malvernmugadzikwa
Business Writer
PAMBILI Natural Resources Corporation has identified a new high-grade vein at its Golden Valley Mine following a six-hole drilling programme aimed at identifying a gold resource that can be brought into production.
The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mining group, which owns the Golden Valley Mine project that is situated near Bulawayo, announced recently that it had brought the production plant at the gold asset back on line.
Last year in November, Pambili announced that it had entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire the Golden Valley project from White Satin Investments (Privvincate) Limited signifying a critical moment in the firm’s growth plan.
In an update, the mining group said: “The company is pleased to announce the identification of a new high-grade vein at Shaft 14 of the Golden Valley project in Zimbabwe.
“Recent cleaning out of the old workings on Shaft 14 (across the valley to the West of the East Adit, where the underground drilling is taking place) has exposed a very encouraging oxide ore body.
“A grab sample of the friable material taken over approximately 70 centimetres of the exposed reef panned a one-centimetre-long tail of visible gold.”
Gold is Zimbabwe’s single largest export earner expected to generate US$4 billion annually from next year, buoyed by new investments in the gold sub-sector, re-opening of closed mines as well as expansion projects.
Some of the gold mines that have re-opened in line with the Government’s thrust to boost output include Eureka Gold Mine in Guruve, Mashonaland Central Province, Pickstone Peerless, which at the moment is undergoing redevelopment and expansion in Chegutu, Mashonaland West Province.
Currently, the country is generating about US$3 billion in export earnings.
Last year, Zimbabwe produced 30,1 tonnes of the yellow metal against 35,3 tonnes delivered in 2022.
The Government is targeting 35 tonnes this year and in the 10 months to October a total of 28,2 tonnes were produced compared to
26,6 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.
Pambili said a series of additional grab samples was submitted to the local non-accredited laboratory in Bulawayo as a check and returned supporting high grades.
The group’s mining team is presently tasked with cleaning out the historical workings and timbering them to make the workings safe.
Thereafter, a survey of the sample points would be completed and the development pushed forward to access the ore for systematic sampling and extraction to the mill.
Pambili chief executive officer Jon Harris was quoted as saying the sample results were highly encouraging as they support anecdotal evidence that Shaft 14 made a significant contribution to previous gold output at Golden Valley.
“The 70cm high-grade vein we have found at Golden Valley has returned exceptional grades. These included 63 grammes per tonne and 75g/t from two separate bottle rolls and 192,5g/t from a third sample, which was fire-assayed.
“As a result, we have increased security at the mine.
“Our focus now at Golden Valley is to develop Shaft 14 for near-term revenue, while we complete our preliminary underground exploration drilling.
“This is ongoing and we look forward to updating the market with results in the coming weeks,” he said.
Last week, Pambili announced that it had signed a 12-month Option Agreement with Long Strike Investments (Private) Limited to acquire London Wall group of gold claims and surrounding mines in Gwanda, Matabeleland South province.
During the term of the Option Agreement, Pambili will conduct extensive due diligence and exploration of the claims, and should the mining group exercise the Option, the total acquisition cost of the mines and claims will be US$1 million.
The above amount would be satisfied through a combination of cash and Pambili shares.
A “Right to Mine” agreement, signed as part of the Option, would allow Pambili to commence gold production at London Wall Mine, initially by processing tailings and sands, before moving into underground mining operations.
The group anticipates to bring at least one of the acquired mines back into production within the term of the Option Agreement.
Bongani Ndlovu