MINING IN AFRICA SPECIAL — Serengeti eyes Kenyan gold

One of the first North American-based companies to take an interest in Kenya’s gold potential is Serengeti Diamonds (VSE), a Toronto-based junior best known for its diamond exploration projects in Tanzania.

Serengeti has rights to earn a 50% interest in 200 sq. km of gold exploration and exploitation licences and 1,100 sq. km of gold-prospecting licences in a major greenstone belt in western Kenya.

Past production in the region, the bulk of which occurred in the 1930s, was focused on high-grade ore shoots. (The lower grade, bulk-minable, shear-zone-type targets received no attention.)

With the exception of some United Nations work in the 1960s, no systematic exploration has been carried out on the belt in recent times. Serengeti says numerous quartz vein and shear zones occur over a documented strike length of more than 40 km. More than 20 prospects have seen varying levels of surface and underground mining activity on the licences. Surface enrichment of gold occurs, and lateritic weathering is evident to a depth of 30 metres, thus providing open-pit potential. The major deposit types occur in mineralized shear zones or structurally controlled quartz reefs.

Serengeti and its South African joint-venture partner have proposed a US$1-million first-phase exploration program to assess known occurrences, and to conduct regional work.