Resource Mining Corporation Ltd (ASX:RMI) has returned grades described as “spectacular” with up to 26.7 g/t gold and 11.89% copper from sampling and mapping of small-scale mine workings at the Mpanda Copper-Gold Project in Tanzania.
There were 16 rock chip samples taken from small-scale mines within RMC’s tenements and five of these exceeded 11 g/t gold and two greater than 10% copper.
This work was carried out to map the location of artisanal workings and collect samples with the aim of establishing a mineralisation trend and to better understand the extent of Mpanda’s copper-gold mineralisation system.
Rock chip results
Rock sample results from Kabungu included:
- 36.7 g/t gold and 11.89% copper;
- 20.98 g/t gold and 4.36% copper;
- 16.42 g/t gold and 4.79% copper;
- 15.38 g/t gold and 10.44% copper; and
- 11.44 g/t gold and 2.76% copper.
Results from other areas included:
- 6.18 g/t gold and 3.59% copper from NW of Kapalala; and
- 3.2 g/t gold from NW of Stalike.
“Richly endowed system”
Executive chairman Asimwe Kabunga said: “Ongoing exploration activities at our highly prospective Mpanda Copper-Gold Project continue to produce spectacular high grades and they are helping the company define multiple opportunities for potential exploitation of major resources within our extensive tenement package.
"Our goal is to identify one or more significant copper-gold projects at Mpanda in the near future and we have every confidence that we can achieve this.
“More comprehensive drilling is planned following completion of current work streams which includes auger drilling, more soil and rock chip sampling and trenching to define all anomalous areas within our tenements.
"Mpanda is clearly a richly endowed mineralised system. The extensive number of small-scale operations demonstrate that systematic, modern exploration will define much larger scale copper-gold systems.”
About the sampling
All workings within and outside of the company’s licences were mapped with the work outside the licence area carried out to understand the general mineralisation trend and what controls the mineralisation in the area.
A small-scale mine on RMC’s Mpanda project.
There are several small-scale mines across Mpanda forming a northwest-southeast trend with this being a solid indicator of a more extensive mineralised system present.
A total of 16 rock samples were collected from the artisanal workings within the company’s licence boundary and these were analysed at SGS Mwanza Geochemical laboratory for gold and copper.
Results indicate the presence of gold and copper mineralisation in the project areas ranging in grades from 0.5 g/t gold to 36.7 g/t gold and 0.3% to almost 12% copper, in addition to earlier results.
A high-grade sample from workings within the Kabungu anomaly that contained 20.98 g/t gold and 4.36% copper.
Previous drilling over the Kabungu area returned 4 metres at 2.5 g/t gold including 1 metre at 5.3 g/t.
Five anomalies
The latest laboratory results received also now confirm a further three major soil anomalies - Magamba, Mapinduzi and Kabungu.
Stalike and Mpanda Ndogo have already been confirmed, making five soil anomalies within the Mpanda Prospect mineralised for copper-gold.
Laboratory results are pending for samples from four other anomalies - Kapalala, Soko, Milala and Makongolo.
Further soil sampling north of the Mpanda Ndogo anomaly has located further areas of anomalous copper through the use of the pXRF3. Samples are being forwarded to the laboratory for confirmation of the anomalous copper results.
All exploration to date has confirmed the presence of numerous copper-gold soil anomalies and all work within these areas has shown that the anomalies tested relate directly to copper-gold mineralisation.
Augur drilling, trenching, rock chip and soil sampling are ongoing as RMC defines broader areas of interest across Mpanda. All current work provides a platform for definition of future drill programs and resource development.