As the economic winds shifted once again in the early days of June, and as investors wondered what signals they should take seriously regarding this recession – its depth and its length – the market kept returning to the common theme of gold as one of the few places they could place their money. And more and more gold exploration companies kept coming out with fresh, significant news, not the least of which Vancouver-based Appleton Exploration Inc. (TSX-Venture: AEX).
This junior exploration company’s efforts these days are focused on the advanced Manalo gold project in the prolific Birimian Gold Belt of western Africa and on the internally developed grass roots Dora gold project now advanced to the drilling stage in the Spences Bridge Gold Belt of southern British Columbia.
AEX has a corporate objective of increasing shareholder value by “directing exploration dollars into the ground to advance and develop its quality mineral properties”, according to the company website.
In early June came news out of Africa (specifically, Mali) that this area was particularly rich in the shiny yellow metal. Assay results from Manalo showed 15 reverse circulation holes with selective coring all intersected gold mineralization. One such hole returned 36.4 g/t (ounces per ton) gold over one metre; another returned 2.55 g/t gold over 7.5 metres; still another, 5.03 g/t gold over 10 metres.
Most of this year’s drilling program has been to further evaluate the large Dialafara gold soil anomaly in Mali, which has previously produced drill intercepts such as 15.64 g/t gold across 16 metres, and 29.07 g/t gold across six metres.
Optimism also abounds in the exploratory fields of southwestern B.C., where Appleton holds just over 29,000 hectares in the Spences Bridge Gold Belt. After initial assessments in 2006, Appleton focused on the Hamm area on the Stobart property within Spences Bridge during 2007 and the key Breccia Fault area on the Dora property that year and into 2008.
Bedrock chip sampling values of 0.919 g/t gold over six metres and 0.512 g/t gold over five metres were obtained from one zone, 3.01 g/t gold over two metres from another zone, 2.74 g/t gold over four metres from still another. Diamond drilling is planned for later this year.
In spite of - or perhaps because of - such news, the company’s stock remained in a range around 16 cents Canadian, almost perfectly midway between its 52-week high of 34 cents, achieved last August, and its ditch of two cents, to which AEX fell last December. But as the uncertainty continues in financial markets, and the gold belt solidified for another upward run in price, investors may wish to consider this junior exploration company.
AllPennyStocks.com
