N@N

Commencement of REE Re-assay Programme, Guinea

^{Published on 2011-02-07 01:21:14 - Market Wire}
 

 FORTE ENERGY NL ACN 009 087 852 ASX/AIM CODE: FTE Telephone: +618 9322 4071, Fax: +618 9322 4073 ASX, AIM and Media Release 7 February 2011 Commencement of Rare Earth Element Re-assay Programme, Guinea International uranium company Forte Energy NL ("Forte Energy" or "the Company") (ASX: FTE, AIM: FTE) is pleased to announce that it has commenced the process of re-assaying for Rare Earth Elements (REE) at its Firawa prospect in Guinea. Commencement of the re-assay programme follows the establishment of a small crushing facility on site at the Firawa camp. Prepared samples will then be sent to the Company's office in Kissidougou for shipment to a laboratory in Europe. The Company will be using the same laboratory that is undertaking assay work from Forte Energy's projects in Mauritania which has to date maintained excellent turnaround times. Receipt of initial REE results is expected towards the end of Q1 2011. As previously announced, the 2008/9 resource drilling campaign produced some 7000 samples that were assayed to produce a JORC Code compliant Mineral Resource of 17.7Mt at 296ppm for 11.6Mlbs U3O8 (100ppm cut-off). No REE assays were undertaken on these samples at the time. REE concentrations were subsequently discovered in one Firawa sample in late 2010 during metallurgical testing, with five later samples returning high grade REE results. Firawa, REE assays Element Units Original FRW12: FRW12: FRW14: FRW30: FRW31: Sample 44-45 46-47 42-43 32-33 4-5 Cerium ppm 5330 11650 13900 11600 10150 9740 Dysprosium ppm 235 406 480 331 356 333 Erbium ppm 80 114 132.5 107 100 113.5 Europium ppm 154 287 346 245 270 236 Gadolinium ppm 448 550 672 477 590 444 Holmium ppm 31.6 51.5 60.9 45.6 49.7 46.2 Lanthanum ppm 2409 5070 6050 4510 4210 4160 Lutetium ppm 5.6 8.52 8.28 7.91 6.76 7.23 Neodymium ppm 2953 5770 6880 6080 5490 4890 Praseodymium ppm 760 1450 1725 1530 1315 1230 Samarium ppm 530 1050 1255 981 879 883 Terbium ppm 54.8 82.9 99.7 67.9 71 66.4 Thulium ppm 8 12.6 14.7 83 19 18.2 Ytterbium ppm 4 68.5 71.8 61.4 55 62.8 Total REE % 1.30% 2.66% 3.17% 2.61% 2.36% 2.22% If the REE re-assay process returns positive results, this should allow the Company to calculate a maiden JORC Code compliant Mineral resource for REE at Firawa in H1 2011. In addition to the REE re-assay programme, the Company has planned a drilling programme to mainly test for extensions of the Firawa mineralisation along strike where lack of adequate drill rig access tracks prevented drill testing in the previous round of drilling. The Company expects to commence this drill programme within the next month following the completion of refurbishment work on local infrastructure Mark Reilly Managing Director For further information contact: Mark Reilly, Managing Director Forte Energy NL Tel: +44 (0) 203 300 0187 Robin Henshall/Tim Graham Matrix Corporate Capital LLP Tel: +44 (0) 203 206 7000 Jos Simson/Emily Fenton Tavistock Communications Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150 Nicholas Read/Paul Armstrong Read Corporate Tel: +61 (0) 8 9388 1474 Stuart Laing RFC Corporate Finance Ltd Tel: +61 (0) 8 9480 2506 (AIM Nominated Adviser to the Company) Note: The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr. Bosse Gustafsson, who is a Member of the European Federation of Geologists, a 'Recognised Overseas Professional Organisation' ('ROPO') included in a list promulgated by the ASX from time to time. Mr Gustafsson is a full time Technical Director of Forte Energy NL and is responsible for exploration activities in Mauritania and Guinea. Mr. Gustafsson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr. Gustafsson consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. The information in this report that relates to the Mineral Resource at Firawa in Guinea is based on information compiled by Mr. Bosse Gustafsson of Forte Energy NL and Mr. Doug Corley of Coffey Mining Ltd. Mr. Gustafsson and Mr. Corley have sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which they have undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr. Gustafsson and Mr. Corley consent to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears.