JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Galileo Resources has appointed Africa Technical Consultants to assist with, and provide services for, a fast-track exploration programme at its Star Zinc project, in Zambia.
This is the first step in the company's objective to upgrade the project’s current noncompliant resource and to test the potential to increase the resource size.
The company recently acquired a 51% interest in the project, an historical, high-grade zinc openpit mine that had been operated intermittently in the 1950s to 1990s.
The zinc mineral is predominantly willemite, hosted in mainly limestone and dolostone.
Galileo has committed to undertaking an 18-month work programme at a cost of $250 000 using reasonable endeavours to complete a preliminary economic assessment of Star Zinc, following which further new shares in Enviro Zambia, the owner of the project, will be issued to Galileo to increase its aggregate equity interest to 85%.
"We have completed a review of the project and now have much greater confidence in being able to enlarge the size of the estimated pit. We believe there exists considerable potential for other zinc mineralisation types in the deposit and we will aggressively pursue this concept,” CEO Colin Bird said in a statement on Monday.
On completion of the exploration programme and its assessment, the company would design a drill programme aimed at confirming the current resource estimate and testing the project's prognosis for an enlarged resource.
“During this concept phase, we will also investigate the potential for a possible sulphide feeder origin for the current willemite and other nonsulphide zinc mineralisation in and around the pit."