Aim-listed Galileo Resources reports that progress has been made on a number of new prospects, including the discovery of high-grade gold and associated copper mineralisation at the Shinganda copper/gold project, in Zambia, where it has the right to earn an initial 51% interest.
Follow-up exploration over additional ground to that focused on to date, has revealed highly anomalous surface gold and associated copper results on three of eight selected targets several kilometres from the Shinganda outcrop zone, where lengthy drill intervals of copper/gold mineralisation were recently reported.
Target 1 bedrock grab samples returned the highest grade gold assays for the Shinganda project to date peaking at 33.90 g/t gold, 20.16 g/t gold and 8.54 g/t gold.
This target is also anomalous in copper, returning grades of 0.28%, 0.46% and 0.24% copper respectively for the high-grade gold results.
Target 1, which shows an east-west anomalous gold trend over a minimum area of 120 m by 25 m, remains open to the east, west and south and is a priority candidate for further testing of the strike extensions prior to drilling.
Target 7, a 25-m-wide pit located 8 km from Target 1, returned peak gold and copper values of 3.44 g/t gold and 0.53% copper from a chip/channel sampling programme. This zone remains open in several directions.
Soil sampling over Target 9 returned two separate soil anomalies, 500 m apart with portable X-ray fluorescence analysers values of up to 409 parts per million copper.
These results are consistent with previous Galileo grab sampling that returned values of 1.10% copper and 0.63 g/t gold at the same location.
The high-grade gold results, often with complementary copper values, warrant a commitment to a significant programme of exploration this year. Work planned will include testing of strike extensions of the three targets highlighted by means of pitting and possibly soil surveys followed by drilling to test depth extent.
The targets that have been tested were selected largely based on exposure of bedrock. While cover is shallow, often less than 1 m to 2 m, the strike rate in terms of anomalous gold and copper values discovered is considered by the company to be very significant.
Galileo has commissioned a re-interpretation of ground magnetic geophysical data to better define possible additional targets and, based on recent success, may also expand soil geochemical surveys to test for other blind targets.
“The Shinganda project has a number of small-scale workings within the licence area showing a similar style of mineralisation. Historic and current exploration by Galileo has broadly defined an area of high prospectivity covering 12 km by 6 km,” CEO and chairperson Colin Bird outlines.
“Exploration updates such as the recent grab and soil samples returning a peak gold value of 33.90 g/t gold only serve to confirm the exciting opportunity offered by Shinganda. It is becoming increasingly evident that the only quality technical activity was carried out by a major mining house which identified certain geological trends which are holding up and being confirmed and extended by our activities.
“The only other work undertaken was for immediate gain high-grade open pitting with no follow up thereafter. The more we explore the more positive we become about the project. Our focus now is to identify the mineralisation driver as well as prove up a meaningful resource,” he adds.