TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian gold junior Banro believes early-stage exploration results from a newly-discovered prospect at its Twangiza project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are “very encouraging”, CEO Mike Prinsloo said on Monday.

The company has conducted geological mapping, soil sampling and rock-chip sampling of artisanal workings and outcrops at the Kaziba satellite target, which is located 11 km east of the main and north Twangiza deposits.

Results from the Kaziba exploration work include soil values of up to 1 000 parts per billion of gold, rock chip samples from artisanal workings of up to 30,7 g/t of gold, and rock-chip samples from outcropping mineralisation elsewhere in the area grading up to 69,3 g/t gold.

Gold mineralisation at Kaziba is hosted by weakly metamorphosed pelitic sediments, which have been folded into a series of north-south trending anticlines and synclines, with moderately dipping limbs and a northerly plunge of about 26°.

Gold mineralisation in the vicinity of the artisanal workings is associated with oxidized disseminated sulphides and oxidixed sulphidic veins, similar in style to the Twangiza main deposit, over a strike distance of about 250 m.

Elsewhere in the prospect area, gold mineralisation is associated with massive quartz veins several metres across and with narrower sheeted vein sets parallel to the bedding.

Exploration on the Kaziba prospect is continuing by means of western and northern extensions of the geochemical grid, systematic channel sampling of workings and auger drilling of soil anomalies with the objective of sampling the weathered bedrock, Banro said.

The company plans a diamond-drilling programme at the prospect, following the completion of this initial exploration work.

Earlier this year, Banro completed a feasibility study this year on Twngiza, which is the most advanced of its four projects.

Kaziba is one of a handful of targets on the Twangiza property that are within trucking distance of the planned Twangiza plant, and are expected to help improve the economics of the project.

“The early-stage results at Kaziba are very encouraging and provide further evidence of the considerable prospectivity within the Twangiza property,” Prinsloo commented.

“Each of the three new prospects at Twangiza - Kaziba, Mufwa and Tshondo - has excellent potential to add significant upside to the current Twangiza resource.”