Wrap Text
Consolidated Lake Victoria Gold Exploration Portfolio including a Gold Resource of 797 900 Ounces
Kibo Mining Plc
(Incorporated in Ireland)
(Registration Number: 451931)
(External registration number:
2011/007371/10)
Share code on the JSE Limited: KBO
Share code on the AIM:
KIBOISIN:
IE00B61XQX41
(“Kibo” or “the Company”)
Dated: 13August 2013
Kibo Announces new Consolidated Lake Victoria Gold Exploration Portfolio which
includes a Gold Resource of 797 900 Ounces
• First phase consolidation of Lake Victoria Exploration Portfolio completed, encompassing
relinquishment of less prospective areas and opportunistic acquisition of selected new
project areas with significant known mineralized structures.
• Consolidated Lake Victoria Portfolio includes Imweru & Lubando gold projects in
northern Tanzania with a combined estimated Measured, Indicated & Inferred Mineral
Resource of 797 900 oz Au.
• Projects on strike and within same greenstone belt as AngloGold Ashanti’s Geita gold
deposits.
Kibo Mining plc (“Kibo” or the “Company”) (AIM: KIBO; AltX: KBO), the mineral
exploration and development company focused on gold, nickel, coal and uranium projects in
Tanzania, is pleased to announce that it has completed phase 1 of the company’s consolidation
strategy for its tenement portfolio in Lake Victoria, as part of the company’s on-going
assessment of its total license holdings in Tanzania. The consolidated portfolio now also
includes two brownfield exploration projects in northern Tanzania within the gold prolific Lake
Victoria Goldfield. The projects are located approximately 35 km East and West (respectively)
and along strike of AngloGold Ashanti’s world class Geita deposits which have an estimated
pre-mining gold endowment of 23 M oz @ 4g/t.
The consolidation of the Lubando and Imweru projects into the Lake Victoria gold portfolio at a
combined direct cash cost of USD 150,000 and the relinquishment of 595km2 of prospecting
licenses fulfilled the review’s primary objective to reduce the size of land holdings and
associated carrying costs, and to focus on more advanced project areas where targets with
higher prospectivity could be fast-tracked up the value curve. The Company intends to procure
updates of the existing technical reports and resource calculations for the Lubando and Imweru
projects, which will in turn serve as a basis for the further planning and execution of more
advanced exploration work on these projects.
Louis Coetzee, CEO of the Company, commented today:
“The Company is very pleased with its new consolidated gold portfolio in the Lake Victoria
region. The consolidation represents a meaningful step in our on-going strategy of rightsizing
our mineral license portfolio by relinquishing some early stage licenses and consolidating
regional blocks of more advanced and prospective ground in known gold regions of
Tanzania. These projects complement our existing gold exploration assets in northern
Tanzania and provide us with the opportunity to develop viable gold resources with in
Tanzania’s premier gold mining area in the short to medium term.
With the addition of a gold resource (in addition to the Rukwa Coal Resource), the Company
has success fully added substance to each of its commodity portfolios, delivering on its
commitment made to its shareholders a year ago. Moreover, it delivered this amidst one of
the most trying and challenging periods for junior exploration companies in recent history.
During this period The Company:
1) Entered into a joint venture with one of the world’s largest nickel producers, for the
exploration and possible development of the Company’s nickel portfolio;
2) Entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the Rukwa Coal to
Power Project with Korean East West Power Company, one of the world’s top energy
companies. Kibo’s Rukwa Coal to Power Project recently also received a vote of
confidence from the Tanzanian Government when it was included in the Tanzanian
Government’s National Power Strategy;
3) Advanced and repositioned its gold exploration portfolio by means of an extensive
evaluation and consolidation process which produced:
• A significantly reduced portfolio which will bring about considerable savings in license
fees, which in turn means an increase in available resources for value generation
through focused exploration work.
• A focused and significantly more advanced gold portfolio with an inferred / indicated
resource that provides an opportunity for the immediate increase and upgrading of
the existing resource through further resource delineation and development.
Additional Technical Information
Imweru & Lubando Gold projects
Location
Imweru & Lubando encompass mineral concessions covering areas of 251 km2 and 75 km2
respectively close to the southern shore of Lake Victoria approximately 100km and 80 km
west of the regional city of Mwanza. The projects are located equidistant of about 35 km
West and East respectively of the gold mining town of Geita. Geita is the location of Anglo
Gold Ashanti’s world class Geita Gold Mines comprising the open pits around Geita itself
and at Kukuluma 15 km to the Northeast. The estimated total pre-mining gold endowment of
the Geita Mines is a combined 23 M oz. @ 4 g/t and the last published resourcesare 12.28 Mt
@ 2.27g/t. (AngloGold Ashanti Mineral Resource and Reserve Report 2012).
