Kavango Resources plc could see early revenue from “significant” near-term gold production at tailings dumps on its Nara gold option in Zimbabwe.
MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE
The project comprises 45 contiguous gold claims, each of 10 hectares, covering four historic mines.
The company’s inaugural mineral resource estimate on two dumps combined showed an indicated 293,000 tonnes at an average of 0.62 g/t, for a total 5,860oz gold contained.
An inferred resource contains 11,900t at 0.66g/t gold for 253oz.
Kavango said that some 96% of the MRE is in the indicated category, placing it into a “relatively high resource” category for the early stage of the project.
The figure also demonstrated confidence in the “continuity of the material” with future extraction costs relating to operations with no mining required.
The MRE also identified potential at the tailings to increase tonnage at as-yet-untested depths.
Kavango is assessing options to commercialise the gold in the Nara tailings dump with cash going to towards wider exploration, targeting large-scale, bulk-mineable metal deposits.
Metallurgical test work will further assess potential recovery of gold and a possible future facility to process the gold tailings.
The company will also carry out additional measures which may upgrade a portion of the resource to the measured category.
Some “grade enrichment with depth” was also seen in multiple holes which may offer additional contained gold beyond the original target depths from Kavango’s auger drilling.