Large gold anomaly identified at Teixeirinha

Ashburton Minerals Ltd has announced the results of its regional surface sampling program completed in December 2007 over the northern part of the Cuiaba Gold Project in Brazil and the resultant discovery of another impressive gold anomaly.
The new anomaly occurs at Teixeirinha, 15km west of the city of Cuiaba.
The main anomaly is over 4km long, up to 1km wide, and remains open to the south where it is at its widest and strongest point.
The anomaly is defined by a coherent 50 parts per billion (ppb) gold contour. The 250ppb gold contour defines a central core zone of over 2km in length. A peak value of 620ppb (0.62g/t) gold was returned from the core zone.
Tom Dukovcic, the company’s Managing Director, said that these outstanding results, following on from the Tanque Belo discovery last year, confirm the presence of extensive areas of gold mineralisation within the Cuiaba goldfield. The extent and tenor of these anomalies are proof of the enormous prospectivity of the Cuiaba Gold Project to host a significant gold deposit.
“The results also attest to the company’s ability to successfully identify the most prospective targets for exploration,” Mr Dukovcic said.
The Teixeirinha prospect is located in the northern part of the company’s Cuiaba Gold Project astride a major N-plunging regional fold closure, which itself contains a number of parasitic fold closures. At its southern end, at its widest point, the main anomaly is open and trends towards an area of garimpeiro workings, with the general trend potentially continuing through to the larger “Abdala” gold workings some 5km further south.
A number of smaller anomalies have also been identified, many of which also remain open and require additional sampling.
These results stem from the first-pass phase of geochemical sampling which the company undertakes on a broad grid in order to identify areas of interest. Samples were collected on 1km spaced lines with four 100m composites taken along the line.
For this first phase of work to show the presence of a strong continuous gold signature over four adjacent 1km spaced lines is regarded as an excellent result. Follow up work will be implemented to both extend the regional grid to the west and south, and to conduct infill sampling across the main anomaly on 200m lines and 50m spot samples. This work is expected to commence within the next fortnight and is aimed at refining targets for initial drill testing.
Drilling will recommence at the conclusion of the wet season, which often extends into late March in the Cuiaba area.