Sarama Resources to Acquire Additional 338km² Exploration Properties on the Banfora Belt in Burkina Faso

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VANCOUVER, Aug. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Sarama Resources Limited ("Sarama" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has entered into an agreement to acquire two exploration properties, totalling 338km² in area, located on the Banfora Belt in south-western Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Highlights

• Sarama has entered into an agreement to acquire a 100% interest in two contiguous exploration properties, Nyarafo and Noumoudara (the "Properties"), located on the prospective Banfora Belt in south-western Burkina Faso.
  
  
• The Properties cover a combined land area of 338km² and are adjacent to, and along trend from, Sarama's existing Tiéfora Nord exploration property.
  
  
• Previous exploration work conducted by the vendor on the Properties, which is subject to confirmation by Sarama, includes a 19 hole, 2,300m scout reverse-circulation ("RC") drilling program which yielded downhole intersection highlights including:

• Sarama's Banfora Belt exploration properties are located approximately 70km to the east of its flagship South Houndé project.
  
  
• Upon completion of the transaction, Sarama's land interests in Burkina Faso will total approximately 3,100km².

The Properties are located on the Banfora Belt, approximately 25km south of the major regional town of Bobo-Dioulasso.  The area is serviced by a regional road network and the population in the immediate area of the Properties is predominantly involved with subsistence farming and artisanal gold mining.

The Banfora Belt is a regionally significant assembly of greenstone rocks, typically of volcanic and sedimentary origin belonging to the Lower Proterozoic Birimian Supergroup, as well as inter-belt granitoids of various compositions.  The Birimian greenstone rocks are renowned for their economic gold deposits, hosting large deposits such as the Obuasi and Ahafo deposits in Ghana, the Morila and Sadiola deposits in Mali and the Essakane and Mana deposits in Burkina Faso.

No significant advanced gold prospects have been identified in the Banfora Belt, which the Company attributes to exploration in the area being at a very early stage.

The Nyarafo exploration property covers an area of 177km², and the Noumoudara exploration property covers an area of 161km².  Both exploration permits covering the Properties are in their final terms and will expire on 4^th July 2014.  Re-issue of the exploration permits will be at the discretion of the government of Burkina Faso.  Depending on the results of the Company's exploration work, the Company has the option to convert the permits to exploitation permits at the end of the final terms.

Previous exploration work on the Properties by the vendor includes limited soil geochemistry surveys, trenching and approximately 4,400m of rotary-air-blast ("RAB") drilling in 2007.  In addition, approximately 2,300m of scout RC drilling was completed by the vendor in 2011, with the more significant results from this campaign listed in Appendix A.

Sarama will begin fieldwork on the properties in the upcoming exploration season, initially focusing on the verification of historical findings and completion of permit-wide soil geochemistry surveys.

Pursuant to the purchase agreement, upon the permits covering the Properties being registered in the name of the Company's local subsidiary, the Company will make a first instalment payment to the vendor of either, at the Company's sole discretion, US$100,000 cash or the equivalent in common shares in Sarama Resources Ltd.  A second payment, of either US$100,000 cash or the equivalent in common shares of Sarama, at the Company's sole discretion, will be due to the vendor upon successful re-issue of either or both of the exploration permits covering the Properties to Sarama by the government of Burkina Faso after the end of the current terms in July 2014.  The shares in Sarama issued in connection with this transaction will be subject to a mandatory 4-month hold period under applicable securities laws.

Figure 1 shows the location of the Properties, relative to Sarama's existing interests on the Banfora Belt, and Figure 2 shows the Properties in relation to the Company's South Houndé Project.

Sarama's President and CEO, Andrew Dinning commented:

"We are pleased to have acquired this relatively large ground position in a prospective and under-explored belt and where previous preliminary exploration work has shown promising results.  The proximity of the Banfora properties to our South Houndé Project adds to the attractiveness of the acquisition and we look forward to undertaking further work in the zones of mineralisation identified in historical exploration."  

For further information on the Company's activities, please contact:

Andrew Dinning or Paul Schmiede
email: [email protected]
telephone: +61 8 9363 7600

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Figure 1:    Sarama's Exploration Interests on the Banfora Belt

Figure 2:    Sarama's Exploration Interests in South-West Burkina Faso

About Sarama Resources Ltd
Sarama Resources Ltd is a Canadian company with a focus on the exploration and development of gold deposits in West Africa.  The board of directors and management team, a majority of whom are founders of the Company, are seasoned resource industry professionals with extensive experience in the exploration and development of world-class gold projects in Africa.

The South Houndé Project in south-west Burkina Faso is the Company's flagship property and is currently the focus of an aggressive exploration program to test gold-in-soil anomalies located in a 20km-long structural corridor.  Recent drilling programs at the South Houndé Project have intersected significant mineralisation in several prospect areas which the Company is actively following-up.  The Company has built substantial early stage exploration landholdings in prospective and underexplored areas of Burkina Faso (3,100 km²), Liberia (>2,400 km²) and Mali (>1,200 km²) and is aggressively exploring across the property portfolio.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements
Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information.  Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the Company's planned exploration programs, including when results may be available, registration of permits into the Company's local subsidiary's name, and the possibility of re-issue of exploration permits.  Actual results, performance or achievements of the Company may vary from the results suggested by such forward-looking statements due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such factors include, among others, that the government of Burkina Faso may not exercise its discretion to renew the exploration permits; the business of exploration for gold and other precious minerals involves a high degree of risk and is highly speculative in nature; few properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; the actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents.

There can be no assurance that any mineralisation that is discovered will be proven to be economic, or that future required regulatory licensing or approvals will be obtained. However, the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the Company's ability to carry on its exploration activities, the sufficiency of funding, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of gold and other precious metals, that the Company will not be affected adverse political events, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain further financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Sarama does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws.

Notes
For the results in Appendix A, the intersected true width is unknown and reported intervals are downhole intersection lengths.  No top-cuts were applied to raw assay values and a lower grade cut of 0.3 g/t Au was used to determine the quoted intervals, with up to a maximum of 2m internal dilution being incorporated into the composite.

The vendor instituted a QA/QC program which includes the use of reference materials and duplicates for the drilling results reported in Appendix A.  Duplicate assaying ceased after 14 holes of the 19 hole program were completed.  Insertion of  reference materials occurred throughout the campaign, ranging from 1 in every 50 samples for the first 14 holes of the 19 hole program to 1 in every 100 samples for the remainder of the program.

Gold assay work was undertaken by SGS Burkina Faso SA ("SGS") in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - a member of the SGS Group (Société Générale de Surveillance).  SGS is accredited under the National Association of Testing Authorities Australia for compliance with ISO/EC 17025 for Chemical Testing and is independent of Sarama and the vendor of the Properties.  Gold assays are determined using fire assay methods with a 50 gram charge and AAS finish, which have a 0.01g/t Au detection limit.

Qualified Person's Statement
Scientific or technical information in this news release is based on information that has been compiled or approved by Michel Mercier.  Michel Mercier is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Géologues du Québec and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.  Michel Mercier consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Appendix A - Significant Historical Rc Drill Results

 

SOURCE Sarama Resources Limited