South Boulder Mines

South Boulder Mines Ltd is pleased to announce that diamond drilling has resumed at the Colluli Potash Project in Eritrea. The drilling is part of an expanded 5,000m exploration program designed to further define and extend known resources. The results will be incorporated into the current engineering scoping and feasibility studies.

To date approximately 1,407m of diamond core drilling has been completed at Colluli in 17 holes.

The planned locations of the first five diamond drill holes are shown in Figure 1. The location of additional drill holes for the program will be determined based on the new results.

In addition, a trial surface gravimetric survey has been completed with results currently being interpreted. Once outstanding drill results are received and interpreted together with the gravity data, the effectiveness of the gravity survey as a targeting tool will be assessed.

A number of key activities are planned to be completed over the coming months including;

• Receipt of outstanding potash assays from holes 006 – 017 which are expected in March/April;
• At the end of March drilling is planned to commence with a second rig that has the capacity to drill deeper and larger diameter core holes for geotechnical and metallurgical test work;
• An update to the initial resource is planned to be completed in May/June and will incorporate additional drilling, downhole geophysical logging and geotechnical/metallurgical data. It is expected there will be an increase to the current JORC/43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate of; o 547.62Mt @ 18.58% KCl (total contained potash of 101.73Mt); o Includes 119.21Mt @ 23.14% KCl;
• A mining engineering study into the optimum processing and production capacity from open pit mining is planned to be completed mid-year. The study will investigate a range of production scenarios ranging from 2Mt – 10Mt KCl p.a. Outstanding assay results and details on further exploration drilling will be released as they come to hand.

Outstanding assay results and details on further exploration drilling will be released as they come to hand.

Figure1 South Boulder

Investor Coverage

Recent investor relations, corporate videos and broker/media coverage on The Company’s projects can be viewed on the website in the “Media Centre” and “Investor Centre” sections by following the link www.southbouldermines.com.au.

About South Boulder Mines Ltd

Listed in 2003, South Boulder Mines (ASX: STB) is a diversified explorer primarily focused on potash, nickel and gold. South Boulder has a 100% interest in the Colluli Potash Project in Eritrea and a 100% interest in the Duketon Gold Project in Western Australia.

The Colluli Potash Project has a current JORC/43-101 Compliant Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 547.62Mt @ 18.58% KCl (total contained potash of 101.73Mt); Includes 119.21Mt @ 23.14% KCl; and an exploration target of 750Mt – 1.25 billion tonnes @ 18-20% KCl. The potential quantity and grade of the Colluli exploration target is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource (outside the area shown in Figure 1) and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource (outside the area shown in Figure 1). An engineering scoping study into open pit mining and processing to produce up to 10Mt p.a of potash is underway.

Within the Duketon Gold Project area, South Boulder entered a farm-out Joint Venture (JV) Agreement with Independence, whereby Independence can earn a 70% interest in the nickel rights on JV tenements held by South Boulder in the Duketon Project, by the completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study within 5 years of the grant of the relevant tenement.

About the Nickel Joint Venture

The Duketon Nickel JV has had recent success at The Rosie and C2 Nickel sulphide prospects where drilling has defined intercepts of 5.20m @ 9.13% Ni, 1.09% Cu, 0.21% Co and 7.09g/t PGE’s at Rosie and 50m @ 0.92% Ni including 37m @ 1.05% Ni at C2. The deposits are located approximately 120km NNW of Laverton, W.A in the Duketon Greenstone Belt. The deposits are approximately 2km apart and the mineralisation at both prospects is considered open in most directions. A Mining Lease was granted over the Rosie and C2 deposits on the 19 th of November. The Mining Lease comprises a total of 19.13km 2 .

CAIRO – Traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal was disrupted for four hours on Tuesday after a ship ran aground because of engine failure in bad weather, an official maritime source said.

“A cargo ship ran aground due to an engine malfunction in the southern sector of the canal, blocking five ships behind it,” the source said.

An official from the Suez Canal Authority said shipping returned to normal at 1200 GMT after the ship, and another that ran aground later, were freed and moved.

A union official said some employees in the office of canal authority chairman Ahmed Fadel had gone on strike, joining a wave of popular protests that has gripped Egypt. He said this had not affected the normal functioning of the canal.

Five of Egypt’s Red Sea ports were closed on Tuesday because of bad weather, a spokesman for the Red Sea Ports Authority said.

Those affected included Nuweiba, Port Tawfik and Adabiya.

Reuters

NGEX Eritrea

NGEx Resources Inc. (NGQ-TSX) (‘NGEx’ or the ‘Company’) announces major exploration programs underway in South America and Africa (please see attached project maps). The Company’s exploration budget is focused on large scale copper, gold, and potash targets that demonstrate the potential for world class discoveries.

In total, the Company and its partners are expecting to drill more than 20,000 meters by the end of September, 2011. This is a very significant amount of drilling for a company of our size and we believe that this program can create substantial value for shareholders by defining new mineral resources at our more advanced projects such as Los Helados, or by drilling the initial discovery drill holes on our new projects like the Bada potash project in Eritrea.

