I don't believe that the mentioned "African Gold Zimbabwe" is AFG, but the article does demonstrate rapid resurgence of E&P in Zimbabwe:

Mining Giants Plan Massive Diamond Prospecting

The Herald (Harare)

January 22, 2004
Posted to the web January 22, 2004

Harare

MINING giants, De Beers Zimbabwe Prospecting Limited and Circle Three Mining Corporation are proposing a massive diamond prospecting project that will see the two companies prospecting for the mineral in Gweru, Harare, Bulawayo and Kadoma mining districts.

The two mining companies intend to prospect for diamond in areas covering a total of 448 180 hectares.


Another company, African Gold Zimbabwe, has also undertaken to prospect for gold on two areas measuring 120 550 hectares within the Harare and Gweru mining districts.

De Beers Zimbabwe Prospecting Limited, Circle Three Mining Corporation and African Gold Zimbabwe have applied to the Mining Affairs Board for an exclusive prospecting order for 12 areas under the four mining districts.

In the latest issue of the Government gazette, the Mining Affairs Board said De Beers, Circle Three Mining and African Gold Zimbabwe intend to prospect for diamonds and gold over an area of approximately 568 730 hectares from the three areas.

"The applicants intend to prospect for diamond within the areas, which have been reserved against prospecting pending determination of this application.

"Prospecting authority is sought upon registered base mineral blocks within the reservation," read part of the notice.

One of the two diamond prospecting projects to be undertaken by Circle Three Mining measures 65 000 hectares and is bounded by a line commencing on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border approximating five kilometres.

All areas, which have been earmarked for prospecting are within the 15 000 hectares and 65 000 hectares range and are mostly in the traditional mineral bearing areas of the country.

The proposal to prospect for diamond in the country comes at a time when the US$41 million Murowa Diamond Mine has started to operate following the successful relocation of 141 families which were on the mining site.

Mining is one of the sectors which has been depressed over the last five years but some of the players in the industry have said investors should look at non-traditional minerals.

An example that is often given is that of platinum, which is fast becoming the world's most lucrative mineral.

The mining of diamond in Zimbabwe is also fast gaining pace and it is expected that some of the mining projects would create a lot of employment.

Relevant Links

Southern Africa
Mining
Zimbabwe

LONDON (AFX) - African Gold PLC, which has transformed itself from a small miner in Zimbabwe to a company active in exploration in West Africa, said its full-year pretax losses widened but that it is optimistic for the future.

Pretax losses widened to 245,586 stg in the year to end March from 121,287 stg in the year-earlier period as sales dropped to 8,833 stg from 27,576 stg.

In May, the AIM-listed gold miner bought 70 pct of three mining licences covering 125 sq km in the Konongo/Owere district of the Ashanti gold belt in Ghana. It now has four gold properties in Ghana.

The company said two gold acquisitions in Africa are under evaluation.

It also said excellent drill results are being obtained on the Konongo gold property in Ghana.

In Zimbabwe it said its operations, which were on care and maintenance for the past few years, are being revived.

The company is optimistic for the future.

'Gold looks good, Africa is improving, commodities may be in the early stage of long and overdue, price rise,' said chairman John Teeling.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

So the rally was short lived. Well I'm holding for 20p and will not be selling before then. Always bought in with long term view. I must say I'm a bit surprised why it has gone WELL below 9p as institutions bought in then. I bet they will be well cheesed off.

AFG leading the miners up today

Up 20% now

why is it shooting today?

SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) - Gold futures closed near 425 usd an ounce Friday to
close at their highest level in six months, gaining more than 3 usd for the
week, as a weaker-than-expected US jobs report fueled a steep drop in the
dollar.
"[The] weaker job-growth than forecast, combined with falling consumer
confidence, runaway energy prices and constant geopolitical tensions worldwide,
have given gold all the ingredients necessary for a run to new highs in the
coming days and weeks," said Peter Grandich, editor of The Grandich Letter, an
investment advisory publication.
Data on US employment Friday showed that the economy added fewer jobs than
expected in September.
The news sent the dollar reeling and that, in turn, sent more investors to
gold as a hedge against financial losses.
Against this backdrop, gold for December delivery climbed 5 usd to close at
424.50 usd an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange after peaking at 426
usd. It hasn't closed at a level this high since April 7. Last Friday gold
closed at 421.20 usd.
"Ahead of the US election, we would not be surprised if some moderate asset
reallocation out from US dollar-denominated assets into euro-denominated assets
would occur," said Frederic Panizzutti, an analyst at MKS Finance in Geneva.
"Any such move would ... result in a somewhat temporary stronger euro, and
ultimately help gold to strengthen."
"Gold is rather poised to play one more time its short-term safe heaven
role," he said. "New highs seem fairly possible in October."
Kevin Kerr, a senior trader at Kwest International believes the next target
for gold is 428 usd. The contract peaked at an intraday level of 436.50 usd on
April 1 -- that was the highest futures level in about 15 years.
But Dale Doelling, a chief market commentator at Bullion.com, warned,
"Volatility is off the charts, so we'll need to watch gold closely here."
"If the market can hold these levels, then new highs will likely be made
soon. If they can't, we could see gold move lower very quickly," he said.
"Gold is also getting a boost form the rest of the metals complex, including
industrial metals like copper," said Kerr.
December copper climbed 4.2 cents to close at 1.4695 usd a pound. Futures
prices for the metal have been trading at levels not seen in the futures market
since 1995. It's up almost 5 pct for the week.
Silver, which is both a precious and industrial metal, tacked on 7.8 cents
to end at 7.295 usd an ounce, trading at levels not see since mid-March. It's
also up about 5 pct from last Friday.
Tracking inventories, copper supplies were down 249 short tons at 47,475
short tons late Thursday, according to Nymex.
Silver stocks were unchanged at 107 mln troy ounces, while gold inventories
stood at 5.12 mln troy ounces, also flat from the previous session.
Elsewhere in the metals market, December palladium closed at 234.45 usd an
ounce, up 1 usd, while the January platinum contract rose 4.70 usd to end the
day at 843 usd an ounce.
In equities, major metals mining indexes closed higher, mirroring strength
in the metals futures.
"Believing higher gold prices are in the cards, mining shares should be
among the groups seeing positive money flows for the foreseeable future," said
Grandich.
The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index rose 2.1 pct to close at 104.26
points, its highest level since early April. It's up 3.2 pct for the week.
The CBOE Gold Index added 2.6 pct to end at 95.16 points, a level not seen
since January. It's up from last week's close of 91.5.
The Amex Gold Bugs Index closed at 237.44 points, up 2.6 pct. It hasn't
traded at levels this high since mid-February and it's up 3.5 pct for the week.
/mas

US close (Friday): Gold breaks higher on dollar woes
October 8 (DowJones) -- Gold futures on the Comex division bolted $5 an ounce higher Friday on fund and trade buying, spurred by the drop seen in the U.S. dollar in the wake of a weaker-than-expected U.S. employment report. The most active Dec contract settled $5 higher at $424.50 per ounce. U.S. non-farm payrolls grew by 96,000 jobs during September ... the report was weaker than what had been expected by analysts. The Labor Department said employers also created fewer jobs in August than first estimated. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.4%. The news applied pressure to the U.S. currency, and rendered dollar alternatives such as gold more appealing to investors. With sentiment in the gold market already firm because of the strength seen in oil prices, sellers of gold proved sporadic and were easily overrun by the fund and trade buying, dealers said. However, earnest bullion bank and trade selling appeared at $426 to cap Dec futures prices on the early charge, and the selling in that area kept that level out of reach for the rest of the day. But, as the U.S. dollar remains on the back foot and oil prices linger near historic highs, speculators are expected to remain friendly toward gold over coming days to cushion prices on any fall and keep overhead targets such as $428 and $430 in view.

http://www.usagold.com/DailyQuotes.html

up 10% today. if this hold up we may be going back to 14p within 4/6 months

Was up yesterday and is holding up. A good sign fro things to come.

Great drilling report up 13%

RNS Number:3203E
African Gold PLC
21 October 2004



AFRICAN GOLD PLC the AIM listed gold miner is pleased to announce the following:



Further Gold discoveries at Konongo in Ghana



Highlights:

* A further nine drill holes contain good gold mineralisation, these are in
addition to the five results reported in September.
* Three of the new holes contain grades of 10 grams or greater over widths
of 5 metres or greater.
* All fourteen drill holes analysed have commercial grade gold.
* Results are awaited from additional holes.
* Drilling is ongoing.



