JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – As Aureus Mining secures an expansion to its Bea Mountain mining licence for its Liberia-based exploration project, 40 km from its flagship New Liberty deposit, the Aim-quoted company planned to embark on further drilling in the first quarter of 2016.
Aureus on Monday said the area under its Bea Mountain mining licence had been increased from 457 km2 to 478 km2 to incorporate the entire 13 km gold-bearing structural corridor stretching from the Gondoja target to Leopard Rock South.
“The inclusion of the Leopard Rock gold target within our existing mining licence area will allow Aureus to develop the entire 13 km gold corridor under the same fiscal and operating terms as the New Liberty project,” said Aureus president and CEO David Reading.
The 25-year, renewable licence currently encompassed New Liberty within the Southern block, while the Northern block of the Bea Mountain mining licence included the Ndablama, Gondoja and Weaju gold projects, which were the focus of exploration programmes during this year.
An exploration team was currently undertaking detailed field mapping, sampling and target preparation in the Leopard Rock area for the planned drill programme.
The inclusion of Leopard Rock in the initial licence allowed Aureus to commercially develop a “second economic project” under the current Bea Mountain Mineral Development Agreement, instead of negotiating a new agreement for a portion of the corridor.