TIDMSHG
RNS Number : 3254S
Shanta Gold Limited
16 March 2021
16 March 2021
Shanta Gold Limited
("Shanta Gold" or the "Company")
Exploration Drilling Update
Shanta Gold (AIM: SHG), the East Africa-focused gold producer,
developer and explorer, is pleased to provide an exploration update
at the New Luika Gold Mine ("NLGM") in South Western Tanzania, the
West Kenya Project ("West Kenya") in Kenya, and the Singida Gold
Project ("Singida") in Central Tanzania.
This update relates to 5,750 meters of drilling conducted in
January and February 2021.
Highlights:
-- Total of 22 core holes drilled across New Luika, West Kenya and Singida;
-- Drilling at Luika is targeting the inferred resource
extension of the westerly plunging deposit with attractive
potential for upgrading the existing resource estimate, from:
o Hole CSD206 intersected 9.29 m grading 11.27 g/t Au from 441
m, incl. 4.88 m at 20.07 g/t Au;
-- High grade intersections have been hit in early holes at West Kenya:
o Hole LCD0218 at Isulu intersected 2.00 m grading 15.9 g/t Au
from 233 m, incl. 0.5 m at 45.4 g/t;
o Hole LCD0223 at Bushiangala intersected 22.9 m grading 4.81
g/t Au from 124 m;
-- Drill rigs at West Kenya increased to two in January with a
third rig expected to be added shortly;
-- Targeting the completion of 40% of total planned exploration
at West Kenya by end of December 2021;
-- Drilling at Singida has identified a potential new hanging
wall zone that is richer than the main zone at Cornpatch West:
o Hole SC715 intersected 5.00 m grading 5.1 g/t Au from 61 m,
incl. 1.00 m at 22.06 g/t Au;
-- An encouraging step-out hole was drilled from the main Cornpatch West orebody:
o Hole SC719 intersected 5.00 m grading 9.96 g/t Au from 133 m,
incl. 2.00 m at 18.90 g/t Au; and
-- Drilling at Cornpatch West at Singida within the inferred
resources has intersected grades that exceed the reserve grade with
results being modelled to estimate potential impact on
reserves.
Summary of locations drilled:
Project Deposit(s)
NLGM Luika, Porcupine South
-----------------------
West Kenya Isulu and Bushiangala
-----------------------
Singida Cornpatch West
-----------------------
NLGM
-- Six diamond core holes drilled at Luika underground deposit
for a total of 2,593 m, with further drilling ongoing;
-- The drilling campaign at Luika is targeting the immediate
inferred resource extension of the westerly plunging shoot between
levels 740mRL and 525mRL;
-- Luika drilling highlights:
o Hole CSD206 intersected 9.29 m grading 11.27 g/t Au from 441
m, incl. 4.88 m at 20.07 g/t Au;
o Hole CSD208 intersected 5.44 m grading 2.48 g/t Au, incl. 1.05
m at 4.18 g/t Au from 470 m; and,
o Hole CSD210 intersected 7.28 m grading 2.08 g/t Au from 447 m,
incl. 2.34 m at 5.37 g/t Au.
-- Assay results received in Q1 2021 for two Reverse Circulation
("RC") holes and three diamond core holes drilled at Porcupine
South (Northern Trend) open pit target in Q4 2020 for a total of
848 m;
-- Porcupine South (Northern Trend) drilling highlights:
o Hole PSCD001 intersected 5.95 m grading 1.43 g/t Au from 138
m, incl. 0.96 m at 3.45 g/t Au;
o Hole PSDD001 intersected 2.35 m grading 4.60 g/t Au from 150
m; and
o Hole PSRC045 intersected 2.00 m grading 1.80 g/t Au from 142
m;
West Kenya
-- Infill drilling of 5 diamond core holes drilled at Isulu
totalling 1,136 m and 2 diamond core holes drilled at Bushiangala
totalling 402 m, with results received to date amounting to 4% of
planned exploration;
-- Drill rigs increased to two in January with a third rig expected to be added shortly;
-- Targeting the completion of 40% of total planned exploration by end of December 2021;
-- West Kenya drilling highlights:
o Hole LCD0218 at Isulu (Zone IZ1.0) intersected 2.00 m grading
15.9 g/t Au from 233 m, incl. 0.5 m at 45.4 g/t;
o Hole LCD0223 at Bushiangala (BZ2-BZ3 zone conjunction)
intersected 22.9 m grading 4.81 g/t Au from 124 m, including:
-- 1.50 m grading 24.90 g/t Au from 129 m;
-- 3.00 m grading 7.06 g/t Au from 124 m;
-- 4.60 m grading 5.32 g/t Au from 135 m;
-- 3.50 m grading 7.31 g/t Au from 143 m;
-- It is encouraging that high grade intersections have been hit
in early holes and the Company is looking forward to ramping up
exploration over the coming months.
Singida
-- The ongoing RC drilling program at Cornpatch West is aiming
to test a step-back area from the existing pit design;
-- Four holes drilled at Cornpatch West for a total of 771 m, with highlights as follows:
o Hole SC715 intersected 5.00 m grading 5.1 g/t Au from 61 m,
incl. 1.00 m at 22.06 g/t Au;
o Hole SC719 intersected 5.00 m grading 9.96 g/t Au from 133 m,
incl. 2.00 m at 18.90 g/t Au; and
o Hole SC717 intersected 4.00 m grading 3.14 g/t Au from 163m,
incl. 1.00 m at 7.48 g/t Au;
-- Drilling at Cornpatch West within the inferred resources
below the currently designed pits has intersected grades that
significantly exceed the reserve grade. These results are currently
being modelled to estimate potential impact on reserves.
Outlook
At NLGM, up to 39,000 metres of RC and diamond core drilling is
being targeted for the remainder of 2021. Activities will ramp up
significantly throughout the next six months in particular, aligned
with the favorable natural conditions of the dry season. About 75%
of the drilling at NLGM will be completed within the boundaries of
the Company's Mining Licences and will test the strike and down-dip
continuities of known mineralized structures, with the aim of
extending mine life.
Drilling campaigns at the West Kenya Project will continue
throughout 2021, with the main focus being conversion of the
Inferred resource at Isulu and Bushiangala to Indicated category up
to the depth of 500 m below surface. 35,000 m of diamond drilling
has been planned for 2021 and this announcement covers results from
the first 4% of drilling by two drill rigs, with preparations
underway to introduce the third diamond rig in Q2 2021.
At Singida, up to 6,700 metres will be drilled in 2021 with 85%
of this drilling being on Mining Licences, designed to test the
strike and depth extensions of known deposits.
Eric Zurrin, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"Early drilling results have been positive across all three
assets including one of the best holes drilled at the Luika deposit
over 162 holes drilled in its history.
At the West Kenya Project, we intersected visible gold at Isulu,
while Bushiangala has returned a very wide and high-grade zone over
23 meters.
The Singida Project remains underexplored, particularly for a
greenstone deposit, and drilling has illustrated a potential new
hanging wall zone that is richer than the main zone at Cornpatch
West. These drilling results have the potential to increase the
size of mineable resource at Cornpatch West.
Exploration remains core to delivering future value and growth
within our portfolio to support long-term sustainable returns to
shareholders. Today's announcement covers 7% of total drilling
metres planned in 2021. I look forward to providing ongoing
exploration updates throughout the course of this year."
Luika and Porcupine South Drilling Campaigns
Luika is located 1.8 km to the northwest of the NLGM processing
plant. The orebody strikes approximately NNE - SSW and dips 50deg
to NW. The Luika and Bauhinia Creek ("BC") deposits are located
within a 0.6 km wide shear zone, which has been interpreted from
airborne magnetic data. These have been interpreted to be part of
the same vein which has been offset by a 'Thrust Fault', with the
plane of thrust modelled to dip at 40deg towards 240deg with a 650
m dextral displacement. Gold mineralization at Luika is closely
associated with quartz veining and low sulphide mineralization
(predominantly disseminated pyrite 1-3%). The mineralized zones are
presented by moderately to sub-vertical dipping quartz veins hosted
by granodioritic rocks. The deposit depicts relatively higher-grade
westerly plunging shoots which have potential to host significant
economic mineralization and will be the target of forthcoming
phases of exploration drilling. The structure drilled and modelled
so far at Luika covers a strike extent of approximately 0.3 km. The
ongoing drilling campaign at Luika is targeting the westerly
plunging shoot between levels 740mRL and 525mRL, which had not been
previously drill tested. The ongoing drilling program at Luika has
been designed with drilling centre spacing of 40 - 50 m, up to the
level 525mRL, which is the equivalent of the spacing applied for
the indicated resource category for Luika orebody.
