In a brief interview he conducted tonight, 28 April 2012, with the national media outlets, President Isaias Afwerki underscored that the recent rumor regarding his state of health attests to the mounting frustration on the part of its authors. (Shabait)
Chalice on track to finalise US$80m sale by late July
Symbol: ASX: CHN TSX: CXN
Shares outstanding: 250 million
Fully diluted: 258 million
Chalice Gold Mines Limited (ASX:CHN) (TSX:CXN) is pleased to advise that the Board of Shanghai Construction Group Co Ltd ("SCG") has approved the agreement to acquire Chalice's 60 per cent interest in the Zara Project in Eritrea for US$78 million plus a deferred payment of US$2 million.
As a result of the SCG Board approval, a Sale and Purchase Agreement ("the Agreement") has been executed between SCG subsidiary, China SFECO Group ("SFECO") and Chalice.
Key conditions precedent to completing the Agreement include:
the approval of Chalice Shareholders;
SFECO obtaining certain regulatory approvals within China, including those of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Asset Supervision and Administration Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange;
completion of the sale of the 30 per cent interest in the Zara Project by Chalice to ENAMCO for the outstanding balance of US$31 million. This condition remains for the benefit of Chalice, which can choose to waive it; and
SFECO obtaining certain approvals within Eritrea to confirm that it has the requisite technical and financial resources to meet its obligations in developing the Project.
All conditions are required to be met by no later than 26 July 2012.
Chalice advices that completion of the transaction with ENAMCO will now occur concurrently with the SFECO transaction rather than prior to 30 June 2012 as previously announced on 25 January 2012.
In addition, subject to completion of the sale of the Zara Project to SFECO, Chalice and Dragon Mining Limited have agreed to set aside the trailing payment of $4 million to Dragon in the event that a one million ounce Ore Reserve is delineated at the Zara Project (see announcement to the ASX on 22 June 2010) in consideration for an up-front one-off payment of $1.5 million.
Chalice was advised by Middletons and China SFECO Group was advised by Deloitte on financial and accounting matters, Pinsent Masons LLP on legal matters and Golders on technical mining issues.
TIM GOYDER Executive Chairman
Forward Looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and Chalice Gold Mines Limited (the Company) does not intend, and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law or regulation.
This document may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and Chalice Gold Mines Limited (the Company) does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law or regulation.
Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect Company management's expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the likelihood of exploration success, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage, as well as the possibility that a sale of the Zara Gold Project may be consummated.
In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of mineral resources; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; completion of the sale of the Zara Gold Project to SFECO; the tax payable on any such transaction; completion of the sale of a 30% interest in the Zara Gold Project to the Eritrean National Mining Corporation; the use of any sale proceeds received from the sale of the Zara Gold Project; as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Eritrea has sought to quash speculation about President Isaias Afewerki's health, saying he was "fit as a fiddle" and lambasting the United States for spreading "lies" over his condition.
Rumours have been rife in the past few years that Isaias, 66 and in power since 1993 after leading his country to independence from Ethiopia, was in poor health and required regular trips abroad for treatment.
Speculation about his health has stirred up debate over who might eventually replace the reclusive leader. Isaias has no obvious successor but the opposition says he might be grooming his son, Abraham, for the top job.
U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have also mentioned the possibility of the military elite trying to take over power in the Red Sea state.
Eritrea refuted speculation about his health late on Sunday in a special announcement aired by the information ministry on state television and later broadcast on the Internet.
"There has been widespread speculation in the past few weeks that President Isaias has fallen seriously ill," the broadcast said.
"We would like to announce that President Isaias is fit as a fiddle and is in the best of health under all criteria," it added in remarks translated from the Tigrinya language.
Eritrea's exiled opposition has alleged on numerous occasions that the president is suffering from a serious liver ailment and that he has been receiving medical attention in Qatar, with which his nation has close ties.
In a move aimed at highlighting his good health, the broadcast showed a montage of Isaias sporting a baseball cap and making a short dash down a dirt track as he waved to bystanders in light rain.
It also pictured the leader snapping pictures with a point-and-shoot camera, then walking up a slope and posing as he smiled alongside other men on the banks of a reservoir.
Eritrea accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of spreading the "lies" surrounding its leader's health.
In a leaked cable from the U.S. embassy in the capital Asmara, former U.S. ambassador Ronald McMullen said Isaias feared the U.S. would try to kill him by firing a missile on his residence in the coastal city of Massawa.
