eBusiness Weekly
Oliver Kazunga
Business Writer
EUROPE-BASED Galileo Resources PLC has identified three priority gold and nickel exploration targets originally generated from the airborne geophysical survey on the Bulawayo gold project.
The United Kingdom company, which recently announced the commencement of exploration at the Bulawayo gold project and the Kamativi lithium project, was prioritising targets at Queens West, Bembeshi Nickel and Bembeshi Gold all in Bulawayo.
Galileo chairman and chief executive officer Colin Bird said “We have done a significant amount of exploration in a short time since acquiring a position in BC Ventures and the portfolio we commenced with has grown quite significantly.
“Three targets have been prioritised, Queens West, Bembeshi Nickel and Bembeshi Gold. Exploration comprising ground geophysics to complement the recent airborne survey, soil geochemistry and detailed geological mapping and sampling has in every case generated targets of merit that are quickly evolving into probable drill targets to be tested early in the New Year.”
He said in the Bembeshi area, geophysics followed by on-ground fieldwork has provided much excitement and the prospect of drilling in the near term.
“Whilst the discovery of nickel at Bembeshi came as a surprise, the presence of ultramafic rocks in the area is not uncommon and discovery is partly due to artisanal mining being focused on gold and unlikely to recognise the significance of ultramafics and associated nickel mineralisation,” said Bird.
In April this year, Galileo announced that for the Bulawayo gold project, the company had signed a contract with Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics (Pty) Ltd. to carry out a fixed-wing airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the most prospective parts of EPO 1783 and EPO 1784. The survey comprised 12 184 line kilometres of flying at 100 metres line spacing covering extensive greenstone belt rock formations that are host to many small to mid-size quartz reef gold mines and deposits in Zimbabwe
The aim was to map critical structures and belts linking the many known small-scale gold mines and deposits to help identify targets for the potential development of a medium to large-scale mine.
“Looking to the Queens West targets, the nearby location of the Queens Mine is testament to the presence of high-grade gold in classic Zimbabwe-type steeply dipping structures and gold mining is likely to continue in the area for a number of years to come.
“I am very encouraged by our early success with our work programmes and I look forward to bringing in drilling rigs to test our generated targets and hopefully identifying a gold and/or nickel project for early development,” Bird said.
The Bulawayo licences host an impressive number of former producing mines, active small-scale gold mining operations and artisanal activity.
The area also includes the Queens Mine, a commercial underground gold mining operation.
The airborne survey completed earlier this year generated a substantial number of high-quality, gold and nickel targets the majority of which warrant follow-up.
Galileo has selected a small number of these targets to confirm the veracity of the geophysical data and to consolidate its position in the Bulawayo region.
“The presence of an extraordinary number of historic gold operations supplemented by current artisanal activity all of which are focused on a plethora of steeply dipping gold-bearing structures provides a solid starting point for exploration follow up and focused fieldwork.”
The company said until it completed its airborne survey, there was no means by which explorers could follow extensions to these productive structures as they plunged beneath shallow cover.
Galileo’s survey has revealed a large number of structures that can be traced back to those areas where they have been mined previously thereby minimising exploration risk whilst also discovering many new structural targets that were until recently unknown.
Meanwhile, following an assignment agreement (Deed of Assignment) Galileo entered with BC Ventures and Cordoba Investments Limited in January this year, the former has an option to acquire a 51 percent interest in BC Ventures by spending US$1,5 million on exploration.
BC Ventures are the owners of the lithium project in Kamativi and two gold licences near Bulawayo through its wholly-owned Zimbabwe subsidiary, SinamateIa Investments (Private) Limited.