Three drill programs are in progress on copper-gold projects in South America with a fourth program scheduled to begin in April. In Eritrea drilling on both base metal and potash projects should start in April. Drilling on all programs is expected to continue through the first half of the year, with results released as they become available. In addition, Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”) plans a $4.5 million program on the Company’s GJ project in northern BC beginning in June. Around 45% of the approximately $17,000,000 expected to be spent on the company’s projects this year will come from its joint venture partners.

SOUTH AMERICA

Los Helados, Chile

Drilling is underway at NGEx’s 60% owned Los Helados project located east of Copiapo in Chile’s Region 3 where previous drilling defined a porphyry copper-gold system measuring about 1,000 meters by 600 meters and up to 700 meters thick and is open in several directions. The best grades intersected to date are associated with a large hydrothermal breccia located in the southern two thirds of the zone. Drilling this field season will focus on defining the higher grade portion of the system. See attached map for some previously released intercepts.

The prospect has recently been surveyed by deep penetrating IP-Resistivity to define zones of higher grade mineralization and any possible extensions to guide further drilling. Using two drills, the Company has completed approximately half of the initial 10 hole, 7,500 meter drill program to date. It is anticipated that this drill program will be extended with the objective of completing sufficient drilling to permit an initial resource calculation later this year.

Josemaria, Argentina

Drilling is also underway at the Josemaria project, located approximately 15 kilometers east of Los Helados in northern San Juan Province, Argentina. Josemaria has a previously announced NI 43-101 inferred resource of 460Mt @ 0.4% Cu and 0.3 g/t Au. This year’s drilling at Josemaria is focused on discovering extensions of the known deposit under post-mineralization cover and testing a strong chargeability anomaly north of the current resource. The current 2,500 meter drill program is funded by JOGMEC who are earning a 40% interest in the project. Approximately 1000 meters have been completed to date.

Filo del Sol, Argentina

A fourth drill is working at the 60% owned Filo del Sol project located approximately 12 kilometers south of Los Helados in San Juan Province, Argentina. Previous drilling at Filo del Sol has identified near surface copper oxides and gold within a large diatreme breccia. Most of the drilling to date has focused on shallow copper sulfate mineralization and deeper copper sulfide in the southern part of the project area. The main copper sulfate mineral, chalcanthite, is water soluble and potentially amenable to low cost heap leaching. Chalcanthite was an important component of copper production from Chuquicamata in the early part of the last century.

A recent review of drill data from Filo del Sol identified several compelling gold targets in the northern part of the project area. An initial 2,000 meter drill program will follow up some of the better gold results from previous drilling and as well as better define the extent of the near surface copper sulfate mineralization. The program will be extended as needed to follow-up any encouraging results.

Colmillos, Chile

Colmillos is an exciting early stage porphyry copper project located east of Ovalle, Chile. Mapping and sampling at Colmillos have defined a 4.3 kilometer trend of tourmaline breccia bodies, local visible copper oxide mineralization and anomalous copper and molybdenum geochemistry. Copper mineralized tourmaline breccias are a common feature of many major porphyry copper systems. An access road has recently been completed and an IP survey is underway. An initial drill program of up to 2,000 meters in 6 to 8 holes is planned for March.

AFRICA

Bada Potash, Eritrea

Initial mapping and geophysical surveying is underway on the Company’s recently awarded Bada potash license located approximately 35 kilometers from the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. NGEx’s license covers the northern portion of the Dallol evaporite basin which in Ethiopia hosts the historic potash deposits of Musley held by Sainik Coal Company, India and Dallol, held by Allana Resources, Canada. The Eritrean portion of the basin hosts the Colluli potash deposit which is currently being explored by South Boulder Mines of Australia. All three areas are being actively explored with resource estimates recently issued for all three projects. Recent results released by South Boulder Mines highlight the potential for shallow potash mineralization on the Eritrean side of the border.

NGEx’s license lies approximately 20 kilometers northwest of South Boulder’s license and covers the northwest extension of the same basin. Any discovery of potash on the Eritrean side of the border will have significant logistical advantages over deposits on the Ethiopian side because they have much closer access to the Red Sea coast.

NGEx has contracted experienced potash consultants and has begun an initial program of gravity and magnetic surveying to define the basin depth and geometry, to be followed by a reconnaissance diamond drilling program of approximately 1000 meters in three holes.

The initial drilling should be completed by the end of April and is expected to provide important information to guide a more extensive exploration program to commence before the end of the exploration season in July.

VMS, Eritrea

The Company holds approximately 650 square kilometers covering prospective stratigraphy near Nevsun Resources’ recently commissioned Bisha Mine. The successful development of the Bisha Mine has significantly increased investor confidence in Eritrea. The Company’s land position hosts the Hambok Deposit for which an initial NI 43-101 resource estimate was announced in 2009 as well as the high grade Aradaib discovery announced in 2010. Previously released drill results from Aradaib include 13 meters of 3.3% Cu, 5.6% Zn, 1.8 g/t Au, and 46 g/t Ag.

