Noble Mineral Resources Limited (NMG), a mining company in Ghana, on Friday announced that drilling along a stretch of satellite deposits at its Bibiani Gold Project had revealed high-grade gold deposits.
The company, which focuses on exploring for large scale gold deposits in Ghana, said the drilling returned more wide and high-grade intersections, “providing firm evidence that this tract of land could contain substantially more gold than initially thought”.
A statement issued in Accra said the Bibiani mineralization initially viewed as satellite deposits was now emerging as a substantial source of high-grade ore.
It said: “Our exploration strategy adopted to substantially grow resources and reserves at Bibiani has struck immediate and outstanding success, with significant resource upgrade to 197 grams per ton,” it said.
“The latest results come from drilling around the shallow Walsh pit, located 400 metres south of the Strauss deposit, and follow the first round of high-grade intersections which was 84 grams per ton in the area.”
The statement said the results also raised the distinct prospect that the mineralisation, which formed these deposits, could be continuous and therefore may become the subject of one extensive single open pit, though the company believed that further drilling was needed to establish the extent of this potential.
“Results are pending from subsequent drilling undertaken around Aheman and drilling is now taking place at Strauss.”
The statement said the rapidly emerging potential of the satellite deposits at Bibiani was highly significant because as well as providing substantial scope for a resource upgrade, these areas were expected to be the first source of primary ore feed for the refurbished mill.
It said the commissioning of the plant was scheduled to occur in May, with the first primary ore feed set for July.
The company also plans to ramp up production at Bibiani to an annualised rate of more than 150,000 ounces.
“The latest drilling results again highlight the enormous potential to grow the gold inventory at Bibiani,” Noble Managing Director Wayne Norris said.
“The exploration around the satellite deposits is still in its early days, but this area is already emerging as a far more substantial source of primary ore than initially thought.”
Mr. Norris added that “Noble stands to become a significant mining house in West Africa and a lot of this will stem from the fact that we are able to develop and grow our resource and reserve base.
“With two company-owned rigs already mobilised on site, and two new multi-purpose rigs arriving in the first quarter of 2011, Noble has now taken control of its own destiny and will aggressively pursue opportunities in and around the existing operations.”
In the meantime, drilling is about to start at the Bibiani pit as part of a strategy to extend the known limits of the mineralisation on the western side of the existing pit, towards the geologically significant Chirano trend.
“Exploration to date has led Noble to believe there is a strong potential for significantly more resources and reserves to be added by drilling into what is currently the west wall of the pit.
Success in this program would mean that the planned pit cutback, which is currently aimed at accessing ore below the floor of the pit, would in effect become a mining, rather than a waste removal, operation.
“When this program starts, Noble will have three rigs operating at Bibiani with two more on the way. It aims to incorporate as many results of this aggressive drilling schedule as possible in the impending resource upgrade, which is expected to be released by the end of the March quarter,” the statement said.
Noble said it was also sourcing for a further two, 100 per cent-owned multipurpose rigs, from the USA which would also arrive in the first quarter of this year, 2011.