Asmara often criticises Washington which it says backs its arch rival Ethiopia in the two countries' frontier dispute.
"Those lies emanate from Langley with the CIA being the rumour-mongers," said the television announcement, referring to the intelligence agency's headquarters.
Eritrea and Ethiopia have been at loggerheads since their 1998-2000 border war, which killed 70,000 people, and they accuse one another of backing the other's rebels and working to topple the other's government.
Isaias accused Washington last month of plotting Ethiopian cross-border raids that targeted alleged rebel camps. (Editing by George Obulutsa and Maria Golovnina)
Eritrea’s government denied accusations by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that it was responsible for abducting more than 100 gold miners in northwestern Ethiopia.
The incident, which took place “recently,” was one of a series that prompted a counter-offensive by Ethiopian forces on March 15, when they attacked three military bases inside Eritrea used by rebels to attack Ethiopia, Meles told lawmakers yesterday in the capital, Addis Ababa. He didn’t provide a more specific timeframe on when the abductions took place.
“It has become the modus operandi of Ethiopia to blame everything on Eritrea,” Girma Asmerom, Eritrea’s ambassador to the African Union, said in an interview today. “They think by lying and lying the lies may be perceived to be true.”
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a war from 1998 to 2000 that killed 70,000 people, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Last month’s attack in southeastern Eritrea followed the January killing of five European tourists by Eritrea-backed insurgents, according to Ethiopia. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s government denied any involvement in the incident.
Cross-border abductions such as those carried out in Ethiopia’s northwestern Tigray region occur regularly, Ethiopian Communications Bereket Simon said in a phone interview today from Addis Ababa, without providing further details.
“The proportional measure was taken in account of all the misdeeds,” he said. A return to all-out war is unlikely, Meles said yesterday.
UN Sanctions
Eritrea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2009 for allegedly supporting rebels in the Horn of Africa region, including al-Qaeda-backed militants in Somalia. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing groups including the rebel Ethiopian Unity and Freedom Force, which yesterday claimed responsibility for an attack on Metema town in Ethiopia’s Amhara region on April 11.
About 20 buildings, including the Khartoum Hotel, were burned down, the group said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. Many of the properties were owned by members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which is a member of Ethiopia’s five-party ruling coalition and led by Meles, the EUFF said.
The rebel organization, which was established in June, also said it attacked a convoy in which the governor of Sudan’s Gadarif state was travelling on April 9.
While the claims are the “usual fabrications”, all such groups are supported or “directly manipulated” by Eritrea, according to Bereket.
Eritrea does not want to destabilize its neighbors by backing rebel groups, according to Girma.
“It has selfish interests in a stable, united and developed Ethiopia and Sudan,” he said. “They are big markets.”
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson in Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused Eritrea on Tuesday of abducting dozens of Ethiopian miners from the country's northwest, in a potential escalation of tension between the arch-enemies.
Ethiopian troops crossed into the Red Sea state last month and attacked what they said were military bases used by rebels to stage raids, including a January attack that killed five Western tourists in Ethiopia's remote Afar region.
These attacks were the first on Eritrean soil that Ethiopia has admitted to since the end of a devastating 1998-2000 border war, sparking concern that their unresolved frontier spat could escalate into a full-scale war.
"They (Eritrean government) recently kidnapped more than 100 young miners who were mining gold in our country's northwest. And in the northeast, they killed some tourists and kidnapped others," Meles said, the latter referring to the January raid.
"We have taken proportional measures in both locations," he told lawmakers in response to a question on relations with Eritrea.
Meles did not specify when and exactly where the abductions in the country's northwest Tigray region took place, nor the measures his country had subsequently taken.
Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment, but they often dismiss their rivals' allegations as a ploy to harm Eritrea's reputation.
Ethiopia routinely accuses Asmara of supporting Ethiopian separatist groups. It blamed an Afar rebel movement for the kidnapping of Westerners in its northern Afar region in 2007, and again for the attack in the same area earlier this year.
Gunmen killed two Germans, two Hungarians and an Austrian in a dawn attack on a group of tourists in the remote Afar region on January 17, and seized two Germans and two Ethiopians.
A rebel group in the Afar region said in February it had freed the two Germans, although there has been no official confirmation of the release.
After the border war, the Hague-based Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission ruled that the flashpoint town of Badme belonged to Eritrea but the village remains in the hands of its neighbor, which is calling for negotiations to implement the ruling.
