BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ResourceInvestor.com) – Gold and Persia have been intertwined since ancient times. Gold has been mined in the area of Tepe Gairua on the Iranian plateau since 3,000 B.C.

The peace seeking Persian Empire at its peak controlled every known source of gold from the Indus River to the Nile and into the Balkans. The great city of Persepolis in Iran was built by Darius I using his gold hoards.

In recent times less has been heard about Iranian gold even though major gold producers have been and are active in the country. Around 300 tons of gold are bought and sold in Iran each year according to estimates.

Persian Gold is an AIM-listed UK company setup to identify and exploit gold opportunities in Iran. Using new gold exploration techniques, which have resulted in some large gold discoveries in South America, a 1,800 square kilometers license has been secured.

Several targets have been identified and a detailed rock-sampling program has commenced. The property is located in the northwest part of Iran as noted by the star northwest of Tehran and next to the Caspian Sea. Persian Gold Chairman John Teeling said: “The Persian Gold project is new and different. Using the most modern exploration techniques available we are exploring in areas with few, if any, historic gold discoveries. We are employing an exploration model which has proven successful in finding large gold deposits in South America.”

Northwestern Iran is known to contain some of the largest concentrations of the mineral, alunite, in the world. Persian Gold has been granted concessions over a number of these known alunite deposits and is the first company to explore this area for gold. Initial exploration work has identified significant quartz-alunite alteration in the Tertiary volcanic rocks within the concession area. While sampling is still in its initial stages, Persian Gold has already discovered anomalous gold values up to 2 g/t from this area where second phase sampling and further exploration is warranted. The current concessions cover almost 1,800 square kilometers. This is being whittled down. Three exploration licenses covering 120 square kilometers have been applied for and approval anticipated. Three additional licenses will be sought.

The geologic similarities between the volcanic belt of northwestern Iran and the part of the Andean volcanic belt of South America which hosts six large gold deposits, are striking. Persia is an ancient gold producer, so the company is looking for additional gold opportunities in this region and throughout Iran.

In November 2004, the Minister of Industry and Mines granted Persian Gold a mineral exploration concession covering an area of 1,800 square kilometers. This concession is situated directly northwest of the town of Takestan, which is located approximately 140 kilometers northwest of the capital city of Tehran. A major highway running through the northwestern part of the country is located along the southern edge of Persian Gold’s license area. The concession covers an area of the Alborz Mountain Range where numerous copper, zinc, gold and alunite occurrences are hosted primarily in Tertiary (Eocene-Miocene) volcanic rocks.

Within Persian Gold’s concession area there are historic mines containing a mineral inventory of approximately 900,000 tons at a grade of 11% combined Zn-Pb, 0.5% Cu, 1.5 g/t Au and 40 g/t Ag. This area, known as the Zeh-Abad deposit, is located adjacent to one of the larger areas of quartz-alunite-clay alteration in the north-central part of the concession.

A geochemical sampling program was initiated on the southern part of Persian Gold’s concession in late 2004 to sample outcrops of the zones of silica-alunite. Sample traverses were plotted on topographic maps and three sample teams are in the process of collecting rock chip samples on 100-metre centers along the traverse lines. Over 3,000 samples were collected by the end of May 2005. The samples are prepared in Tehran and analyzed by OMAC labs in Ireland.

To date, sampling by Persian Gold has uncovered anomalous gold from traces up to 2 g/t. Historic sampling by the Iranian Geologic Survey has recorded gold values up to 2.9 g/t.

Gold in alunite sands

In the recent past, a number of very large gold deposits of this specific type have been discovered and put into production by some of the world’s largest mining companies. This type of deposit is known as a Quartz-Alunite Gold Deposit where large volumes of predominately Tertiary volcanic rocks are altered to the minerals, quartz and alunite, which contain economic concentrations of gold. This type of deposit is best known in South America where six world-class gold deposits contain the characteristic hydrothermal alteration minerals of quartz and alunite.

On July 31, 2006, Persian Gold shares were up 49% to 24.5 pence after the company released encouraging sampling results from its Chah-e-Zard gold project in Iran.

Today, shares are trading at 31.75 pence on AIM.

The company is set to start drilling in the next two weeks.