Porcupine South is located about 22 km to the east of the NLGM
processing plant. The Northern Trend of Porcupine South strikes
northwest - southeast. Gold mineralization is associated with
quartz veins hosted by a shear zone at the granite - granodiorite
contact and steeply dips to the northeast. Higher gold
mineralization grades in the Northern Trend appear to be closely
associated with quartz veining, strong silica and albite alteration
and pyrite stringers and massive bands. The Northern Trend drilled
and modelled so far covers a strike extent of approximately 0.5 km.
The drilling program that was completed in Q4 2020 was designed to
test the mineralized structure to level 1120mRL (120m vertical
depth). Drilling on the target will resume in Q2 2021 and will test
the westerly strike continuity and potential high-grade plunging
shoots of the mineralized structures.
Six diamond core holes have been drilled so far during the
ongoing Luika drilling program, which commenced in January 2021,
for a total of 2,593 m. These holes were collared on surface
(approximately 1000mRL), inclined at between minus 43deg and 85deg
with depths ranging from 323 m to a maximum of 498 m down the
hole.
At Luika the reported results are over a strike length of 100 m.
It is estimated that the true widths of the mineralized zones are
about 85% - 95% of the intersected widths in the drillholes.
At Porcupine South, assay results for five drill holes (two RC
holes, two DD tails to RC pre-collars, and one DD hole) which were
part of the Q4 2020 drilling campaign were received in January
2021.
Significant intersections from the Luika and Porcupine South
assay results are tabulated below:
Drill Interval
Deposit Hole From (m) To (m) (m) Au (g/t)
Luika CSD204 471.80 487.40 15.60 1.26
----------- ---------
Including:
----------- ---------
472.60 474.40 1.80 4.79
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
CSD206 436.19 437.10 0.91 15.10
---------------------
441.45 450.74 9.29 11.27
---------------------
Including:
442.50 447.38 4.88 20.07
453.51 454.10 0.59 2.00
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
CSD207 No Significant Intersection
--------- ----------------------------------------
CSD208* 468.70 469.10 0.40 3.00
---------------------
470.00 475.44 5.44 2.48
---------------------
Including:
470.72 471.77 1.05 4.18
473.76 475.44 1.68 3.33
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
CSD209* 178.92 181.63 2.71 0.96
---------------------
284.44 292.09 7.65 1.69
---------------------
Including:
287.06 289.12 2.06 3.01
---------------------
CSD210* 447.26 454.54 7.28 2.08
---------------------
Including:
---------
447.26 449.60 2.34 5.37
461.80 466.46 4.66 1.83
Including:
464.60 466.46 1.86 3.27
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
Porcupine
South PSRC045 142.00 144.00 2.00 1.80
--------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
PSRC047 90.00 91.00 1.00 0.79
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
112.00 114.00 2.00 0.91
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
PSCD001 138.35 145.00 5.95 1.43
---------------------
Including:
---------
144.04 145.00 0.96 3.45
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
PSCD005 147.23 147.70 0.47 0.58
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
214.83 215.12 0.29 0.81
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
PSDD001 150.00 152.35 2.35 4.60
--------------------- --------- ------- --------- ---------
*Assay results from onsite laboratory at NLGM operated by
independent third party.
No top cut applied.
The drilling campaign at Luika started in January 2021 and is
ongoing. Drilling at Porcupine South will resume in Q2 2021. The
focus of these drilling campaigns is to better define the
geometries of known mineralized structures and to test their
down-plunge continuity with the potential to generate additional
resources.
Isulu and Bushiangala Drilling Campaign
The West Kenya Project spans 1,162 km(2), representing the
majority of the highly prospective and underexplored greenstone
Archaean Busia-Kakamega Gold Belt in western Kenya. This is the
northernmost greenstone belt in the prolific Lake Victoria
Goldfield, which hosts world-class gold deposits such as those at
North Mara and Geita gold mines. The size of the belt is analogous
to well-known prolific greenstone belts in Canada and Australia
(including Val-d-Or district Abitibi, Canada and Kalgoorlie
district WA, Australia).
