New Luika Gold Mine Exploration Update

RNS Number : 1990O

Shanta Gold Limited

01 October 2019

 

1 October 2019

Shanta Gold Limited

("Shanta Gold" or the "Company")

New Luika Gold Mine Exploration Update

Shanta Gold (AIM: SHG), the East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer, is pleased to report 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.

Highlights:

§ Following a detailed review of the exploration portfolio over the last 12 months, new targets within the existing mining licences at NLGM were identified;

§ Two such high-potential targets include Bauhinia Creek ("BC") North and Elizabeth Hill ("EH") North;

§ Exploration drilling at BC North and EH North has intersected encouraging mineralisation with sizeable widths, suggesting significant potential for additional resources to add to the mine plan;

§ BC North overview and drilling highlights:

o  Located approximately 300 metres to the north of the high grade BC deposit, which is currently being mined from underground at NLGM;

o  Located about 3 km to the west of the NLGM processing plant;

o  A total of 19 drill holes representing 2,762 metres have been completed over three phases;

o  Hole BNRC013 intersected 4.00 metres grading 8.38 g/t Au and 6.00 metres grading 8.62 g/t Au;

o  Hole BNRC009 intersected 4.00 metres grading 8.94 g/t Au;

o  Hole BNRC017 intersected 3.00 metres grading 5.41 g/t Au;

o  Hole BNRC001 intersected 4.00 metres grading 3.83 g/t Au;

o  Hole BNRC018 intersected 10.00 metres grading 3.43 g/t Au.

§ EH North overview and drilling highlights:

o  Located about 4 km to the east of the NLGM processing plant;

o  Phase 1 drilling programme 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;

o  A total of 24 drill holes representing 2,316 metres have been completed over two phases;

o  Hole CSR525 intersected 9.00 metres grading 6.62 g/t Au;

o  Hole CSR522 intersected 9.00 metres grading 5.56 g/t Au;

o  Hole CSR518 intersected 8.00 metres grading 3.29 g/t Au;

§ Strike lengths of the BC North and EH North mineralised structures are estimated to be 150 metres and 350 metres respectively and remain open at depth.

Mine Plan Update

Drilling is continuing at depth and along strike at both targets and additional results are expected in Q4 2019.

The results of this drilling campaign and the second drilling campaign in Q4 2019 will be combined and analysed, with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate and resultant life of mine extension expected in the next few months.

Eric Zurrin, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"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. 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."

BC North exploration drilling

BC North is a northeast - southwest trending mineralised system located 300 metres from the BC deposit and close to existing infrastructure. Prior to the drilling programme, the BC North target was delineated by a trenching programme in early 2019, which was designed to test the coincident airborne magnetic and soil geochemistry anomalies.

A total of 19 drill holes representing 2,762 metres have been completed in the ongoing exploration drilling at BC North. The completed drilling has been carried out in three phases that have progressively targeted the down-dip and plunge of the mineralised structures. All of the drilling has been Reverse Circulation (RC) except for 4 drill holes that were completed by diamond tails.

Drilling has been progressively targeting the westerly plunging continuity of the mineralised structure. Holes were inclined at between minus 40 and 70 degrees and averaged 70 metres in depth with a maximum of 168 metres down the hole. These results are over a strike length of 150 metres with holes spaced using 30-metre drill fences. It is estimated that the true widths of the mineralised zones are about 90% of the intersected widths in the holes. The mineralised zones are presented by moderately dipping quartz veins hosted by granodioritic rocks.

Significant BC North drilling results are tabulated below:

Phase	BHID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Au (g/t)
1	BNRC001	46	50	4	3.83
	BNRC002	17	19	2	1.14
		48	56	8	1.79
	BNRC003	16	18	2	2.04
		37	43	6	1.79
2	BNRC005	50	51	1	1.67
	BNRC006	74	75	1	1.11
		89	93	4	2.41
	BNRC007	50	51	1	5.75
		84	86	2	1.24
	BNRC008	25	26	1	1.47
		47	48	1	7.02
		59	61	2	1.29
		81	83	2	4.14
3	BNRC009	73	74	1	1.94
		111	115	4	8.94
		Including:
		112	113	1	27.50
	BNRC013	57	62	5	1.35
		86	90	4	8.38
		Including:
		86	87	1	23.10
		87	88	1	8.18
		93	99	6	8.62
		Including:
		97	98	1	25.50
		98	99	1	12.40
	BNRC014	113	114	1	5.40
	BNRC015	118	119	1	4.44
	BNRC017	83	84	1	1.58
		86	89	3	5.41
		Including:
		87	88	1	10.70
		143	146	3	1.70
	BNRC018	10	11	1	1.42
		21	22	1	1.17
		45	55	10	3.43
		Including:
		46	47	1	7.80
		74	76	2	1.28
	CSD128	138.85	139.42	0.57	4.61
	CSD129	105.75	106.43	0.68	1.21
		124.76	125.35	0.59	1.94
		133.33	136.44	3.11	1.30

