African Barrick Gold (ABG-L) says its Nyanzaga project has the potential to become its next gold mine in Tanzania. The company — whichBarrick Gold(ABX-T, ABX-N) spun out to hold its African gold assets — has four mines in Tanzania’s northwest, and is working to make Nyanzaga its fifth.
On April 3 it increased the January 2012 resource estimate at Nyanzaga by adding the Kilimani zone and expanding the existing resource.
Since January the project’s in-pit resource has grown by 500,000 oz. gold to more than 4.6 million oz. in indicated and inferred, of which Kilimani contributed 170,000 oz.
Indicated resources at Nyanzaga, which comprises the Kilimani and Tusker zones, stand at 3.75 million oz. gold from 81.9 million indicated tonnes grading 1.42 grams gold per tonne. It has another 850,000 oz. from 14.7 million tonnes grading 1.81 grams gold in inferred. The estimate used a cut-off grade of 0.45 gram gold and a US$1,400-per-oz. gold price.
As a result of the new Kilimani resource, African Barrick says it was able to update its model for the open pit and confirm the possibility of mining Tusker and Kilimani as a single, open-pit operation.
Company CEO Greg Hawkins says in a statement that the estimate boosts the company’s confidence in Nyanzaga’s potential to become its next mine in Tanzania, and enhances the project’s economics with additional production available at the start of the mine.
The company says it continues to receive promising assay results from infill and stepout drilling completed in late 2011 and early 2012.
Drilling highlights include 307 metres grading 1.57 grams gold from 218 metres, with a 3-metre interval of 64.7 grams gold from 441 metres; and 345 metres at 1.52 grams gold from 329 metres, with 16 metres of 5.39 grams from 532 metres.
In March 2012 the company began exploration drilling to outline high-grade underground resources at depth at Tusker, and to test more near-surface targets around the Kilimani and Tusker resource areas.
African Barrick — Tanzania’s largest gold producer — is currently conducting a scoping study on the project.
Nyanzaga is in the Sengerema district, 35 km northeast of the company’s Bulyanhulu gold mine in the Lake Victoria goldfields.
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