Several gold prospects exist across the project area at various
stages of exploration. At present, drilling is focused on the
Islulu and Bushiangala deposits, with the aim of upgrading ounces
from the project's NI43-101 compliant Inferred Mineral Resource
Estimate into the Indicated Resource category. The gold
mineralisation is hosted by sheared pillowed to massive basalts,
bounded between ultramafic volcanics and polymictic conglomerates
on one side and carbonaceous mudstones and sandstones on the other
side. The deposits occur within the Liranda Corridor area, a 12 km
structural trend located on the eastern limb of a broad synclinal
structure intruded in the centre by granitoids and dioritoids,
termed the Kakamega Dome. The north-western limb of the Dome hosts
the highly perspective and underexplored Rosterman target (located
8 km from the Isulu and Busiangala deposits), which was the largest
colonial gold mine in Kenya, producing approximately 260 Koz @ 12.3
g/t Au in the pre-independence period.
Mineralisation is associated with quartz, quartz-carbonate
veinlets within the mineralised shear zones ranging from 0.5 m to
10 m in true width. Sulphide mineralisation is present in the form
of pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, and molybdenite.
The mineralisation style is classified as orogenic,
shear-zone-hosted quartz-carbonate vein subtype. The strike lengths
of the steeply-dipping zones vary between 350 m and 650 m.
Phase 1 of the ongoing diamond drilling campaign at the project
commenced in late December 2020 and is designed to infill two
modelled zones at Isulu (IZ1.0 and IZ3.0) and three modelled zones
at Bushiangala zones (BZ1, BZ2 and BZ3). This is being carried out
with spacing of 40 m at Isulu and 30 m at Bushiangala, up to a
depth of 150-200 m from surface, and is targeting both oxides and
sulphides within these zones.
Assay results have been received for the first seven diamond
drill holes, which is covering only a limited portion of the tested
mineralised zones (a strike length of 75 m for Isulu and 35 m for
Bushiangala). It is estimated that the true widths of the
mineralized zones are approximately 60 to 70% of the widths
intersected in the drill holes.
Assay results for these first seven drill holes are tabulated
below:
Prospect Drill From (m) To (m) Interval Au (g/t) Zone
Hole (m)
Isulu LCD0217 204.6 205.1 0.5 1.50 IZ1.0
--------- ----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
Isulu LCD0218 233.0 235.0 2.0 15.90 IZ1.0
------------- --------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
including:
------------- --------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
234.5 235.0 0.5 45.40
-----------------------
Isulu LCD0219 159.3 159.8 0.5 0.96 IZ1.0
---------
Isulu LCD0220 No significant intercept
--------- -------------------------------------------------------
Bushiangala LCD0221 134.5 136.0 1.5 2.42 BZ2
--------- ----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
181.5 183.0 1.5 4.14 BZ3
----------------------- ----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
Isulu LCD0222 No significant intercept
--------- -------------------------------------------------------
Bushiangala LCD0223 109.0 110.0 1.0 3.42 Unassigned
--------- ----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
113.5 114.0 0.5 4.87 BZ1
----------------------- ----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
123.6 146.5 22.9 4.81 BZ2
----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
including:
-----------
123.6 126.6 3.0 7.06
129.5 131.0 1.5 24.90
135.0 139.6 4.6 5.32
143.0 146.5 3.5 7.31
155 157 2 2.69 Unassigned
----------------------- ----------- ------- --------- --------- -----------
*Assay results from accredited laboratory operated by SGS, an
independent third party.
All results are based on half-core samples of diamond drill
core. The West Kenya Project drill core samples were prepared and
analyzed at SGS Laboratory in Mwanza, Tanzania, which is an ISO
17025 accredited laboratory. All Au assays are based on fire assay
analysis of a 50gm charge followed by an atomic absorption
finish.
Drilling campaigns at the West Kenya Project will ramp up
throughout 2021, with the main focus being conversion of the
Inferred resource at Isulu and Bushiangala to Indicated category up
to the depth of 500 m below surface.