African Gold is pleased to report substantial gold mineralisation in nine
additional holes drilled in our Konongo gold property in the Ashanti Gold Belt
in Ghana. These results follow the noteworthy discoveries in the first five
holes announced September 27th.



All nine holes contain good gold grades. The best results are 10.77 g/t gold
over seven metres in hole 6, 11.28 g/t gold over 5 metres in hole 10 and 11.12 g
/t gold over 7.9 metres in hole 14. The latest results of the drilling programme
are as follows:




Hole No. From(m) To(m) Interval(m) g/t Gold

OBAPC -006 105.0 106.26 1.26 7.24
108.0 109.0 1.0 5.23
110.0 117.0 7.0 10.77
118.0 120.0 2.0 2.90

OBAPC-007 91.7 93.25 1.55 1.78
104.0 105.0 1.0 3.20

OBAPC-008 127.0 128.0 1.0 6.98
143.0 145.0 2.0 5.02

OBAPC-009 104.0 107.0 3.0 4.50
OBAPC-010 85.0 90.1 5.1 11.28
OBAPC-011 140.9 146.0 5.2 3.60
OBAPC-012 115.0 117.0 2.0 2.55
145.0 147.2 2.2 7.85

OBAPC-013 130.0 132.0 2.0 4.60
OBAPC-014 109.3 115.0 5.8 4.10
141.0 148.9 7.9 11.12






A number of further holes have been completed and are being analysed. Results
will be reported in the near future. Drilling continues.



John Teeling co-chairman said, "We now have 14 holes all reporting commercial
grade gold mineralisation. The current drilling programme is on one of nine ore
bodies on our licence, all showing similar geological characteristics. We
estimated a gold resource of 900,000 ounces. This looks easily obtainable and
may be conservative."



Contacts:



John Teeling + 353 (1) 833 2833



Adrian Lungan +233 (24465) 6485

I like the bit in the last paragraph where John Teeling says,we estimaated a gold resource of 900,000 ounces. This looks easily OBTAINABLE and may be CONSERVATIVE.

I agree, this is only one of many projects and 900 000 ounces of gold, a conservative estimate. Given the market cap, you have to say that AFG is very good value!

Is this a BUY?

It's a very good buy at 5.88p, DYOR

wow ! Gold $428+ today, certainly is looking interesting for gold industry.

surprised by the lack of interest given the gold price relative to it's all time highs, investors now seek oil as the major play but are they doing this at the expense of high quality gold explorers with high risk/rewards ratio's such as Mano and AFG? Is there another mini bubble developing in the smaller oil stocks? AFG is a good investment for the long term at this price IMHO!

Moving up ahead of tomorrows AGM.

AGM Statement

African Gold PLC
27 October 2004



27th October 2004


Highlights of comments made by John Teeling, Co-Chairman,
12.00 noon at the
AGM, London,
October 27th 2004

This year, with new projects, directors and a major infusion of capital,
African Gold has been transformed into a major African gold explorer.


The acquisition of four substantial projects in the Ashanti Gold belt of
Ghana has established a solid basis on which to build a major gold-producing
company.


In Ghana, drilling of the Konongo / Owere property has resulted in a 100%
success rate with every hole intersecting economic grade gold
mineralisation.


Five out of fourteen holes intersected a very wide, high-grade,
gold-mineralised zone, e.g. 16m @ 12.6g/t Au.


The on-going drill-programme at Konongo is aimed at proving up in excess
of one million ounces of gold. Based on the resources defined to date, a
mine capable of producing 100,000 oz Au per annum is believed to be
achievable.


At the Banka property, due south of Konongo, recent exploration has
defined a significant wide zone of Banket conglomerate in excess of 2.2km
long.


In Zimbabwe, the company is still active and the Inez Gold Mine is
currently being refurbished and additional gold reserves are being proven up
at depth. Ten new gold licences have been awarded to the company.


The company aims to become a significant independent London-listed
African based gold mining entity within the next three years.


Contacts:

John Teeling + 353 (1) 833 2833
Oliver Baring + 44 (207) 6545588

African Gold is an AIM listed company (AFG) with gold mining interests in Africa

Sunday papers

African Gold expected to receive up to 3m in funding next week from institutional investors to develop gold mines in Ghana ahead of a larger fundraising next year