TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 01/15/13 -- Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE: DAU) (the "Company" or "Desert Gold") is pleased to announce the successful completion of a drilling program at the Barani East gold prospect on its Farabantourou permit in Mali. The prospect is in Western Mali on the Senegal-Mali Fault Zone (SMFZ), 40km south of Sadiola Mine and 50km north of Loulou Mine. Both these mines are on the SMFZ. The aim of the drilling program was threefold, firstly to verify existing data on gold grades for resource purposes, secondly to obtain material for metallurgical test work and thirdly to determine the physical properties of the wall rocks and mineralization for potential opencast mining of the prospect. Results to date are positive and confirm the company's predictions with gold grades higher than previously reported.
Rock hardness is indicative of free digging and oxidization of the gold bearing rock reaches down to 100m, the mining depth under consideration. A total of 1147m has been drilled in 16 holes along the 350m strike of the deposit. 4 holes were drilled by means of diamond drilling and 12 by means of reverse circulation drilling. The orientation of the mineralized zone is NNE to SSW with mineralization occurring from surface, dipping SSE at 45 degrees. Gold mineralization is associated with quartz hematite rocks and carbonate veins. Thickness of the mineralized zone varies with an average thickness of 4.5m and a maximum width of up to 15m. As with these types of deposits, grades vary significantly along strike and down dip. Mineralization is open down dip in the southern part of the deposit. The latest intersections made by the company are given in Table 1. Borehole BERC12-002 intersected 13m at an average grade of 7.8g/t Au, including 3m at a grade of 22.9g/t Au. Down dip of this intersection, borehole BERC12-003 intersected 10m at a grade of 8.4g/t Au. Borehole BERC12-010 intersected 6m at a grade of 9.37g/t including 46.5g/t over 1m.
Table 1. Intersections from recent drilling------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimated Intersection true From To width width AuHole No (m) (m) (m) (m) (g/t)-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-001 16.00 20.00 4.00 3.6 0.53 28.00 29.00 1.00 0.9 1.98 41.00 44.00 4.00 3.7 2.88-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-002 17.00 30.00 13.00 11.5 7.81including 21.00 24.00 3.00 2.7 22.85-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-003 21.00 23.00 2.00 1.8 2.88 26.00 36.00 10.00 8.8 8.40-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-004 70.00 72.00 2.00 1.8 2.22-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-005 1.00 9.00 9.00 7.9 3.54 18.00 21.00 3.00 2.7 0.81-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-008 19.00 25.00 6.00 5.4 4.78 28.00 31.00 3.00 2.7 1.37 39.00 42.00 3.00 2.7 5.61-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-009 37.00 42.00 5.00 4.5 0.62 55.00 58.00 3.00 2.7 4.28-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-010 97.00 103.00 6.00 5.4 9.37including 98.00 99.00 1.00 0.9 46.5-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-011 18.00 21.00 3.00 2.7 0.82-------------------------------------------------------------------------BERC12-012 54.00 58.00 4.00 3.0 3.05-------------------------------------------------------------------------