In late 2010 the Company completed a high resolution helicopter- borne electromagnetic, magnetic, and radiometric (VTEM) survey covering the Company’s entire land position. The survey was designed to identify volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VMS) mineralization beneath recent cover. Initial screening of the survey results has highlighted 18 anomalies to be geophysically modeled for massive sulfide bodies. A drill program to test targets generated by the VTEM survey and to follow-up on the positive results from Aradaib is planned for late in the first quarter of 2011. The size of the drill program will be determined once initial follow-up is completed.

CANADA

GJ Project, BC

GJ is a copper-gold project, located in northern British Columbia. The Company has optioned the project to Teck which has the right to earn an initial 51% by spending $12,000,000 by December 31, 2014 and up to a 75% interest by spending an aggregate of $44,000,000 by December 31, 2020. Teck has received internal approval for a $4.5 million exploration program consisting of ground geophysics and up to 5,000 meters of drilling. The objective of the program is to add to the previously reported NI 43-101 compliant resource and to test the potential for high grade copper-gold zones similar to those discovered at Imperial Metals’ nearby Red Chris project. Exploration is expected to begin in late June, 2011 and continue through to September.

Dr. Wojtek Wodzicki, P. Geo. (BC), President and CEO of NGEx, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical contents of this release.

On behalf of the Board,

Wojtek Wodzicki

President and CEO

NGEx Eritrea Projects

NGEx Canada Project

NGEx Vicuna Projects

Sunridge Gold Corp., (SGC/TSX.V) is pleased to announce that it has commenced a new exploration drilling program at the Medrizien Gold target on the Asmara Project, Eritrea. Approximately12 reverse circulation drill holes for at least 1,000 metres are planned for the initial drill program. The 100% owned Medrizien Gold target is located within 1 kilometre of the large Emba Derho copper zinc gold VMS deposit which is one of the three Asmara North Deposits.

The gold mineralization in the Medrizien Gold prospect occurs in a stockwork of quartz veins associated with pyrite and chalcopyrite within a surrounding halo of sheared volcanic rocks with sericite and pyrite. The target varies in width from a few metres up to 25 metres over a 3.5 kilometre strike length. Some historic small scale gold mining was conducted on the site by the Italian colonists consisting of small pits and underground workings.

During previous surface exploration work, a total of 65 rock grab samples were taken over the length of the prospect of which 57 samples were from the surface showing of mineralized quartz veins and altered halo of volcanic rocks (see Sunridge Gold News release dated April 1, 2009). The results showed 10 samples with assays over 1 g/t gold with these sample values averaging 12.13 g/t gold with the highest assay being 74.7 g/t gold. The 8 rock samples taken from the old underground workings range from 0.14 g/t up to a value of 319 g/t with an average of 51.32 g/t gold.

The objective of the Medrizien drill program is to make a new gold discovery on the Asmara Project, which could provide future feed to any mining operations in the northern area of the Asmara Project.

Qualified Person

Michael J. Hopley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunridge is the Qualified Person for Sunridge and the person responsible for preparation of the technical information contained in this news release.

NOTES:

1. A Quality Assurance/Quality Control program was part of the sampling program on the Medrizien gold prospect. This program includes chain of custody protocols as well as systematic submittals of standards, duplicates and blank samples into the flow of samples produced by the sampling.
2. Samples were prepared at African Horn Testing Services (Eritrea) and analyzed at Genalysis Laboratories (a NATA registered laboratory) in Perth, Western Australia.
3. The results of the Medrizien gold prospect sampling have been reviewed by Michael J. Hopley the Qualified Person for Sunridge. Mr. Hopley is also the person responsible for preparation of the technical information contained in this news release and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunridge.

ABOUT SUNRIDGE:

Sunridge is a mineral exploration and development company focused on the acquisition, exploration, discovery and development of base and precious metal projects on the Asmara Project in Eritrea and exploration properties in Madagascar. Sunridge currently has approximately 116 million shares outstanding and approximately $25 million in cash. Sunridge trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SGC. For additional information on the Company and its projects please visit our website at www.sunridgegold.com or call Greg Davis at the numbers listed below. All of the above mentioned technical reports are filed on the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com.

SUNRIDGE GOLD CORP.

“Michael Hopley”

Michael Hopley, President and Chief Executive Officer

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

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company’s current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “suggest”, “indicate” and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Nevsun CEO Cliff Davis

Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources Ltd. [NSU-TSX] recently poured its first gold at the Bisha Gold Mine in Eritrea, northeast Africa. The first pour was part of the plant commissioning process and rendered two doré bars totaling 26 kilograms (approximately 920 ounces).

In an announcement, Nevsun President and CEO Cliff Davis said, “Nevsun’s first gold pour is a tremendous achievement that has been accomplished by a team of outstanding professionals on the ground in Eritrea and with the continued support of the Eritrean government.

It gives me great pleasure to say we are on time, under budget, and will considerably further the country’s development with the realization of Eritrea’s first modern-day mine. In the face of difficult capital markets in 2008 and 2009 and other obstacles overcome in 2010, we are proud of this significant accomplishment. We look forward to substantially growing Bisha in the coming months, in terms of reserves and throughput. This success should be a good indicator of our strategic capability in the future.”

Nevsun is a single-country, single-project, gold and base metal developer focused on the Bisha Project. Bisha is a fullyfinanced and permitted high-grade gold, copper and zinc deposit. Nevsun expects the mine to be fully commissioned and in full production by the end of Q1 2011.

