The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has granted United Reef (TSE) the right to explore the historic Roandji gold deposits.
The deposits, which lie 460 km northeast of the capital city of Bangui, were discovered in 1912. And between 1929 and 1950, they yielded 1.7 tonnes of the yellow metal. Since that period, production has come largely from artisanal miners who have used manual mining and processing techniques to recover free gold.
More recently, in 1988, French-based BRGM conducted geochemical sampling in an area surrounding the artisanal workings. The work resulted in the discovery of a well-developed, laterally continuous quartz-carbonate alteration zone measuring up to 20 metres wide and 2 km long. Samples taken along strike from the workings returned values of up to 4 grams gold per tonne over the width of the zone.
BRGM also identified a second gold zone, adjacent to the original structure. This second zone also exhibits anomalous chrome and nickel concentrations, and is thought to be related to basic rocks and iron formations.
Grab samples from a silicified iron formation ran as high as 50 grams gold, while washing of the weathered, eluvial material covering the zone yielded values of up to 9.3 grams.
United Reef acquired the property to exploit its potential for hosting large-tonnage, open-pit gold deposits. It expects to receive final approval for the 2,000-sq.-km permit by month-end and begin exploration work in the new year.
In other news, the company has shipped an additional 1.8 million carats of diamonds to Antwerp for sale by tender at the end of the month. And in September, it sold diamonds with an average value of US$203 per carat.
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