True widths are approximately 90% of the intersected downhole widths.

The focus of the exploration programme at BC North for the remainder of 2019 is to continue to expand the down-plunge and lateral extensions of the mineralised structure with the objective of adding new near-mine Mineral Resources.

EH North exploration drilling

The east - west trending EH North structure is located about 4 km to the east of the NLGM processing plant. Delineation and exploration drilling at EH North involved completion of 24 infill RC drill holes totalling 2,316 metres and was carried out in two phases.

The Phase 1 drilling programme at EH North was designed to infill the previously wide-spaced (60 metre) drill fences aimed to test the down-dip continuity of the orebody at a 30-metre vertical depth. The Phase 2 drilling programme was aimed at testing the mineralisation depth continuity at a vertical depth of 60 metres.

Holes were drilled at between minus 40 and 60 degrees and averaged 90 metres in depth with a maximum of 150 metres down the hole. These results are over a strike length of 350 metres with holes spaced using 30-metre drill fences. It is estimated that the true widths of the mineralised zones are about 80% of the intersected widths in the holes. The mineralised zones are presented by a package of steeply dipping quartz veins hosted by granodioritic rocks.

Significant EH North drilling results are tabulated below:

Phase	BHID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Au (g/t)
1	CSR503	5	11	6	1.27
	CSR504	88	89	1	1.49
	CSR505	113	114	1	1.24
	CSR507	127	130	3	1.06
		131	133	2	1.09
	CSR508	49	52	3	1.03
		61	64	3	1.59
		65	66	1	1.52
		67	68	1	1.15
	CSR509	3	4	1	1.03
	CSR510	42	44	2	2.29
2	CSR512	38	39	1	1.92
	CSR518	49	51	2	1.21
		53	61	8	3.29
		Including:
		53	54	1	12.3
		59	60	1	6.37
	CSR519	27	28	1	1.99
		90	95	5	1.58
	CSR522	47	49	2	1.56
		62	71	9	5.56
		Including:
		64	66	2	15.50
	CSR523	77	78	1	6.44
	CSR524	36	41	5	1.73
		Including:
		37	38	1	5.08
	CSR525	80	89	9	6.62
		Including:
		84	88	4	11.00
	CSR526	65	66	1	3.16

True widths are approximately 80% of the intersected downhole widths.

The Q3 and Q4 2019 surface exploration drilling programme at EH North will continue to focus on delineating and extending the high-grade mineralised shoots with the objective of defining additional Mineral Resources proximal to the current mining operations.

Enquiries:

Shanta Gold Limited
Eric Zurrin (CEO)	[phone]
Luke Leslie (CFO)
Nominated Adviser and Broker
Numis Securities Limited
Paul Gillam / John Prior / James Black	+ 44 (0) 20 7260 1000
Financial Public Relations
Tavistock
Charles Vivian / Barnaby Hayward / Gareth Tredway	[phone]

About Shanta Gold

Shanta Gold is an East Africa-focused gold producer. It currently has defined ore resources at the New Luika and Singida projects in Tanzania and holds exploration licences covering approximately 1,500km² in the country. Shanta's flagship New Luika Gold Mine commenced production in 2012 and produced 81,872 ounces in 2018. The Company has been admitted to trading on London's AIM and has approximately 787 million shares in issue. 

For further information please visit: www.shantagold.com.

Qualified Person

The technical information contained within this announcement has been reviewed by George Kondela (the Company's Mineral Resource Geologist) and Paul W. Mbuya (the Company's Exploration Manager), who are Members of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Aus.I.M.M).

They have sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation 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.

 

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