The first mine to come into production in Eritrea in many years, Bisha is projected to produce 1.06 million ounces of gold, 9.4 million ounces of silver, 734 million pounds of copper and 1,075 million pounds of zinc. Davis says the milestone event shows that the persistence of Nevsun and its supporters in the Eritrean government is paying off.

“When we started, the financial community was doubtful about the project,” Davis said. “So we put together the financing ourselves, with the Eritrean government putting in cash. Their financial contribution distinguishes Bisha from other mining projects.”

THE BISHA PROJECT

The Bisha Project is a large volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit located 150 km west of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Bisha’s mining and exploration licenses cover a contiguous area of 110 square km. The Bisha Main and North West zones are both located within the 16.5 square km mining license.

The Bisha Main Zone is a 1.2 km-long section characterized by precious metalrich (gold and silver) oxides and base metal-rich (copper and zinc) massive sulphides. The deposit is configured in three distinct layers. The Oxide Zone (0-35m) is a near-surface gold-silver rich bearing oxide. It has reserves of 4.02 million tons of 7.99 grams gold/tonne and 33 grams silver/ tonne. This zone will be mined in the first two years of production.

The Supergene Zone (35m-65m) is a copper-enriched massive sulphide horizon that also contains gold and silver. It has reserves of 6.35 million tons of 4.4% copper. The Supergene Zone will be mined in the next three years of production. The third zone (65m-+450m.) is an underlying primary massive sulphide containing significant copper and high-grade zinc zones with appreciable gold and silver. It has reserves of 9.71 million tonnes of 7.21% zinc and 1.14% copper.

The third zone will be mined from year six to the end of the mine’s life. Bisha’s feasibility study estimates a 10-year mine life with metal prices based on US $435/oz gold, US $1.44/lb copper for the first five years (US $1.28/lb thereafter), US $0.57/lb zinc and US $6.50/oz silver. The mine is expected to produce gold at an operating cost of less than US $250/ oz, with copper operating costs ranging from $0.54-$0.67/lb, and zinc operating costs at $0.50/lb (including all royalties and credits).

The construction budget for the project was $260 million but the actual cost was 5% lower than that figure. “We had a good mine construction contractor, a Southern African company called SENET,” Davis said. “Plus the mine was built during a time of low construction costs.” At the peak of construction, in July 2010, about 1,700 people were working on the project.

RECENT EXPLORATION AT BISHA

Recent exploration by Nevsun focused on the Harena deposit, which is one of the other two VMS deposits that have been identified, and lies 9.5 km southwest of the Bisha Main deposit. Harena is contained within Nevsun’s exploration licence, contiguous to the mining licence. In late 2009, 17 infill diamond drill holes were completed to confirm the previously identified discovery. Harena was originally chosen as a potential exploration target based on an alteration anomaly defined from Landsat imagery. A subsequent airborne electromagnetic survey defined a moderate conductor over a limited strike length on what was interpreted as the same stratigraphic horizon as the Bisha Main deposit.

Diamond drilling, in 2005, intersected various widths of oxide and sulphide mineralization over a strike length of 400 metres, which confirmed the presence of a satellite VMS deposit. As a result of the company’s efforts to advance the Bisha Main Zone through feasibility and development, the Harena area was left until late 2009 for further exploration. The company sees the Harena deposit as a likely source of supplemental feed for the processing plant at Bisha, and it will probably provide valuable cash flow as an extension to the life of mine, without requiring startup capital expenses.

Davis says the company intends to have re-stated reserves by end of Q1 2011. “We expect to extend the mine life and to increase reserves substantially,” he said. “The plan is to significantly grow our asset.”

BISHA MINING SHARE COMPANY (BMSC)

The Bisha Project was and is being operated by Bisha Mining Share Company (BMSC), a joint-venture company owned by Eritrea’s National Mining Corp. (ENAMCO) and Canada’s Nevsun Resources Ltd. The Bisha mining licence was granted to BMSC in January 2008. ENAMCO is paying one-third of the cost of the project (in cash) and Nevsun is contributing the other two-thirds (by an issue of equity). ENAMCO owns 40% of the project and Nevsun owns 60%. In addition, Nevsun will receive payments from the Eritrean government related to the latter’s purchase of its share of the project.

BMSC decided, in early 2010, to fund the project by equity instead of debt financing. The company says the move has increased the estimated cash flow by eliminating finance costs and debt repayment. BMSC expects the project will have positive cash flow by Q1 2011. BMSC has entered into metal sales contracts for its future gold and copper production. The prices for all metals will be fixed at spot rates at the time of delivery. Gold will be refined in Switzerland and Canada by two major international companies; the copper concentrate will be shipped to major smelters in Europe and India. Davis called the Bisha Mining Share Company “a model for future mining companies in Eritrea.”

HOW ERITREA BENEFITS

Eritrea benefits in a number of significant ways from the Bisha Project. The country’s largely untrained work force receives employment and training, and the government receives royalties (5% for precious metals, 3.5% for base metals) and income taxes (maximum rate of 38%). Davis says that when the project is running at full capacity, it will employ a total of about 700 workers, the majority of whom will be Eritrean. Between 60 and 70 will be expatriates.