Geology and Mineralisation
Both Imweru and Lubando occur on strike and within the same geology as that hosting the
Geita mineralization. The geology comprises a sequence of metabasalts (greenstones) and
felsic volcanics with subordinate diorite, quartz porphyries, and metasediments together
forming the Geita Greenstone Belt (GGB) which is intruded in parts by syn and post
tectonic granites. The GGB is one of a number of similar Archaean age greenstone belts in
this part of northern Tanzania that together make up the Lake Victoria Gold Field, the third
largest gold producing region in Africa after the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the
Tarkwa region of Ghana. Other major gold mines in the region include African Barrick
Gold’s Bulyanhulu, Buswagi and Mara Mines as well as a number of advanced gold projects
at the pre-feasability and feasibility development stages.
The mineralization at Imweru and Lubando is hosted within silicified zones in metabasalt
associated with disseminated sulphides (pyrrothite, pyrite and arsenopyrite) and associated
sericite, chlorite and carbonate alteration zones. Mineralisation at Imweru is hosted in
multiple zones over an East-West strike of 10 km and to a depth of about 200 m. At Lubando
mineralization is hosted within 4 zones over a distance of approximately 1.3 km and to a
depth of 200 m.
Previous Exploration
Imweru and Lubando were previously operated by Great Basin Gold Rusaf Gold
Limited(GBGR), a subsidiary of Great Basin Gold (formerly US and South African listed)
under an option agreement with African Barrick Gold Plc. Following preliminary mapping,
soil sampling and geophysical surveying a number of drill programmes (RAB, RC and
Diamond) were conducted in the period 2002 to 2008. This culminated in a total of 65,989 m
in 1322 holes being drilled at Imweru and 27,770m in 670 holes being drilled at Lubando.
The drilling results were used to prepare NI 43-101 compliant resource estimates for both
projects. The estimates were prepared by Canadian consultants, EBA Engineering
Consultants Ltd. and published in two reports dated 1March 2010 (Imweu) and 31 August
2009 (Lubando). The projects have compliant gold resources of 629,600 oz. and 168,300 oz
respectively. The Base Case resource estimates for both projects are shown on Table 1 and
Table 2 below respectively (tables were extracted from the reports).
TABLE1:IMWERU MINERAL RESOURCE SUMMARY – BASECASE*
Category Measured Resource Indicated Resource Inferred Resource
Resource(t) - - 17,649,900
Grade(g/t) - - 1.11
Grade(oz/ton) - - 0.032
Total Gold(oz) - - 629,600
*Numbers are rounded. Composites capped at 25g/t gold. Cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold based on a gold price of
US$850/oz and assumed100% metallurgical recovery.CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.
TABLE2: LUBANDO MINERALRESOURCE SUMMARY – BASECASE*
East Zone South East Zone North
Category West Zone East Zone Mid Total
Measured Resource
Measured Resource(t) 107,900 4,880 16,900 54,440 184,150
Grade(g/t) 1.6 2.52 1.72 2.48 1.95
Total Gold(oz) 9
5,900 400 950 4,340 11,500
Indicated Resource
Indicated Resource(t) 280,710 18,330 61,000 149,350 509,420
Grade(g/t) 1.6 2.23 1.89 2.73 1.99
Total Gold(oz) 1
14,500 1,300 3,700 13,120 32,600
Inferred Resource
Total Resource(t) 1,090,000 65,470 209,340 535,330 1,900,140
Grade(g/t) 1.2 1.56 3.34 3.13 2.03
Total Gold(oz) 7
44,550 3,300 22,500 53,900 124,200
* Numbers are rounded. Composites capped at10.85g/tgold. Cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold based on a gold price of
US$850/oz and assumed100% metallurgical recovery.CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.
Resource Potential
In line with the recommendations in the resource reports, Kibo considers that continued
exploration on both projects by follow up drilling programmes is warranted in order to
improve the quality of the existing resource and to drill test adjacent anomalous areas resulting
from previous soil sampling and geophysical survey results. To date the mineralized zones
have been tested to a maximum depth of approximately 200 m and they remain open on-strike.
The Company believes that there is excellent potential for defining significant further
resources in the near term through exploration targeted at open areas of the resource and also
through re-modelling of the resource at the current gold price (which is >US$1,300/oz
compared to the US$850/oz used in the previous resource estimates).
