Chaarat Gold Holdings expects to increase its resource in West Kyrgyzstan after encouraging drilling results.

Based in the British Virgin Islands, AIM-quoted Chaarat says drilling on the C5300 project area in its 100 per cent-owned Chaarat licence in West Kyrgyzstan has shown some pleasing intersections. These include 15.71 metres with 5.17 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, 11.5 metres at 6.28 grammes a tonne and 7.6 metres at 7.65 grammes a tonne.

The company, which issued an inferred and indicated resource of 3.14 million oz of gold at an average 4.41 grammes a tonne in April, says latest drilling results will increase that figure. Chief executive officer Dekel Golan says Chaarat plans to ‘establish a low-cost bulk mining operation’ and argues the company is now in a position ‘greatly to accelerate the drilling operation and the delineation of additional resources in this area’.

Floated last November at 60p, Chaarat shares have fallen along with many exploration plays, though at 36.5p they are at least 2p up from their bottom, valuing the company at £26.2 million. As they move into production, their performance could improve, by comparison with some sector peers.

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Chaarat Gold Holdings	AIM	£7.19m	10.00p	0.00p
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Other company articles:
Grade cheer at Chaarat			05/08/2008
Central Asian excursions			02/06/2008
Golan scales Asian heights			28/04/2008
Exploration Insights			28/04/2008
Gold boost at Chaarat			24/04/2008