Davis says the Eritrean government has been very supportive of the Bisha Project. “Unlike some other jurisdictions in Africa, there is no government corruption in Eritrea,” he said. “The Bisha Project has received continuous support from the Eritrean government. They see mining as a significant, positive boost for their economy, which has historically been mainly agricultural.”

He says the Bisha Project represents the start of the Eritrean mining industry. “Before we began development, all the details had to be sorted out on how a mining company would work with the Eritrean government,” Davis said. “This was the first mining license to be granted and first environmental impact assessment to be carried out in Eritrea.”

Davis, who has worked with governments in Ghana and Mali, which are well-established mining jurisdictions, says it likely took an extra year and a half to two years to bring the project in Eritrea into development. “We had to sort out the license and a mining agreement with the state, as well as work through a difficult time in capital markets,” he said.

The genesis of the Bisha Project was a letter Nevsun received from a prospector from eastern Canada in 1997. “He told us that Eritrea was the place to be,” Davis said. “He said there were lots of excellent opportunities there that were being overlooked by the rest of the world.” In 1998, Nevsun sent its senior geologist to Eritrea to investigate and in 1999 Nevsun acquired several exploration licenses. In late 2002, the company discovered Bisha.

To bring the project to fruition, Davis said he has made at least 30 trips from Nevsun’s head office in Vancouver to Eritrea, with each trip lasting from a few days to a few weeks. He met regularly with officials from the Eritrean government’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Finance and ENAMCO.

ERITREA BACKGROUNDER

Eritrea became an independent state in 1993, following a 30-year war for liberation that ended in 1991. Since independence, the government of Eritrea has been rehabilitating the economy and improving the Eritreans’ standard of living. The annual growth rate of the economy returned to 7% until it was curtailed by the border dispute with neighboring Ethiopia in May 1998. In the northeast Africa, Eritrea is bounded by Sudan to the west and north, and Ethiopia and Djibouti to the south, with the Red Sea on its east coast. Eritrea covers a land surface area of about 125,000 square km and has a population of about 4 million people.

The country is home to nine ethnic groups, all with a strong sense of national unity. Tigrinya and Tigre are the most widely spoken indigenous languages. English is commonly used in the business community, while Arabic and Italian are also frequently encountered. The topography of Eritrea is exceptionally varied: a long coastal plain; an escarpment, which rises steeply to the central highlands; the low-lying western and southwestern parts of the country; and rugged mountain chains that run from the central plateau to the extreme north of the country.

Eritrea’s infrastructure is centred on a well-developed communications network that links the capital city, Asmara, to other regions of the country, including the two main sea ports of Massawa and Assab, and to neighboring countries. Asmara and Massawa have international airports, which also serve internal flights.

War destroyed much of the infrastructure and its reconstruction has been a high priority of the government. Part of the railway has been rebuilt and it is now functional from Asmara to the port of Massawa. Telecommunications facilities have also been renovated and developed and mobile phones are now widely used in and around the major towns.

ERITREA’S MINERAL POTENTIAL

Eritrea is not well explored and it is widely expected that there are many economic mineral deposits still to be discovered. The country possesses a geological setting that is favourable for both precious and base metal mineralization. Industrial minerals are also found in various locales as well as construction materials, including marble and granite. Recent exploration has shown that gold occurrences are widespread in many parts of the F E B R U A R Y 2 0 11 www.resourceworld.com 63 country. Exploration activity in the last decade has shown the presence of potentially economic gold deposits in the western lowlands and in the northern part of the country.

The average head grades in most of the historic vein gold mines active up to the late 1950s were reported to be as high as 25-45 grams/tonne, with reasonably good recoveries. Eritrea’s gold mineralization is usually hosted in quartz veins and stockworks (a network of veins), and in particular in shear zones associated with felsic volcanic rocks, dioritic intrusions and in schists (a type of metamorphosed rock) that are frequently sub-parallel to the strike of the pronounced cleavage of the host rocks. A major belt of massive sulphide deposits with gold and base-metal mineralization passes through Asmara. It includes, as well as the historically known Debarwa, the newly discovered Adi Nefas, Emba Derho and many other localities. They lie within a roughly 50 km-wide belt over a strike length of 250 km, extending for over 50 km north of Asmara to the Ethiopian border to the south.

With regard to industrial minerals, evaporite sequences outcrop, containing potash, sylvite and gypsum, have been found at Colluli, south of Bada in the Danakil Depression. Substantial deposits of the latter are also found in the Desset area, north-west of Massawa. Large deposits of common salt occur at several places along the Red Sea coast. Considerable quantities of high-quality silica are found at Merbet, already exploited for glass manufacture. In addition, deposits of silica sand with feldspar occur in various wadis.

EXPLORATION AND MINING

Exploration started in liberated Eritrea in 1996. The level of participation by foreign companies has increased significantly following the discovery of the high-grade VMS deposit at Bisha. There are 16 mining and exploration companies operating in Eritrea from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.