Rational for Consolidation
This consolidation is compatible with Kibo’s on-going strategy of rationalizing and
consolidating its extensive mineral exploration portfolio in Tanzania. The Company previously
announced (June 2013) a significant reduction in its grass roots mineral interests in Tanzania
and this marks a consolidation of more advanced gold exploration properties in a region where
Kibo has already established some of its most prospective early stage gold projects. Kibo
already holds a number of properties both in the Geita region and in the surrounding greater
Lake Victoria Goldfield. Exploration to date by the Company on some of these licences within
its Mhangu Block in the east part of the Goldfield has already established trenching and drill
targets, work on which had previously been temporarily suspended in order to focus resources
towards advancement of its flagship Rukwa Coal to Power Project.
The Lubando and Imweru projects complement Kibo’s existing gold projects in this region and
will benefit from the logistical and operational advantages of being close to the Company’s
existing operations when exploration resumes in 2014.
In keeping with its on-going rationalization and consolidation of its license portfolio, the
Company will continue to review further consolidation opportunities in this region on projects
which show good gold potential and can be consolidated on favourable terms.
Contacts
Louis Coetzee +27 (0)83 2606126 Kibo Mining plc Chief Executive Officer
Andreas Lianos +27 (0)83 4408365 River Group Corporate Adviser and
Designated Adviser on JSE
Jon Belliss +44 (0) 20 3216 2630 XCAP Broker
Stuart Laing +61 8 94802500 RFC Ambrian Nominated Adviser on AIM
Limited
Matt Beale +44 (0)7966 389196 Fortbridge Investor Relations
Updates on the Company’s activities are regularly posted on its website www.kibomining.com
General Background & Strategy
Kibo was established in early 2008 to explore and develop mineral deposits in Tanzania, East
Africa and was admitted to AIM in London on 27 April 2010 and AltX in Johannesburg on 30
May 2011. The Board of Kibo is composed of professionals whose experience include mineral
exploration, mine development, mining finance, tax, law, mergers and acquisitions, and
financial control of public companies. It is supported by competent and motivated a Tanzanian
staff that operates from Kibo's operations office in Dar es Salaam.
The mineral assets of the Company comprise five projects areas in Tanzania - Haneti (nickel,
PGE and gold), Morogoro (Gold), Lake Victoria (Gold), Rukwa (Coal) and Pinewood (Coal &
Uranium).
The Haneti project is the subject of a joint venture with Brazilian Votorantim Metais
Participações Ltda, a member of Votorantim Group. The Rukwa and Pinewood projects are
situated close to the Mtwara Corridor,an area where the Tanzanian Government has committed
to significant infrastructure development and which has seen recent multi-million dollar
investment in coal and coal-fired power stations and uranium exploration.
The Rukwa project is substantially more advanced than Kibo’s existing exploration projects,
with a significant Mineral Resource of thermal coal already defined. The project enjoys strong
support expressed by the Tanzanian Government for the expedited development of a coal mine
and mine-mouth coal-fired power plant and which is further enhanced by the now formal
relationship between the Korean Government owned Korean East – West Power Co. Ltd.
(“EWP”) and Kibo. In this relationship the parties have entered into a formal MOU which
states the parties’ respective commitments towards the joint development of the Rukwa Coal
to Power Project (“RCPP”), where EWP will be responsible for developing and operating the
power generation side of the RCPP and Kibo will be responsible for developing and operating
the mining side of the RCPP.
Kibo's objective is to build shareholder value in a sustainable manner. This objective will be
pursued primarily through active exploration of its own projects and by using the Company's
experience in Tanzania to acquire attractive exploration and development assets on competitive
terms that can be moved swiftly up the value curve by using the Company’s own skills base
whilst also seeking to benefit from strategic collaborative relationships with industry leaders
who have special skills and competencies within their chosen fields of focus. Kibo will
undertake continual risk assessment of its projects and take whatever actions it believes are
necessary to ensure that these risks are mitigated.
Review by Qualified Person
The information in this announcement that relates to the Imweru and Lubando mineral
resources is taken from reports titled “Technical Report on the Imweru property (Updated),
Mwanza, Tanzania” dated March 1, 2010 and “Technical Report on the Lubando property,
Mwanza, Tanzania” dated 31st August 2009” (the “Reports”) Both Reports are NI 43-101
compliant and were prepared for Great Basin Gold Rusaf Gold Limited by Nathan Eric Fier
C.P.G., P.Eng. Market Director for EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd and a Senior Mining
Consultant. Mr. Fieris registered as a Certified Professional Geologist with the American
Institute of Professional Geologists, Registration No 10062, and a professional Engineer in
British Columbia, Canada Registration No. 135165. He has extensive experience in the
evaluation and reporting of Archaean Gold projects. The Company’s Exploration Director,
Noel O’Keeffe has reviewed the Reports and the references to them in this announcement.
Johannesburg
13 August 2013
Corporate and Designated Adviser
River Group
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