In addition, three diamond drill holes have been designed to
explore the untested Rosterman subvertical mineralised structure as
a potential ore-hosting feeder for the historically mined
gently-dipping tension veins. The target has not previously been
explored using diamond drilling and holds potential for the
discovery of a substantial mineral resource within truckable
distance (approximately 9 km) of the Isulu and Bushiangala
deposits. This target is situated on the flank of an untested large
and strong (>3 km, >30ppb Au) zoned gold and multi-element
anomaly. This type of deposit is analogous to the
Sigma-Lamaque-Triangle-Ormaque deposits in Val-d-Or district,
Abitibi Belt, Canada.
Cornpatch West Drilling Campaign
Cornpatch West is located about 6.3 km to the northwest of the
planned site for the Singida Gold Mine processing plant, and is
within one of the three existing Mining Licences. It is one of
seven shear zone related gold deposits contributing to the mineral
resource at Singida. Cornpatch West is the westernmost of these
deposits, with gold mineralization localized along a moderate to
steep dipping, southeast - northwest striking brittle-ductile
structure within basaltic and meta-sedimentary host rocks. Gold
mineralization at Corpatch West is closely associated with quartz
veining, silicification, and significant percentages (3 - 15%) of
pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite alteration.
Sulphides occur as disseminations, blebs, and stringers filling
fractures in quartz veins.
The Cornpatch West shear structure trends at 293deg and dips at
60deg to the southwest. The strike extent of the structure defined
so far is about 1 km, which has been tested to a vertical depth of
about 180 m. The true thickness of the orebody ranges from 3 to 11
m, with an average true thickness of 7.6 m.
The ongoing RC drilling program at Cornpatch West is aimed to
upgrade some Inferred resources below the current designed pits to
the M&I resource category. The drill holes are stepping back on
the previous drill fences to test the down-dip continuity of the
mineralized zones. Eight drill holes will be completed during the
current phase of RC drilling at Cornpatch West for a total of 1,291
m. Five holes representing 771m have been completed to date, and
assay results for four of these holes are available. Significant
intersections from these are tabulated below:
Drill From Interval
Deposit Hole (m) To (m) (m) Au (g/t)
Cornpatch
West SC715* 61.00 66.00 5.00 5.10
-------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
Including:
-------- ------------------------------- ---------
62.00 63.00 1.00 22.06
----------- ------- --------- ---------
155.00 156.00 1.00 0.96
-------------------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
SC716* 91.00 92.00 1.00 3.24
-------------------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
SC717* 163.00 167.00 4.00 3.14
--------------------
Including:
--------
165.00 166.00 1.00 7.48
-------------------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
SC719* 133.00 138.00 5.00 9.96
--------------------
Including:
--------
134.00 136.00 2.00 18.90
-------------------- ----------- ------- --------- ---------
*Assay results from onsite laboratory at NLGM operated by
independent third party.
No top cut applied
Shanta Gold Limited
Eric Zurrin (CEO) +44 (0) 14 8173 2153
Luke Leslie (CFO)
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker
Liberum Capital Limited
Scott Mathieson / Ed Thomas / Louis Davies /
Nikhil Varghese +44 (0) 20 3100 2000
Joint Broker
Tamesis Partners LLP
Charlie Bendon / Richard Greenfield +44 (0) 20 3882 2868
Public Relations
FTI Consulting
Sara Powell +44 (0) 20 3727 1426
The technical information contained in this announcement was
reviewed by Evance Rwiza (the Company's Senior Resource Geologist)
who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy (AusIMM) and Yuri Dobrotin, P.Geo. Membership No.0702
(Shanta's Group Exploration Manager), who is a practicing member of
the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, Canada
(PGO).
They have sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of
mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the
activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Persons as
defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting
of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' and for
the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note on Mining and Oil & Gas
Companies dated June 2009, and National Instrument 43-101 ("NI
43-101)
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as amended by The
Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
About Shanta Gold
Shanta Gold is an East Africa-focused gold producer. It
currently has defined ore resources on the New Luika and Singida
projects in Tanzania and holds exploration licences covering
approximately 1,100 km(2) in the country. Shanta Gold also owns the
West Kenya Project in Kenya with defined inferred resources of 1.2
Mt grading 12.6 g/t. Shanta's flagship New Luika Gold Mine
commenced production in 2012 and produced 82,978 ounces in 2020.
The Company has been admitted to trading on London's AIM market and
has approximately 1,048 million shares in issue. For further
information please visit: www.shantagold.com.
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