The companies collectively operate 34 projects. They include some advanced exploration sites (where mineral resources have been established, and, in some cases, where scoping level and feasibility studies are completed) to early-stage prospecting projects (where reconnaissance mapping is being carried out). The total area, covered by exploration and mining activities is approximately 14,000 square km. Exploration during the past 10 years has identified 3 million ounces of gold, 41 million ounces of silver, 1,600 million pounds of copper and 4,200 million pounds of zinc.

Financial Times Blog – China is not the only country intent on taking a bigger slice of Africa’s resource sector. An Australian government report out on Tuesday said 220 of the country’s mining and oil companies now operated in 42 African countries. Their projects have tripled in number to 595 in the past six years, although this has not yet translated into more commerce: two-way merchandise trade between Africa and Australia has flatlined at about A$5.4bn in recent years.

Ahead of this week’s mining Indaba, a big conference in Cape Town, Australian officials are keen to emphasise the credentials of their home-grown mining companies, presumably with an eye to building stronger economic links between the continents.

Mining is Canberra’s trump card. The Australian mining sector is one of the most developed and technologically advanced in the world and includes industry big boys like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto all the way down to tiny explorers as well as a host of equipment and service providers.

Greg Hull, Australia’s trade commissioner to sub-Saharan Africa, says much of Africa’s natural resources are still unexploited and the prices for its commodities, ranging from coal to iron ore, will be underpinned by demand from China and India.

“It’s a very competitive continent and it’s exciting compared with the mining industry in Europe and the US,” he says.

Australia’s reinvigorated interest in Africa may also have a political dimension.

Kevin Rudd, Australian’s foreign minister, wants to secure one of the non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council and Africa’s support could be crucial to that goal when the vote is taken next year.

When he met a host of African leaders during a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last month, Rudd said Australian companies had already ploughed A$20bn into African mining projects. Canberra, he added, wanted to look west across the Indian Ocean to deepen its engagement with Africa.

Please find below an excerpt from an interesting article by Dr. Alex Cowie in  ‘Diggers and Drillers’ about South Boulder Mines, Eritrea, the Red Sea and the future potential of potash in terms of increasing global demand for fertilizer products needed to improve crop efficiency and agricultural output.

I’ll be up front about this. South Boulder is a speculative investment.

It may not be for the faint of heart. Its potash deposit is still in its infancy. And it’s two or three years until production. It’s also based in one of the riskier parts of Africa, Eritrea: a country that still disputes its border with Ethiopia.

So why have I bypassed my usual insistence on low-sovereign risk countries?

Because this potash deposit is too good to miss.

South Boulder is at early exploration stage of its 100% owned Colluli potash project. Progress has been very fast here. Drilling started on the edge of the Red Sea just six months ago, and the company has already announced its first resource figure of 548 million tonnes of potash. Let me put that in context. It is already almost half the size of Potash Corp’s 1132-million-tonne resource…  currently the largest in the world. Not bad for half a year’s work.

But what is even more remarkable is that this 548-million-tonne figure only factors in THREE of the 17 holes drilled so far. The other 14 are being tested right now. And the results will be factored into a new resource figure that you can expect to see before the end of March.

The company believes the resource figure will grow much higher, as they more than doubled the upper range of the exploration target to 1250 million tonnes. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen. But it would make it the largest deposit in the world. Is it really possible?  Let’s just say I reckon they’re being conservative! If you take into account that three holes has enabled a JORC compliant 548 million tonnes (Mt) inferred resource, you could infer 17 holes gets you to over 3100 Mt.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple in mining. But even if you halve that estimate – to be safe – you’re still looking at 1550 Mt. And that still exceeds Potash Corp’s figure.  And the company is planning a lot more drilling yet.I need to point out that most of this will be in inferred category, which is only the first hierarchy of resource classification. More good drilling results between the current holes will be needed to upgrade it to a ‘measured’ resource that you could be more confident of.

The 17 drill results so far have been very consistent. But this is typical of a deposit created by an ancient sea bed drying out. Millions of years ago this was an inlet of the Red Sea.

The land changed and the inlet was cut off from the sea. So it dried up into a twenty metre thick layer of potash, which then got covered over by a shallow layer of rock.

So it’s not like a gold or copper deposit where the grade can vary from one metre to the next. Potash deposits are more like a coal deposit, where you get a predictable blanket lying across the whole basin. It’s also important to point out that they have only scratched one small corner of their exploration license…..

To read the full article please visit http://www.portphillippublishing.com.au/osi/

Please note that Diggers and Drillers requires you to subscribe  to their paid content to be able to read the full article.

Washington – Modern humans may have left Africa thousands of years earlier than previously thought, turning right and heading across the Red Sea into Arabia rather than following the Nile to a northern exit, an international team of researchers says.

Stone tools discovered in the United Arab Emirates indicate the presence of modern humans between 100,000 and 125,000 years ago, the researchers report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.

While science has generally accepted an African origin for humans, anthropologists have long sought to understand the route taken as these populations spread into Asia, the Far East and Europe. Previously, most evidence has suggested humans spread along the Nile River valley and into the Middle East about 60,000 years ago.

