AFRICA SPECIAL — International Ballater lured by Central African potential

Central Africa has increasingly become the focus of mining and exploration efforts by International Ballater Resources (IBA-V).

In 1996, the Vancouver-based junior acquired a 95% interest in the operating Connemara gold mine in Zimbabwe, together with a portfolio of mineral properties in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania.

Situated 250 km southwest of Harare, the Connemara mine is a small open-pit/heap-leach operation which, since startup in April 1995, has treated more than 250,000 tonnes of oxidized ore. Production in 1996 totalled 8,500 oz. gold at a cash cost of US$205 per oz. The mine carries a debt of about US$4 million.

Mining is currently carried out on the North pit, which hosts an oxide ore reserve of 2.1 million tonnes grading 1.24 grams gold per ton (equivalent to 82,134 contained ounces). The waste-to-ore stripping ratio is 5-to-1, and gold recoveries average 62%.

The pit measures 600 metres long, 50-60 metres wide and 14-15 metres deep.

Rock from the pit is blasted and mined on 2-by-2.5-metre benches. An excavator is used to load the material into 7- and 14-tonne tractor-trailer units.

The ore is crushed in a 3-stage circuit to minus 12 mm, stacked on the pads in 5-metre lifts and sprayed with a cyanide-leach solution.

The gold is recovered via a 3-column Vitrokele 912 resin adsorption circuit and electrowinning process. To date, both tonnage and head grade have been significantly higher than estimated.

South pit

A feasibility study has confirmed the viability of a proposed US$4-million South pit operation, which would expand throughput by 500,000 tonnes per year. The expansion requires the construction of a second crushing facility to the south, together with another leach pad. The recovery plant would require only minor modifications in order for capacity to be expanded. The South pit operation is forecast to produce 17,250 oz. annually at a cash cost of US$192 per oz.

Oxide reserves in the southern area total 1.5 million tonnes grading 1.93 grams at a stripping ratio of 6.6-to-1. The amount of contained gold is estimated at 93,000 oz., and recoveries are projected at 65%. Reserves have been outlined in two proposed pits: the Connemara and Southern.

Under a 5-year mining plan, half of the North pit’s reserve will be mined during the first three years of operation; the balance will be mined from the southern portion during years four and five.

President Michael Philpot expects the South pit operation to start up in July of this year. Toward that end, the company is in the process of discussions to raise $10-15-million in equity financing. At present, Ballater has 10.8 million shares outstanding, or 15.2 million fully diluted. Working capital stands at $1.5 million.

The mine property has a 10-km strike length and features a series of banded iron formation (BIF) units, which are part of a metamorphic package of rocks within a north-south-trending greenstone belt. A series of showings and old mine workings, which date to the turn of the century, extend along strike.

The proposed South pit operation is near the old Connemara underground mine, which, in the 1950s and early 1960s, produced 540,000 oz. gold from 3.4 million tonnes grading 4.9 grams. The mine was worked over a strike length of 1,000 metres and to a depth of 700 metres.

Gold mineralization is strongly concentrated in the two parallel units of BIF, known locally as the West and East Reefs. The gold is fine-grained and occurs freely with associated pyrite and pyrrhotite, replacing the magnetite facies.

Shear zones

The mineralization is oxidized to a depth of 40 metres, with a mixed oxide-sulphide transition zone extending from 40 metres to a depth of 90 metres below surface.

In the North pit, stronger gold mineralization occurs in quartz stockwork veins and breccia where BIF units are cut by north-northwest-trending shear zones.

In the footwall of the North pit, a phyllitic unit carries lower-grade gold values. This material is being stockpiled and will be agglomerated and leached at a later date.

With the North and South pit areas covering 3 km of strike, Philpot is optimistic about the property’s potential. “We are going to continue expanding the oxide resources in both directions and ultimately start to look at the sulphide resources associated with these.”

Elsewhere in Zimbabwe, Ballater is preparing to begin drilling the Mhangura project. The 95%-held concession covers artisanal alluvial and colluvial workings. Previous work outlined a 7-km-long gold-in-soil anomaly, and the subsequent drilling of two holes returned a 7-metre interval grading 2.7 grams.

Exploration drilling is also planned for the Matinje gold prospect in Tanzania, and for the Chongwe copper-gold project in Zambia.

The former lies in the Lake Victoria goldfields region. Ballater acquired a 30% interest and has an option to earn an additional 35% interest by spending US$500,000. The 50-sq.-km property hosts gold-bearing quartz reefs, and highlights from past drilling include 10 metres grading 18.1 grams.

Ballater holds a 100% interest in the 291-sq.-km Chongwe concession, which features a near-surface resource estimated at 12 million tonnes grading 1.7% copper. The company will attempt to confirm and expand known reserves.