Tanganyika Gold Project

This Tanganyika Gold Project is a vein-hosted gold project near Lake Tanganyika in south-eastern DRC. The presence of gold in the area was detected and preliminary exploration performed in the 1940s and 1950s. Historical mining operations on some prospective areas reported phenomenal gold grades. In recent times local artisanal mining has been the dominant activity in the area.

Project is located in the Ubendian Belt

Geologically the project is situated in the Ubendian Belt, which is a linear orogenic belt located in south-eastern DRC. The Ubendian Belt comprises of a high grade metamorphic including granulites, migmatites, amphibolites as well as younger intrusive granites and gabbro/diorite. The contact between the granite and the diorite are usually marked by intrusive quartz veins which can be mineralised with gold. This project focused on these gold bearing quartz veins.

Minrom appointed to perform a geological due diligence

In 2019, Minrom Consulting was appointed by a respected investments company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to perform a geological due diligence on the project, which evolved with the development of a chunky economic model into a project evaluation.

Figure 1 - Additional mapping by Minrom

Several phases of geological exploration

Historically the project has seen several phases of exploration including geological mapping, soil sampling, grab sampling, trenching and limited drilling. Phase 1 of the project consisted of validating all available data on the project followed by combining all the validated data into a usable database. This was followed by phase 2 which consisted of a site visit that aimed to verify the historical mapping, trenching, drilling and sampling data. This was followed up by metallurgical test work on samples obtained from the field.

Figure 2 – Verification of the drill core data and photographs of the mineralisation

Phase 3 consisted of developing a high-level 3D geological model and block model for the project. Using the grade block model an economic evaluation was performed looking at various realistic mining methods and focusing on a small-scale rampable operation.

Results show project has a minable resource

The results showed that even with conservative parameters this project has a minable resource with significant upside potential if exploration is furthered. Minrom is excited about the next phases of exploration and the proving up of resource and reserve numbers. Minrom has recommended that further delineation and definition diamond drilling be performed on existing targets as well as further mapping, soil sampling and geophysical studies on extended targets. This will significantly reduce the risks associated with proposed small-scale mining in the project area.

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