Tan Range strikes gold at Lunguya (September 23, 2002)

Preliminary drilling by Tan Range Exploration (TNX-T) has intersected two gold-bearing structures at the Lunguya property in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria Goldfields district.

Dubbed East and West, the quartz veins are 50 metres apart and run parallel to the contact between a sequence of mafic volcanics and a granitic pluton. Each is 1-3 metres thick, and both strike for at least 350 metres.

Grades from six of the seven reverse-circulation holes drilled varied from just over half a gram to 11.3 grams per tonne. The seventh hole was collared so as to pinpoint the contact.

The drill results support those obtained from 125 grab samples extracted from artisanal workings. More than half of those samples exceeded 5 grams, and some had visible gold in quartz-filled fracture planes.

Drilling will resume shortly.

The 369-sq.-km property sits in the eastern half of the Sukumaland greenstone belt. The producing Bulyanhulu deposit of Barrick Gold (ABX-T) lies immediately to the north, where the belt curves to the northwest, in the same stratigraphic package.

The Bulyanhulu deposit began production in April 2001 and went on to produce 241,575 oz. over the remainder of the year, at a total cash cost of US$197 per oz. Production in the first half of the current year rang in at 169,199 oz. and total cash costs amounted to US$205 per oz.

Bulyanhulu hosts proven and probable reserves of 25.4 million tonnes grading nearly 14.75 grams gold per tonne. Also, in excess of 8.2 million tonnes grading 15.77 grams are classified as a resource.