“There are not many exits from Africa. You can either exit” through Sinai north of the Red Sea or across the straits at the south end of the Red Sea, explained Hans-Peter Uerpmann of the Center for Scientific Archaeology of Eberhard-Karls University in Tuebingen, Germany.

“Our findings open a second way which, in my opinion, is more plausible for a massive movement than the northern route,” he said in a telephone briefing.

Because of the different climate at the time, Arabia was moister and would have been a grassland with plenty of animals for prey, he added.

And the lower sea levels at that time meant that the narrow point at the southern end of the Red Sea would have separated Africa and Arabia by between one-half and 2 1/2 miles, said Adrian G. Parker of Oxford Brookes University in England.

That should not have been a difficult crossing for people used to dealing with east African lakes and rivers where they used rafts or boats, Uerpmann said.

The techniques used to make the hand axes, scrapers and other tools found at Jebel Faya in Sharjah Emirate suggest they were produced by people coming from somewhere else, said Anthony E. Marks of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, adding that there are similar tools made about that time in East Africa.

“If these tools were not made by modern man, who might have made them?,” Marks asked. “Could Neanderthals have made them?”

Neanderthals were mainly in Europe and migrated into Russia but “there is no evidence for any Neanderthals south of that” zone at that time, he said. “To suggest one group of Neanderthals took a turn south and went several thousand kilometers … seems to me a very difficult explanation and one that doesn’t follow any reasonable logic.”

The tools were dated using optically stimulated luminescence, which is able to date the sand grains on top of the tools and determine when they were last exposed to light, explained Simon J. Armitage of the University of London.

The discovery “points convincingly to an early dispersal of (anatomically modern humans) along a southern route, from eastern Africa into South Arabia,” said G. Philip Rightmire of Harvard University, who was not part of the research team.

Rightmire said “it is reasonable to hypothesize that Arabia represents a separate center for population expansion, in addition to the northern Levantine corridor. This hypothesis remains to be tested, as new evidence is compiled.”

The research was supported by the government of Sharjah, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Humboldt Foundation, Oxford Brookes University and the German Science Foundation.

AP

Edited by Staff.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – African economic growth is heading back to pre-crisis growth levels, propelled by strong demand for its resources and increased “South-South” investment, notably from China.

Mthuli Ncube, chief economist at the African Development Bank (AfDB), said on Thursday the world’s poorest continent would see gross domestic product growth of 6.0 percent this year and, potentially, between 6.2 and 6.5 percent in 2012.

The AfDB will not give its formal economic forecasts for 2012 for a few more months. But Ncube said it was clear African economies were picking up and were on track to hit the peak growth levels of more than 6 percent seen before 2009. ”The resources side is still holding up nicely for now, as well as the diversified economies like Ethiopia,” he told reporters at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Sub-Saharan countries including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Angola and Rwanda boast some of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

A strong rebound led by demand for the continent’s commodities means 2011 is already on course to grow more rapidly than originally expected, following a recovery from the low of just 2.9 percent growth seen in 2009.

Ncube said economic activity would vary across different regions, with East Africa set to show the highest rate of growth in 2011, while South Africa was expected to record a much more modest advance of around 3 or 3-1/2 percent.

Unrest in Tunisia and Egypt also means the outlook for North Africa is now more uncertain.

China has stepped up its investment in Africa in recent years, largely in the hunt for resources, and has injected badly needed capital into infrastructure, Ncube said.

But the Chinese are not alone, with companies from both India and Brazil also more aggressive at pursuing opportunities in Africa than in the past.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, (COMESA) has procured equipment to be used in three regional laboratories meant to enhance Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) requirements. This is part of efforts by the regional bloc to establish SPS regional reference laboratories. The three laboratories are the Central Veterinary Research Institute for Animal Health in Zambia, the Food Technology laboratory for food safety of Mauritius and the Plant Inspectorate Service for Plant Health of Kenya.

This has been revealed by Dr Chungu Mwila, Director of Investment Promotion and Private Sector Development (IPPSD) at the COMESA Secretariat. Dr Mwila was speaking at the opening of the national training workshop for Zambia on SPS held in Lusaka from 12th to 14th January 2011. The training was co-organised by COMESA, the Zambian Government and the African Nations in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standard Setting Organisations Project (PAN-SPSO).

Dr Mwila pointed out that COMESA countries need to comply with SPS requirements in order for them to fully participate in the multilateral trading arena and also protect the lives and health of humans, animals and plants in the region.

“It is important to note that most African national fail to access international markets for their agricultural and food products mainly because of non compliance with SPS requirements.

SPS standards are a major part of the international trading regime and we need to conform to these rules if we are to occupy our rightful position in the international trading area,” Dr Mwila pointed out. He added that the harmonization of SPS measures in the COMESA region is hampered by several factors which include insufficient human resources capacities, insufficient institutional capacities, incompatible legislation, regulatory, inspection and certification systems. Other factors are insufficient dialogue among the relevant SPS authorities in the various Member States and inadequate participation of Member States in international fora that deal with SPS matters, particularly the standard setting processes.

It is for this reason that COMESA is working to assist Member States ensure that the SPS measures they implement conform to agreed regional and international standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health, International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).

