London-listed Kavango Resources has begun drilling at its Prospect 3 target at the Hillside gold project in Matabeleland, southern Zimbabwe.

The drilling programme is designed to delineate a mineral resource to form the basis for an openpit mine and to obtain sufficient sample to conduct metallurgical testwork.

Following an in-country strategic review, which included a site visit with the company's technical team, senior geologists and an international mining engineer, Kavango says it has ranked Prospect 3 as its priority project in Zimbabwe.

The company says it believes Prospect 3 has the highest potential to commence commercial production in the shortest amount of time and with the lowest capital entry.

Kavango notes that it has compiled and modelled its geological and geophysical exploration data at Prospect 3 and incorporated mapping of gold-producing artisanal workings here.

“The company believes this work demonstrates the potential for commercial scale, mechanised openpit mining and heap leach processing at the prospect,” it says.

The initial high-priority target area averages 200 m across strike and 100 m along strike, in the vicinity of hole NSDD0002.

Artisanal miners are currently producing gold from 12 surface workings with at least 2 different vein orientations, from oxidised meta-sediments above a granodiorite intrusive next to NSDD0002.

Hole NSDD002 also intersected an additional nine grading structures under deeper cover that are currently not being worked.

The company has drilled three exploration holes into the target area at Prospect 3.

Near-surface highlights from these holes include 1.00 m at 1.13 g/t  from 14.00 m at Hole NSDD001; 2.00 m at 1.21 g/t from 6.00 m at Hole NSDD002; 1.00 m at 1.77 g/t from 13.00 m at Hole NSDD002; 8.20 m at 3.08 g/t from 66.69 m at Hole NSDD002; 1.00 m at 2.08 g/t from 28.00 m at Hole NSDD03.

Kavango says it has engaged an international mining engineer who has extensive experience in modern mining techniques and processes to oversee the design and construction of the openpit and heap-leach processing operation at Prospect 3 once the mineral resource has been established.

"The high level of artisanal workings across Prospect 3 is strongly indicative of the area's potential for larger scale, near-surface gold deposits that Kavango can mine. The artisanal workings have focussed on higher-grade material, but to a limited and shallow extent.

“Our exploration team has identified much more extensive potential, which we will now test with a focussed drill campaign to develop a maiden mineral resource here. Assuming this drill campaign is successful, we expect to move to a pre-mining, grade control drill campaign and metallurgical testwork,” says Kavango CE Ben Turney.

OPERATIONS IN ZIMBABWE

Kavango says it is exploring for gold deposits in Zimbabwe that have the potential to be brought into production quickly through modern mechanised mining. The company is targeting both openpit and underground opportunities.

Currently, Kavango has two projects on the same greenstone belt, Hillside and Nara.

Kavango exercised its option to acquire Hillside in April.

Here the company has two high-priority targets – Prospect 3 and Prospect 4 – that it hopes to bring into production over the next 18 months.

At Prospect 3, Kavango is investigating the potential for an openpit selective bulk mining operation.

Meanwhile, at Prospect 4, Kavango is pursuing a high-grade, underground bulk-minable opportunity.

In parallel to this, Kavango says it has an option to acquire the Nara project that currently runs until the end of June 2025.

Here, the company is exploring for a large-scale, bulk-minable underground deposit at Nara. The primary target zone is around the historic N1 mine, where the company is assessing the potential to expand artisanal workings at depth and along strike.