Adds broker comments......
Aureus Mining (LON:AUE, TSE:AUE) said this morning it had received highly encouraging data from its New Liberty and Ndablama projects in Liberia.
The most eye-catching results came from New Liberty where the first 25 holes of its feasibility drilling programme returned some high grade intersections.
The best was a four metre section at 10.9 grams a tonne, followed by a 10 metre section at 6.3 grams per tonne, a 20 metre section at 3.9 grams and 33 metres at 3.6 grams.
The feasibility drilling programme is designed to estimate the number of ounces that could potentially fall within the New Liberty open pit 1.75 kilomtres long and 20 metres deep.
The company said it remains on track to produce a definitive feasibility study on the project by the end of the year.
The 25 holes covered in today's statement represent 6,191 metres of a planned 20,000 metre programme designed to fill in the gaps and potential extensions to the previous resource model.
New Liberty has an indicated resource of 751,000 ounces of gold grading 4.17 grams per tonne and an inferred resource of 762,000 ounces of gold at 3.4 grams.
Separately, surface trenching at the Ndablama prospect has returned some very promising results.
They include gold grades of 3.8 grams per tonne over an 11 metre interval as well as grades of 7.8 grams and 2 grams each over a 10 metre interval.
A diamond drilling programme on Ndablama is planned to start this quarter.
Chief executive David Reading said: “The drilling at New Liberty continues to confirm the high grades and continuity both laterally and at depth.
“The company has a quality asset with excellent grade that we believe can be mined by open pit mining methods.
"The opportunity to discover further high grade resource bodies within its large mining lease area is substantial."
Analyst Louise Collinge, from broker Evolution Securities, which reiterated its "buy" recommendation for the stock (price target: 167 pence), said: "Aureus Mining has delivered good drilling results from New Liberty and encouraging trenching results from Ndablama.
"In addition, the group is underway with lots of exploration work which we believe could demonstrate the potential for more gold within the Bea Mountain licence area in Liberia."
The company's share price stood at 73.50 pence this afternoon.