Kavango Resources plc plans to build a gold production plant to boost production at Prospect 4 within the Hillside project in Matabeleland, southern Zimbabwe.
ASSESSMENT
Four contract miners currently send “high grade gold mineralisation”, mined on a small scale, 20km to the company’s processing facility at the main site.
Kavango said that volumes were at present low but “significant scope” existed for an increase.
The new modular plant, able to relocate “easily and cheaply”, will process a minimum 100 tonnes per day and maximum 200t/d of mineralised material.
Production proceeds will fund a technical economic assessment study to determine whether Prospect 4 supports a larger production plant.
The company has commissioned a South African manufacturer to start work on designing the plant.
Kavango, currently drilling at Hillside’s second high priority target of Prospect 3, will progress exploration at Prospect 4 in the new year with a further four holes.
The programme will test continuity and depth extent of “visible gold bearing quartz-vein shears”.
Assays and metallurgical tests on drill core samples will also inform the technical economic assessment.
The company has to date identified more than 12 sub parallel vein sets, with one drillhole intersecting a 2.53m mineralised section grading at 29.08g/t.
Extensive surface sampling has also shown “very positive results”.
Chief executive Ben Turney added that the final technical economic assessment could provide a blueprint for “substantially higher gold production”.
“We continue at a fast pace of development at the Hillside gold project with plans for an underground high-grade gold operation at Prospect 4.
“We have high hopes for the next phase of drilling at Prospect 4.
“Given the amount of current high-grade small-scale mining at Prospect 4, we will work on the specification for a more advanced processing plant in parallel to exploration.”
Kavango is investigating Prospect 3’s potential for open-pit selective bulk mining.
The company hopes to bring both prospects into production over the next 18 months.