Assay results from the Phase 1 auger program at the Okalla West joint venture prospect of Angkor Gold and Blue River Resources have confirmed the presence of gold. The partners are encouraged by these results which have potential to increase the value of the Banlung tenement in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Lab results from the augured holes confirm the surface geochemistry, termite mound, pan-concentrate gold anomaly previously identified in Okalla West. The gold grades in the assays, indicate an increase from the surface to the bottom of the holes, ranging from 0.01 to 2.45 g/t.

The completed portion of the auger program represents only 0.67sqkm of the 4sqkm surface gold anomaly area currently being explored.

The hydrothermal gold signature in Okalla West is significant, as it geochemically connects the previously drilled Okalla prospect to Okalla West, potentially, regionally linking the source for both prospects to the Okan Fault, opening up further gold exploration potential within the Banlung Tenement and locally within the region.

“These auger results demonstrate the potential in the Okalla West prospect,” said Angkor’s VP of operations JP Dau. “It is encouraging to see that the gold assay results validate the visible gold seen in the large surface gold anomaly originally identified in the 2015 termite soil program. This exploration plan was designed to investigate the potential of a near-surface gold resource and we are pleased with the results to date.”

The auger assay results indicate that the gold present in Okalla West has a hydrothermal source geochemical signature. In areas of higher gold concentrations, there is a good correlation with areas of local elevation, pH acidic soils, and coincident anomalous copper, lead, zinc, bismuth and arsenic within the Okalla West prospect area.

The auger program on the Okalla West prospect completed to date consists of 705 holes completed out of the 1208 proposed, with a maximum auger depth of 6.6 metres. 116 holes were selected for fire assay gold and multi-element analysis, totalling 235 samples, in addition to 22 certified reference material standard inserts and blanks for QA/QC analysis.

The next steps in the exploration program are to test the overlapping surface geochemistry and auger anomalous gold areas with trenching and mechanical drilling, such as Reverse Air Blast, to better interrogate the potential of the gold anomaly. The trenching and mechanical drilling will be used to further determine the size and quality of the prospect.

Angkor’s six exploration licenses in Cambodia cover 1352sqkm, which the company has been actively exploring over the past six years.