COMESA and PAN-SPSO have teamed up and help Member States develop their capacities in SPS. After the training, it is expected that African countries will be strengthened to empower national SPS offices for effective participation in SPS standard setting activities, strengthening of a common position in SPS by African nations and at the level of Regional Economic Groupings (RECs). The technical capacity of African countries to draft standards and develop science-based arguments will have been strengthened.

So far, COMESA has trained close to 150 SPS experts in Member States at different levels in order to form a nucleus of SPS experts in the region, helping to establish the three regional labs, sensitising stakeholders at national level and adopting SPS regulations which were done in December 2009 by the COMESA Council of Ministers.

International Standards for SPS Measures are the standards, guidelines and recommendations recognized as the basis for application of SPS measures by members of the World Trade Organisation.

COMESA and PAN-SPSO are conducting the training in eight COMESA Member States namely: Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zambia.

Shabait, Asmara, 11 January 2011 – President Isaias Afwerki participated in the 50th anniversary of Chadian Independence Day today at the invitation of President Idris Debi of Chad.

The President arrived in N’djamena, the Chadian capital, in the afternoon hours yesterday to attend the anniversary celebrations.

Meanwhile, Presidents Isaias and Idris would hold talks on enhancing bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern to both countries.

The United Nations may have sounded the alarm about soaring global food prices, but in Africa a string of bumper harvests and a changing diet means the political fallout may be more muted than to past price bumps, reports Ed Cropley from Reuters.

On the financial side, a little bit of inflation will help push up domestic debt yields in the region’s frontier markets, making bonds more attractive to foreigners and thereby giving currencies a boost.

But in contrast to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s global food index hitting 2008 crisis levels last week, maize, Africa’s predominant staple, is showing few signs of stress, suggesting a repeat of the unrest of two years ago on the continent is unlikely.

South Africa, its biggest economy and maize grower, has just harvested its heaviest crop in 30 years and maize prices are 1,281 rand/tonne — 22 percent above a 2010 low but only just over half a record 2008 high of 2,240 rand.

The supply story is much the same in many other states in Africa, where food makes up a much larger chunk of the average inflation basket than developed countries, making their economies far more susceptible to food supply crunches.

A five-year fertilizer subsidy programme has caused steadily rising crops in Malawi, which had a surplus of nearly 1 million tonnes in August compared to consumption of 2.5 million.

Zambia had a maize export surplus of 1.1 million tonnes in November after its second record harvest in two years, based on good rains and growing investment in the farming sector.

Even Niger, which needed $250 million in food aid last year to help feed 10 million hungry people, said last week favourable weather had put it on course for its best cereal crop in 20 years, with a forecast surplus of 1.5 million tonnes.

“In most of the countries, we’re not seeing any meaningful food inflation. It’s trickled higher in Kenya, but if you look at the other countries, it hasn’t really moved materially,” said Leon Myburgh, an Africa economist at Citi in Johannesburg.

TENSIONS

Given Africa’s huge diversity, its 53 countries and its propensity to snatch unrest from the jaws of stability, it is too much to say, however, that it is insulated from the political risks implied by the rising global cost of food. Food price riots hit Algeria last week, and in September, 13 people were killed in street fighting in Mozambique after the government hiked bread prices 30 percent by axing subsidies it could no longer afford in the wake of a wheat price spike.

But in Kenya, which saw inflation rise to 4.5 percent in December from 3.8 percent a month earlier amid fungal damage to its wheat crop, the chances of political fallout are diminished by the country’s changing diet since the 2008 shock. According to agriculture officials, eating habits have shifted from traditional maize and wheat to include more rice, potatoes and local vegetables such as amaranth. Potatoes are now Kenya’s second-most popular foodstuff.

SHIFTING INTERESTS

Traditionally, investor interest in east Africa’s biggest economy has been limited to equities because of an idiosyncratic way of calculating inflation that was scrapped last year in favour of a more orthodox, IMF-approved formula. That outside preference for stocks may now change, especially if — as with other countries — its bond yields continue to track up, widening the spread with low-yielding U.S. and European debt.

Kenyan 3-year debt is now yielding 5.9 percent, against just 2.8 percent in August when, as with most frontier African markets barring Zambia and Ghana, domestic debt was not worth the currency risk or hassle and cost of trading.

In Nigeria, the yield on the 3-year bond has soared to 11.5 percent from 3.5 percent in March as the government spent its way through nearly $20 billion of “rainy day” oil reserves.

And in Uganda, 3-month T-bills are now yielding more than 7 percent compared with less than 4.5 percent for much of last year — although a currency at record lows against the dollar is deterring foreign interest.

That currency weakness will spur inflation in the longer term, putting more pressure on the central bank to head off the increases — something it has been reluctant to do since the emergency crisis-related easing of 2008/09. For outsiders, that balance between moderate inflation that stimulates healthy bond yields, and runaway price increases that damage overall economic performance, will be crucial.

“There’s been a huge amount of policy accommodation in Africa, and understandably, a reluctance to roll that back very quickly,” said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered in London. ”But at the same time the inflation outlook is not going to be that favourable. The big question is ‘Do domestic yields rise fast enough to compensate for that or not?’ If it’s not the case, you’re not going to see sizeable investor interest.”