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View of western section of Tulu Kapi Prospect showing drill access roads
Tulu Kapi - Tulu Kapi-Ankore Licence Area
Tulu Kapi is the most advanced of Nyota's gold prospects and the Company has established a Total Inferred JORC Resource of 1.38 million ounces of gold, defined at a cut off grade of 0.50 g/t Au.
Reverse circulation and diamond drilling is currently underway in order to upgrade this resource to an indicated category. The drilling campaign is also designed to intersect extensions to the Tulu Kapi target in order to generate additional Inferred resources. Increasing and upgrading the resource will provide the level of confidence needed to complete a feasibility study.
Drilling to date has focused within a small area of the Tulu Kapi Licence. The current drilling campaign will remain within this defined block. However, Nyota believes there is significant potential to encounter further mineralisation outside of this area as well.
Other more regional targets have been identified within the Tulu Kapi–Ankore licence and Nyota has also acquired an 80% interest in highly prospective tenements to the north of the existing project. Importantly, they exhibit the same major geological structure thought to control mineralisation at Tulu Kapi. This increases the potential for additional discoveries which could bolster the main Tulu Kapi resource.
The Tulu Kapi Exploration Licence comprises an area of approximately 20 square kilometres centred on the old Tulu Kapi gold mine. Tulu Kapi is 9 km south of Keley, a small village on the main Gimbi to Dembi Dolo road, 500 km west of Addis Ababa. There is abundant water in the region, good road access and a high power transmission at Keley. The area is surrounded by the Yubdo Exploration Licence Area.
Tulu Kapi Resource
Nyota’s Tulu Kapi Gold Project has an Inferred Resource of 1.38 million ounces, defined at a cut off grade of 0.50g/t Au.
The resource statement follows the compilation and technical interpretation of 4,579 metres of reverse circulation ("RC") drilling by independent consultants Venmyn Rand. Estimation was based on the data from the maiden inferred resource and verifiable data collated from a further 25 reverse circulation ("RC") drill holes for which assay data has been received. Assay data for the balance of 10 RC holes that make up this particular drill programme will be incorporated into future resource estimations.
The drilling focused on the NE extension of mineralisation which is contiguous with the area over which the 690,000 ounces of gold comprising the maiden resource was defined. In addition, Nyota completed an infill drilling programme between drill traverse lines to increase the level of confidence attributable to earlier diamond drilling.
The results of the upgraded resource calculation at differing cut-off grades are shown below:
|
|
|
|
Cut-off |
Tonnes |
Grade |
Gold* |
(g/t Au) |
(Mt) |
(g/t Au) |
(Moz Au) |
0.5 |
25.45 |
1.68 |
1.38 |
1.0 |
22.25 |
1.81 |
1.295 |
1.5 |
10.26 |
2.43 |
0.801 |
The Company expects gold grades at different cut-offs to improve in parallel with the closely spaced infill diamond drilling programme currently underway.
Guji, Gudeya Guji and Dina - Yubdo Exploration Licence Area
Three priority targets have been identified within the Yubdo Exploration Licence: Guji, Gudeya Guji and Dina. In addition, reconnaissance exploration has identified a number of other target areas within the Yubdo Exploration Licence. The majority of these targets have been identified by soil geochemical surveys with varying degrees of follow up activity ranging from trenching to drilling. In the majority of cases, exploration has demonstrated potentially economic gold grades and widths warranting more detailed exploration.] Results of ground geophysical surveys across the Guji Prospect suggest that this particular target is drill ready.
Guji is the most promising of the targets in the Yubdo Exploration Licence, with an indicated strike length of 1,200 m supported by a coincident gold in soil geochemical anomaly and both a trench intersection returning a grade of 9.6 g/t Au over 68.5 m and a borehole intersection returning a cumulative grade of 3 g/t Au over 17 m.
Nyota has commenced exploration and has completed geophysical surveys over the 1,200 m strike length. The results indicate a linear structure expected to be coincident with mineralisation previously intersected during a scout drilling programme.
Nyota has a team of four Ethiopian geologists and two British geologists and is building a portfolio of assets at various stages of evaluation. Systematic reconnaissance and follow-up exploration is carried out on the licence areas. In addition to the Guji prospect area, the Dina, Chago and Keley targets are subject to follow-up investigation within the Yubdo Exploration Licence area.
Yubdo Exploration Licence; Geology
Photo: Visible gold in quartz vein drill core