Asmara blames the international community for the impasse, and President Isaias Afewerki last month accused the United States of plotting the Ethiopian raids.
Ethiopia is Washington's biggest ally in the Horn of Africa region and has deployed troops in lawless Somalia to fight al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Somalia.
"The military incursions were plotted by Washington with the aim of diverting attention from implementing the boundary commission's decision," Isaias said in an interview with state television.
The third round Shingrwa contest that commenced on 19th of March 2011and conducted in five stages was finalized on 15th of March 2012 and was live broadcast on EriTV.
At the ceremony conducted in Cinema Roma in the presence of Government officials and invited guests, Mr. Arefaine Berhe, Minister of Agriculture, said that the Shingrwa program has multifold advantages for it is a program with which our cultural diversity was reflected, young artists emerged, and gives impetus to the development of our national culture. He further called on the sustainability of the program.
The six finalists presented one cultural and one modern song each, and according to the verdict of the judges Ms. Meriam Shawush emerged the first star of Shingrwa contest and became the winner of special award and 100,000 Nakfa. Yohannes Habteab stood second and received 70,000 Nakfa and Simon Kahsai third and won 50,000 Nakfa.
Financial awards was also given to the other competitors who stood fourth, fifth and sixth.
A number of observers described this round Shingrwa contest unique for the first stage was conducted in the six administrative regions in which our cultural diversity was reflected and strong competitors observed.
In the first stage of the third round of Shingrwa contest there were 360 competitors, 100 in the second stage out of which 30 made it to the third stage, 10 to the fourth stage and 6 finalists.
Eritrea refused a request by current President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to release the three Yemeni naval soldiers who have been held in Eritrea for over three years.
Hadi made it clear to the Eritrean foreign minister who visited Yemen last month that Eritrea has to release the three naval soldiers who were taken prisoners because they unintentionally entered the African neighbor territorial waters and that it should stop its repeated assaults and attacks on Yemeni fishermen.
Apparently, Eritrea ignored Hadi's calls though it promised to follow up the case.
The family of the naval officer, Adel Abdullah Haza al-Sharabi, who has been imprisoned in Eritrea for three years, demanded that the government assume its role and spare not effort in making sure that al-Sharabi and his colleagues be released, and thanked the interest showed by Hadi in the case.
It called on the Ministry of Interior to keep constant contact with the Eritrean authorities and ensure that al-Sharabi and his colleagues be released as soon as possible.
For his part, Abdu al-Qarashi, a tribal damnatory from Sharab area of Taiz, said that when Yemen has captured an Eritrean soldier, the Eritrean government has quickly sent its foreign minister to Sana'a to negotiate his release.
Its now our turn to send our foreign minister to Eritrea to negotiate the release of Yemeni captured soldiers, said al-Qarashi.
Al-Sharabi, and two other soldiers were captured by the Eritrean authorities when powerful wind forced their boat to enter the African country's territorial waters whilst on their way to Al-Zubier Island.
Sunridge Gold Corp. (CVE:SGC)(OTCQX:SGCNF) Tuesday received the final resource estimate update for the Gupo gold deposit in Eritrea, the fourth deposit that forms the basis of the Asmara North prefeasibility study.
Total contained metal at the Asmara project, on a measured and indicated basis, now stands at 1.27 billion pounds of copper, 2.6 billion pounds of zinc, 930,000 ounces of gold and 28.36 million ounces of silver.
Total measured and indicated resources at Asmara amount to 76.09 million tonnes.
The Asmara North deposits include the Emba Derho volcanogenic-massive-sulphide (VMS) copper-zinc-gold deposit, the Adi Nefas zinc-gold-copper VMS deposit and the Gupo gold deposit.
The prefeasibility study for Asmara North is also considering the possibility of processing ore from the Debarwa copper-zinc-gold VMS deposit at Asmara at a centralized mill near the Emba Derho deposit. This study is expected to be complete later in April.
In January, the company said it expects a feasibility study for the Debarwa copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit at Asmara in the first quarter of this year, which will examine the potential for a stand-alone open-pit mine and process plant at the deposit over a seven year mine life.
"All four deposits on Sunridge's Asmara project now have updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimates completed as part of the current prefeasibility study on the Asmara North and the feasibility study on Debarwa," Sunridge president and CEO Michael Hopley said.
"We expect that most of these resources will be converted to reserves in the preliminary feasibility study and management looks forward to a very positive study."
