Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti is set to avail a wealth of South African exploration data to academics for research purposes in an effort to preserve geological heritage and enable research that might otherwise not be possible.
The information contained within the new online application – the SA Exploration Hub – includes detailed reports, drill hole cores and drill hole logs, as well as assay results that cover many areas that have been explored.
The SA Exploration Hub is planned for release towards the end of March and will be accessible from the AngloGold Ashanti LinkedIn page.
The company completed the sale of its last remaining South Africa assets (Mponeng, Savuka and TauTona) in September 2020, but has, over the preceding years, established a vast exploration database in the Witwatersrand basin, and a few lesser-known goldfields.
In addition to making the information available for academic research purposes, the miner is also prepared to enter into arrangements for the sale of drill hole cores, drilling results and reports to interested exploration and mining companies.
The miner notes that navigating through the SA Exploration Hub will be entirely at the discretion of the user, but that bookmarks will be set up to make it easier to navigate to major goldfields along the Witwatersrand basin.
Searches can also be carried out using farm names and/or ventures, which will be useful for those areas outside the Witwatersrand basin, says Anglogold Ashanti.
Once a search is completed, the application will filter the records available to the areas specified.
Any list of records available can be saved as a .csv file, and a screen print of the interested search area can be completed on the application, after which an enquiry form can be submitted to find more information.