Shanta Gold upbeat on latest drilling results from New Luika

East Africa-focussed gold producer Shanta Gold reported positive surface exploration drilling results from its ongoing exploration programmes within its existing mining licences at the New Luika Gold Mine (NLGM) in south western Tanzania on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following a detailed review of the exploration portfolio over the last 12 months, new targets within the existing mining licences at NLGM were identified.

It said two such high-potential targets included Bauhinia Creek (BC) North and Elizabeth Hill (EH) North.

Exploration drilling at BC North and EH North had intersected encouraging mineralisation with sizeable widths, which the board said suggested “significant” potential for additional resources to add to the mine plan.

It explained that BC North was located around 300 metres to the north of the high grade BC deposit, which was currently being mined from underground at NLGM, and about three kilometres to the west of the NLGM processing plant.

A total of 19 drill holes, representing 2,762 metres, had been completed over three phases.

It said hole BNRC013 intersected four metres grading 8.38 grams per tonne of gold, and six metres grading 8.62 grams per tonne.

Hole BNRC009 intersected four metres grading 8.94 grams per tonne of gold, hole BNRC017 intersected three metres grading 5.41 grams per tonne, hole BNRC001 intersected four metres grading 3.83 grams per tonne, and hole BNRC018 intersected 10 metres grading 3.43 grams per tonne.

At EH North, which was located around four kilometres to the east of the NLGM processing plant, Shanta said the phase 1 drilling programme was designed to infill the previously wide spaced drill fences, aimed to test the down-dip continuity of the orebody at a 30-metre vertical depth.

A total of 24 drill holes representing 2,316 metres had been completed over two phases, with hole CSR525 intersecting nine metres grading 6.62 grams per tonne of gold and hole CSR522 intersecting nine metres grading 5.56 grams per tonne.

Hole CSR518 intersected eight metres, grading 3.29 grams per tonne of gold.

Shanta Gold said the strike lengths of the BC North and EH North mineralised structures were estimated to be 150 metres and 350 metres respectively, and remained open at depth.

Drilling was continuing at depth and along strike at both targets, the board added, with additional results expected in the fourth quarter.

The results of the drilling campaign and the second drilling campaign in the fourth quarter would be combined and analysed, with an updated mineral resource estimate and resultant life-of-mine extension expected in the next few months.

“With mine life extension at New Luika a continuing priority for Shanta, it is exciting to see these latest results from our focused drilling programmes,” said Shanta Gold chief executive officer Eric Zurrin.

“By prioritising exploration targets that can potentially be converted quickly and cheaply into mine plan ounces, our exploration budget is being spent with our production pipeline and mine life in mind.

“We would expect that these results and the next round of drilling will provide sufficient information for us to declare new resources at these targets in the near future and contribute as another source of ore to feed the NLGM plant.”