Gupo is the smallest of the four deposits on the Asmara project and is being examined in the prefeasibility study as a possible source of feed for a centralized gold recovery plant that would include the gold caps from the Emba Derho and Debarwa deposits.
The new resource estimate at Gupo gave an indicated resource of 951,800 tonnes at a cut-off grade of 0.5 grams per tonne gold (g/t), with an average grade of 1.53 g/t containing 46,780 ounces of gold.
Gold mineralization at Gupo extends intermittently over a strike length of approximately 1.6 kilometres and is associated with stockwork quartz veins and a sericite alteration halo controlled by a shear zone 10 to 30 metres in width.
The deposit crops out at surface where there are several shallow pits resulting from artisanal mining during the Italian colonial period. Drilling by Sunridge has shown mineralization to extend up to 150 metres vertically from surface and in many locations is open to depth, the company said.
In February, Sunridge unveiled significantly increased resources for both the Emba Derho and Adi Nefas deposits.
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.
Full details of Asmara's resources can be found on the Sunridge Gold website: http://www.sunridgegold.com
Eritrea President Isaias Afeworki has urged the UN Security Council to launch an independent inquiry over recent Ethiopian military attacks against his country.
In his letter to the UN, President Afeworki accused the US of financing and providing intelligence support to the Ethiopian attackers.
Last month, Ethiopian authorities confirmed a missile strike and a ground military foray inside Eritrean territory.
The places attacked were Ramid, Gelahbe and Gimbi, some 16km inside south-eastern Eritrea.
Addis Ababa said the attack targeted "military posts that have been used to organise, finance and train terrorist groups".
The attack, apparently, was against a rebel group which was involved in a previous abduction and killing of five Western tourists.
Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union Front (ARDUF) had claimed a responsibility for the abduction of the tourists, but blamed Addis Ababa for their deaths during an exchange of fire as Ethiopian troops launched a rescue mission.
Two Germans, two Austrians and one Hungarian were killed in the January attack on the slopes of Ethiopia's famed Erta Ale volcano, in the desolate Afar border region.
Ethiopia insisted Eritrea was behind the abductions, a charge Asmara denied.
The two countries remain bitter foes since they fought a bloody war in 1998-2000 in which more than 80,000 people died.
While condemning Ethiopia's latest incursion, Eritrea said it had no plans to retaliate.
In a ruling published on Sunday, the Jerusalem District Court announced that it had sentenced an Eritrean man to 20 years in prison last week, after convicting him of his wife's manslaughter.
Alam Tiama stabbed his wife to death last year. The couple were residing in Israel without a residency permit.
According to the original indictment, Tiama met his wife at the bus stop, and the two spoke. As the couple began to walk down the street, Tiama pulled out a knife and stabbed his wife in the throat, then continued to stab and kick her before fleeing the scene and throwing away the knife.
Tiama was originally charged with murder, which attracts a mandatory life sentence. However, he was convicted of manslaughter under a plea bargain agreed between his defense lawyers and the state attorney's office. A murder charge requires that the defendant planned to kill his victim beforehand, and in the plea bargain Tiama's lawyers argued that he had lost control in the heat of the moment and had not planned to kill his wife.
Both the prosecution and the defense agreed that Tiama should receive the maximum sentence for manslaughter of 20 years in prison.
Since Tiama's arrest, he was hospitalized in a closed psychiatric facility where he received "significant psychiatric care", his lawyer, attorney David Halevy, said.
Tiama suffers from schizophrenia, Halevy added.
Halevy asked the court to consider allowing Tiama to serve his sentence in his home country of Eritrea, should it be possible for Eritrea and Israel to come to an agreement over the matter.
Yemeni President Abdo Rabu Mansour Hadi called on the Eritrean authorities to release Yemeni soldiers who are held in Eritrean jails since three years.
During his meeting with Eritrean Foreign Minister Othman Saleh, who left Sanaa earlier on Saturday after paying a short visit to Yemen, President Hadi has requested to set free lieutenant colonel Adel Abdullah Al-Shar'abi and the soldiers Ibrahim Saleh and Othman Abdullah, Yemeni News Agency said.
The three detainees were arrested when they were sailing in a small boat and lost their way outside the territorial waters inadvertently.
Yemeni Minstry of Defense announced that the three personnel were missing in January 2010, after the change of sea-condition where waves pushed their boat to an Eritrean island near Sudan.
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