An updated mineral resource estimate at gold miner Pan African Resources’ Barberton mine Royal Sheba project has revealed a 150% increase in mineral resources to 899 000 oz,.
The company is continuing with an exploration drilling programme at Royal Sheba, the results of which, Pan African CEO Cobus Loots said last week, exceeded the company’s expectations.
“Significantly, the drilling programme has indicated the orebody extends to the surface, with the potential to establish a new openpit mining operation in the short term, transitioning to an underground mining operation only after a number of years.”
The near-surface resource of Royal Sheba is estimated at 347 000 oz, while the underground resource is delineated at 552 000 oz.
The surface drilling programme, comprising 1645 m of drilling in phases 1 and 2, has confirmed robust mineralisation extending from the surface along an 850 m strike and 150 m down-dip of the Royal Sheba deposit.
The company states that the mineralisation ranges in width from 5 m to 25 m, with in situ gold grades ranging between 0.5 g/t to 174 g/t and averaging 3.27 g/t.
Further, Phase 3 of the drilling project at the Royal Sheba deposit has begun testing a 600 m strike length, which is within the Sheba mine’s mining right.
Pan African sees Royal Sheba’s opencast orebody as a potential way of increasing production from the flagship Barberton operations at a competitive cost, aligned with its strategic positioning as a low-cost gold producer.
The results of a definitive feasibility study will be published in February, with a view to starting project development in the near term.