EXPLORATION ROUNDUP — Ashanti steps up efforts in Africa

Shallow drilling by Ashanti Goldfields (ASL-N) has expanded the Geita gold property in Tanzania.

The property contains a known resource of 11.9 million tonnes grading 3.44 grams gold per tonne, equivalent to 1.3 million oz.

Peter Cowley, managing director of exploration, says recent drilling of gap areas between zones of known mineralization could increase the resource by as much as 400,000 oz. Results from the program are are pending.

Mineralization at Geita exists along a 4,000-metre trend in a Precambrian banded iron formation, which is open to the northeast.

Ashanti views the deposit, which sits on a hill, as an open-pit target.

“We’ve got the topography on our side,” Cowley says, adding that the stripping ratio would allow for mining to be carried out 300 metres downdip.

Meanwhile, in northern Guinea, West Africa, Ashanti continues to prove up its 3,500-sq.-km Mandiana concession.

Drilling has intercepted mineralization over a 600-metre interval that appears related to a quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusive. Intervals include: 95 metres grading 2.4 grams gold; 86 metres of 2.64 grams; and 53 metres of 1.33 grams.

The property lies southeast of the Siguiri concession, which Ashanti recently acquired through the takeover of Golden Shamrock Mines.

In another exploration program, at the Saoura project in southwestern Niger, the company recently completed the first round of drilling on the Libiri prospect. The program uncovered zones, measuring up to 50 metres wide, of near-surface mineralization over a potential strike length of 1,200 metres.