AFRICA — East Africa Gold expands Tanzanian holdings

Perth, Australia-based East Africa Gold (EAG-V) has increased its holdings in the Lake Victoria Goldfields region of northwestern Tanzania.

EAG has acquired a 23-sq.-km prospecting licence at South Mwamazengo, situated immediately southeast of the company’s Kitongo gold prospect.

With the new licence, EAG now controls a near-continuous, 25-km-long swath of a major structural trend, stretching from the company’s Kitongo licence in the northwest to its Ugambilo licence in the southeast.

Recent exploration by EAG in an area southeast of Kitongo’s Main zone returned chip samples from gossanous ironstones grading from 7.43 to 22.7 grams gold per tonne, suggesting an on-strike, southeastern extension of the Main zone’s mineralization.

As well, rapid-air-blast drilling has extended the Main zone by at least another 400 metres to the northwest, giving the feature a total strike length of 700 metres.

EAG says these northwestern and southeastern extensions — in addition to an area of massive pyrrhotite alteration at Isegenge Hill, 2 km along strike from the Main zone — have become the project’s priority targets.

A further five areas have been targeted for reverse circulation drilling based on alteration mapping. Chip sampling of altered zones has produced grades between 3 and 7.8 grams gold per tonne at Kitongo Hill, 4 km along strike from the Main zone.

Australian consultants Vearncombe & Associates describe Kitongos’s geological setting as stratabound gold mineralization hosted by mafic volcanic rocks and tuffs that are proximal to stratiform massive pyrrhotite. Gold is syntectonic and associated with quartz veins that have been deformed in shear zones in, and adjacent to, pyrrhotite mineralization. The shear zones are characterized by intense sericite-carbonate alteration.

Regolith studies on the outcropping Isegenge and Kitongo hills have identified at least two distinct hard-rock, stratabound packages within the sequence there, with a possibility of further repetitions.

In a little-drilled, low-lying area between Isegenge and Kitongo hills, a major fault (named the Corridor) has been interpreted to offset the two hills, with gold mineralization occurring in the part of each hill that abuts the fault.

In December 1997, EAG made arrangements to complete a private placement of 2.2 million special warrants at A20cents each. Each special warrant is redeemable for one share plus a warrant to buy another share at A40cents until June 30, 2001.

EAG says proceeds from the placement — estimated at A$437,000 — will be used to explore its Tanzanian properties.