Persian Gold said Thursday that the company has made significant progress toward becoming a gold producer in Iran.

It said detailed analysis of geochemical samples continues on the Takestan gold / silica / alunite licences and drilling will commence on the Yazd gold project in September.

Other gold projects are being evaluated.

It said gold prospects look good, with further price increases expected and demand is rising.

As an Irish company, it said it has no political baggage working in the Middle East.

Iran is a large country with 70 million people and a huge land mass and has known geological prospectivity particularly in gold, zinc and copper.

The Infrastructure, skills availability, licensing terms and working conditions in Iran are all good by international standards and there has been relatively little exploration in the recent past.

Persian Gold intends to exploit its early mover advantage into a strong long term presence in Iran.

Chah-e-Zard (70% Persian Gold option)

Best prospect for early stage gold production.

Big gold anomaly covering 1.25km x .75km.

Sampling results have been good and consistent.

Drilling programme commencing in a few weeks will test grades and depth.

First drilling results expected during autumn.

The objective is a large low cost heap leach gold discovery.

Takestan, North Western Iran

Target is a large scale gold discovery associated with alunite and silica.

Concession area reduced from 1,800 sq kms to 320 sq kms in 8 prospecting licences.

Multi-element geochemistry results are being compiled for Twin Hills, Zehabad and the entire Takestan area.

Results of this work will lead to the definition of new targets.

Talking about the future, the company said it is seeking rapid exploration and evaluation of the Yazd discovery, the continuation of the Takestan programme and the evaluation of the pipeline of interesting gold, zinc and copper projects being introduced to the company. The focus will remain on gold.