East Africa-focused gold producer Shanta Gold has intersected high-grade mineralisation over significant widths during the second phase of its Bauhinia Creek (BC) drilling campaign at the New Luika gold mine (NLGM) in Tanzania.
This provided further evidence of the continuity of the orebody to the west of BC Central where high-grade results were intercepted in May.
BC is one of three active sources of ore currently being mined at NLGM.
Results from the Phase 2 drilling include hole CSD122, which intersected 16.02 m grading 9.36 g/t gold; hole CSD123, which intersected 7.07 m grading 16.10 g/t gold; and hole CSD119, which intersected 2.43 m grading 5.26 g/t gold.
The new area is below the existing mineral reserves at BC and exhibits higher grades and widths at depth.
The strike length of high-grade mineralisation below the existing reserves is estimated at 280 m and remains open at depth.
The new high-grade intersections announced in Phase 1 in May, Phase 2 in June and the previous drill hole CSD055 (8 m grading 8.52 g/t gold) are outside the existing mineral reserves and will be incorporated into the mine plan.
An updated mineral resource estimate and life-of-mine extension will be released in July.
“These are some of the best exploration results yet at New Luika and it is of great encouragement to see such exceptional grades and widths as we go deeper into the orebody,” Shanta CEO Eric Zurrin commented in a statement released on Thursday.
“The vertical level of the current mine plan is only 250 m below the portal and we look forward to further exploring these high-grade extensions in the second half of 2019,” he added.