Name of the Project
Singida gold mining project.

Location
The project is located in the Ikungi administrative district of the Singida region, in central Tanzania.

Project Owner/s
Shanta Gold.

Project Description
Project economics estimated in house provide for the processing of 2.5-million tonnes of ore from surface mining at an average grade of 3 g/t for the production of 221 000 oz of recovered gold, over an initial seven-year mine life.

Singida will use conventional openpit mining methods.

Average life-of-mine gold production is estimated at 32 000 oz/y at an all-in sustaining cost of $869 /oz.

The processing plant will have a nominal through of 365 000 t/y. The processing plant will be a conventional carbon-in-leach plant with gravity concentrator.

Singida is hosted in a greenstone deposit, lending itself well to upside exploration potential. Future exploration will target the extension of reserves and will be funded by cash flow from production at Singida.

Successful future exploration could justify an increase in the size of the processing plant to increase throughput and production, the miner has said.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Using a projected gold price of $1 700/oz, an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $56.3-million has been estimated, alongside and unlevered internal rate of return of 49%.

Payback is estimated at 40 months.

Capital Expenditure
The preproduction capital expenditure required to develop Singida until first gold pour is estimated at $26.4-million, with an additional $10.4-million for preproduction stripping.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction is expected to span two years, with the first gold pour expected at the end of 2022.

Latest Developments
Shanta Gold has started construction work, together with the updated project economics, for its Singida gold mining project.

Historical drilling indicates high-grade intersections will be explored further once Singida is in production, including 10 m at 20.82 g/t gold from 138 m in hole SC702 at Gold Tree, as well as 3 m at 57.13 g/t gold from 138 m.

The total resources outside of the project economics are about 664 000 oz grading 2.11 g/t gold, with the potential to assess underground mining.

The project will increase group production to more than 110 000 oz/y while maintaining the cost base, Shanta CEO Eric Zurrin has said.

He adds that the project “has very attractive economics”, with considerable upside through the potential conversion of mineral resources currently outside of the reserve-based mine plan.

Concurrent on-site activities include the completion of detailed designs for the elution circuit, as well as water and sewage treatment plants in preparation for procuring these long-lead items.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Shanta Gold (Tanzania), tel +255 22 292 5148, fax +255 22 292 5151 or email mining@shantagold.com or info@shantagold.com.