own a 50% interest in the Goldbanks Project located in Nevada, USA, under the terms of a joint venture agreement entered into with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX: K)(NYSE: KGC) which has a 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 28,310,000 tons at a grade of 0.57 Au g/t for 556,000 oz of gold.
In light of these recent developments, the Company would like to provide our shareholders with a brief update on Desert Gold, our current objectives as a company, and the leadership group in place to ensure that we achieve our goals.
Share Capital
Immediately prior to the Acquisition, Desert Gold had 19,118,370 common shares outstanding. As consideration for the Acquisition, Desert Gold issued a total of 20,000,000 common shares to TransAfrika Resources (Mauritius) Limited ("TransAfrika Mauritius") as ultimate parent company of TransAfrika, 10,000,000 of which are being distributed, by way of dividend, to the TransAfrika Mauritius shareholders pro rata to their shareholdings in TransAfrika Mauritius(2).
(1) SAMREC stands for the South African Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. As more particularly described in the technical reports filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities and available under Desert Gold's SEDAR profile at , the mineral resource categories of the SAMREC Code reported above reconcile with the same mineral resource categories in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards adopted by the CIM Council and incorporated into National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
(2) TransAfrika Mauritius is a widely-held private company that has raised over $40 million in financing since 2007 principally to fund the advancement of the TransAfrika material properties recently acquired by Desert Gold. TransAfrika Mauritius also owns interests in base metals properties in the DRC and Mauritania which did not form part of the Acquisition.
Desert Gold is required to issue a further 12,000,000 common shares (the "Performance Shares"), in the aggregate, to TransAfrika Mauritius and its shareholders in the event that within a two year period from closing of the Acquisition, Desert Gold publishes an NI 43-101-compliant resource calculation disclosing that the TransAfrika material properties contain at least an additional 1,000,000 ounces of gold or gold equivalent in the inferred mineral resource category.
In addition, concurrent with the Acquisition, Desert Gold raised $3.7 million through the issue of 4,949,665 units at a subscription price of $0.75 per unit (the "Financing"). Each unit consisted of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder to subscribe for one additional common at an exercise price of $1.00 for a period of 24 months from closing of the Acquisition, provided that, in the event that the closing price of the Desert Gold common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is greater than $1.50 for a period of 20 consecutive trading days at any time following closing of the Acquisition, Desert Gold may, at its option, accelerate the expiry date of the warrants by giving written notice to the holders thereof and in such case the warrants will expire on the date which is the earlier of: (i) the 30th day after the date on which such notice is given; and (ii) 24 months from closing of the Acquisition.
Overall, a total of 44,038,035 common shares, 2,474,832 warrants, 2,051,625 stock options, and 49,496 broker warrants (issued to MGI Securities Inc. as lead agent in connection with the Financing) are currently outstanding.
Board and Management
Exploration Programs
Desert Gold is in the process of carrying out a $5 million exploration program in respect of the Rwanda and Mali properties, as recommended by Coffey International Limited, authors of the independent technical reports (the "Technical Reports") filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities and available in their entirety under Desert Gold's SEDAR profile at .
Coffey International Limited is a specialist professional services consultancy with expertise in geosciences, international development, and project management. Coffey is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: COF).
Set forth below, for your reference, are excerpts from the Technical Reports summarizing the proposed 2012 work programs at the Rwanda and Mali projects:
Rwanda
Work completed by TransAfrika on its Rwanda permits thus far has been largely focused on the Byumba Project with soil sampling surveys carried out on the Rusizi and Nyamugali Projects. The recommended exploration priority is to increase and improve the mineral resource for the Byumba Project.
The total budget required for Rwanda is USD 3,200,000 as presented in Table 1 below. At the completion of the diamond drilling a decision will be taken on commencing a Scoping Study based on the drill results returned.
The scheduling of the exploration is presented in Table 2 and the associated costing in Table 3.
Coffey Mining considers the exploration rationale to be appropriate for this stage of the projects. Additional funding may be required at a later stage.
Mali
Farabantourou Permit
Farabantourou has an initial budget estimated to the end of Q2 2012 (Table 1). Geological mapping should be carried out over the entire permit area with emphasis on structural geology. Once the structure is better understood, drill results from all known prospects should be reinterpreted. The soil-sampling grid should be extended to cover the entire permit area.
All geological, geophysical and geochemical data should be integrated at the end of phase 1 and drill targets prioritized. Should the assessment be positive a drilling budget should be compiled to allow for drilling to start in Q4 2012. The nature of the drill program will be determined by Phase I exploration results.
The following phased exploration program is proposed:
Phase 1: Prioritization of areas for resource drilling, Phase I will include site establishment, geological mapping, soil sampling, integration of geology IP data and soil sampling data, trenching and pitting over selected areas and drill planning.
The budget to completion of phase 1 is USD $576,100 (table 1)
Phase 2: Exploration drilling. This phase was not budgeted.
Phase 3: Resource drilling. This phase was not budgeted.
Loulo-Est and Segala-Ouest Permit
Loulo-Est and Segala-Ouest have a combined budget estimated to the end of Q2 2012 (Table 2). TransAfrika have applied to the Malian Government and were successful in getting the two permits combined and they are considered one project. The following phased work program is recommended:
Phase 1: Prioritization of areas for resource drilling. This will include:
The budget allows for USD $690,100 to complete this phase (Table 2).
Phase 2: Exploration drilling. The nature of the drilling depends on the results of from Phase 1, hence this phase was not budgeted.
Phase 3: Resource drilling. The nature of the drilling depends on the results of from the previous phases. This phase was not budgeted.
In light of challenging financial market conditions, Desert Gold is delighted to have completed the Acquisition TransAfrika and the subsequent Financing. The Company is committed to expanding and further proving the significant potential of the TransAfrika mineral properties for the benefit of our shareholders. To this end, the Company anticipates raising $10 million of additional funding during the first half of this year to pursue the drilling program on Farabantourou, our most prospective property in Mali. All the while, the Company will continue its drilling program in Rwanda where we look to significantly increase the current resource estimate in the short to medium term. At current levels, management feels that the Company's share price is undervalued and we will be undertaking a sustained marketing and investor awareness campaign to increase exposure in the investor community. To our shareholders, we thank you for your continued support as we look to meet our corporate milestones with the aim of building a world-class gold company.
Sincerely yours,
Roeland van Kerckhoven, President and CEO
For further information concerning Desert Gold and the TransAfrika material properties, please refer to Desert Gold's SEDAR profile at .
Contacts:
Desert Gold Ventures Inc.
Roeland van Kerckhoven
President and CEO
604-566-9240
604-408-9301 (FAX)
Desert Gold Ventures Inc.
Jared Scharf
CFO
604-566-9240
604-408-9301 (FAX)
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Datum: 26.01.2012 - 19:59 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 108331
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