AIM-listed Power Metal Resources has identified extensive gold workings and two large fines dumps at the newly granted prospecting licence PL049/2022 at its 100% owned Tati project in Botswana.
Collectively, the Tati project covers three individual prospecting licences (PLs) for gold and nickel mineralisation including PL126/2019, PL127/2019 and the newly acquired 16.14 km2 PL049/2022, which covers the historic Cherished Hope gold mine.
“We will be back on site to undertake further mapping and sampling, including the fines dumps to assay test for gold, as there may be sufficient gold grades remaining to consider processing the material to generate income to fund more extensive exploration.
“Importantly, we have moved to plan for the near-term launch of reverse circulation drilling to test along-strike and the down-dip extent of the Cherished Hope mineralised quartz reef structures,” CEO Paul Johnson says.
A site visit has been successfully completed to the historical Cherished Hope gold mine, which is located entirely within the newly acquired PL049/2022. Ground mapping has shown the historical gold workings are significantly more extensive than previously understood, with at least ten individual workings comprising a combination of vertical shafts and trial pits, extending over about 175 m of strike length.
Two fines dumps, representing waste material from the Cherished Hope gold mine, are located proximal to the historical workings. A survey is required to determine the volume of fines material in each dump, against which, with sampling, the amount of contained gold may be estimated.
It is common practice within the Tati Greenstone belt to excavate and truck historical fines dump material to operational processing plants, as these modern plants are capable of extracting gold from lower-grade material, rendering historical waste potentially economic, Power Metals points out. It says this possibility is being investigated further as a potential source of low-cost, near-term revenues to help fund more extensive and expeditious exploration activities.
The company is undertaking an in-depth review of the site visit report covering the newly acquired licence and is finalising its next exploration steps. It is anticipated that this programme will include the sampling of the fines dump material and a volumetric survey to determine an average gold grade range for each fines dump. Moreover, planning is under way for an early and low-cost reverse circulation drilling programme, aimed at testing the along-strike and down-dip extent of the Cherished Hope mineralised quartz reef structures.
