Katoro Gold provides Haneti Nickel drilling update

Katoro holds a 65% ownership interest in Haneti with 35% held by Power Metal Resources plc (Power Metal).

Highlights

• Maiden drill programme involves 2000 m of rotary air blast (RAB) drilling at Haneti with a planned 50 holes of approximately 40 m depth.
• The RAB drill holes are being drilled on profiles across the three target areas in order to provide enhanced information of the subsurface shape and orientation of the ultramafic rock bodies being targeted and to allow for the optimisation of a planned follow-on diamond drill programme.
• By end of drilling on 6 January 2021, a total of 22 holes and 863 m had been drilled at the Mwaka Hill target, with the plan to move to the Mihanza Hill target during the week commencing 11 January 2021.
• First two batches of samples from the RAB drilling at Mwaka Hill have been prepared and the first sample batch will be dispatched to SGS Tanzania, an accredited laboratory, for assay testing as soon as the accompanying QA/QC standards are received on site (expected week commencing 11 January 2021).
• Drilling commenced on 29 December 2020 and has continued daily, with the exception of New Year's Day, for an average daily drilling rate of 96 m/d. The delay in commencing the drilling and logistical challenges presented by the current rainy season have not impacted the overall programme with drilled metres now in line with the planned schedule.
• The potential impact on the planned programme of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the January – March rainy season is being monitored carefully on site with no issues at this time. There may be some rain related access challenges to be overcome as the drill rig is moved over to the Mihanza Hill target area.
• Concurrently to the drilling programme, geological fieldwork is continuing with:
  • Geological mapping of surrounding ultramafic target areas; and detailed mapping at Mwaka Hill and Mihanza Hill.
  • Geophysics: three ground magnetic survey lines and one radiometric survey line completed over the Mwaka Hill drill fence profile with the same work due to be started at Mihanza Hill.
  • Fieldwork results will supplement the existing geophysics data, helping to optimise the planned RAB drill hole placement, and in conjunction with the results from the RAB drilling programme, will assist in targeting for the currently planned follow-up diamond drilling programme.

Further information

Project overview

The Haneti Nickel Project covers an area of approximately 5000 km² in central Tanzania, approximately 88 km north of the capital city Dodoma. It comprises tenements (prospecting licences, offers and applications) prospective for nickel, PGMs and gold.

One of the key exploration objectives for the JV partners at Haneti is to delineate the potential for economic nickel mineralisation on the linear dyke-like, Haneti-Itiso Ultramafic Complex (HIUC), which sporadically crops out over a strike length of 80 km through the centre of the tenement holding. The HIUC mainly comprises serpentinites (metamorphosed ultrabasic rocks such as dunite and peridotite), with metabasic rocks such as metagabbro and metadolerite and is being targeted for a Chonolith-Type Nickel exploration model.

RAB drill programme

An initial three target areas have been selected for RAB drilling: Milhanza Hill; Mwaka Hill; and Igari Hill. These targets are based on the recommendations of the 2012 AEM survey, the detailed field programme undertaken in 2013, and further supplementary exploration findings.

The planned 2000 m RAB drilling programme will consist approximately 50 holes drilled on linear fences across the targets. The programme will seek to verify the existence of near surface nickel sulfide mineralisation at each target whilst increasing the geological understanding such that the orientation and the meterage of a planned follow-up diamond drill programme can be optimised to confirm the scale of any nickel sulfide mineralisation.

The drilling is being conducted by an experienced Tanzanian company in line with international best practice and in accordance with health and safety and COVID-19 precautions.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/12012021/katoro-gold-provides-haneti-nickel-drilling-update/