Recent stockpiled tailings have not been sampled by CTL
Newly installed processing plant. (Credit: CNW Group/East Africa Metals Inc.)
East Africa Metals Inc. (TSXV: EAM) (FSE: EA1) (“East Africa” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that further to its press release dated January 27, 2021, the Company has received the following update from its Tanzanian partner, PMM Mining Company Limited (“PMM”).
In January, PMM Mining informed EAM it had completed an engineering and metallurgical assessment of a plan to re-process existing tailings from illegal mining activities that took place between 2007 and 2016 at the Magambazi site, during which time large, active illegal mining operations extracted gold from high-grade quartz veins within the Magambazi main zone (see press release dated January 27, 2021).
During 2018, Canaco Tanzania Limited (“CTL”) surveyed the volume of the tailings, which were mined from its licenses by a group of illegal miners, who were exploiting the high-grade gold veins intercepted during a drilling program conducted in its license area.
Recent stockpiled tailings have not been sampled by CTL; however, samples from the tailings taken in November 2007 indicated a significant amount of gold was unrecovered in the ore mined from Magambazi deposit.
The gold tailings contain an estimated 32,000 tonnes at undetermined grade and metallurgical recoveries. The processing flow-sheet will see the tailings re-milled to further expose remaining free gold, followed by treatment through a gravity circuit and finally through a CIP Plant (Carbon in Pulp.
The Magambazi Mine is located in the emerging Handeni gold district in eastern Tanzania, 180 kilometres northwest of Dar es Salaam and 140 kilometres southwest of the port city of Tanga. The Magambazi property consists of two mining licenses (which cover 9.9 square kilometres) and two prospecting licenses, for an aggregate total of approximately 93 square kilometres. An initial mineral resource estimate for Magambazi was announced on May 15, 2012 (see Canaco Resources News Release dated May 15, 2012). Using a cut-off grade of 0.5 grams per tonne gold, Magambazi is estimated to contain an indicated mineral resource of 15.2 million tonnes grading 1.48 grams per tonne gold and containing 721,300 ounces, as well as an inferred mineral resource estimate of 6.7 million tonnes grading 1.36 grams per tonne gold and containing 292,400 ounces.
The pit shells and cut-off grade of 0.50 grams per tonne gold used to calculate the maiden resource at Magambazi applied a 2012 gold price forecast of US$1,250 per ounce.
Andrew Lee Smith, President & CEO of East Africa, commented: “The start-up of the tailings project at Magambazi is an important milestone for East Africa Metals and marks the commencement of a process that can generate revenue for the Company for the first time in 2021.”
Source: Company Press Release