Shanta Gold Limited Exploration Update, Nkuluwisi, Lupa Goldfields (7894Y)

TIDMSHG

RNS Number : 7894Y

Shanta Gold Limited

08 March 2017

8 March 2017

Shanta Gold Limited

("Shanta Gold", "Shanta" or the "Company")

Exploration Update, Nkuluwisi, Lupa Goldfields

Shanta Gold (AIM: SHG), the East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer, is pleased to provide an update on its ongoing exploration programme, within and surrounding, the New Luika Gold Mine ("NLGM" or "the Mine"), located in the Lupa Goldfields, southwest Tanzania.

Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling at the Nkuluwisi Mineralised Target ("Nkuluwisi"), located approximately 12 kilometers ("km") northwest of the NLGM's central processing hub, has intersected encouraging mineralisation which is open along strike and at depth.

A total of 44 RC drill holes comprising 5,833 meters of drilling have been completed at Nkuluwisi, identifying mineralisation down to vertical depths of approximately 120 metres below surface. Exploration to date has covered a strike length of about 900 metres and significant portions of the regionally prominent Nkuluwisi Shear Zone remain untested and exploration work is ongoing.

The drilling results are currently being modelled and will be submitted to the Company's independent resource consultants for resource estimation purposes in the near future with a maiden resource for Nkuluwisi anticipated to be delivered in Q2 2017.

Drilling highlights include:

   --     13m @ 6.31 g/t gold from 60m in hole SGR090, including 5m @ 10.81 g/t 
   --     19m @ 3.58 g/t from 22m in hole SGR178, including 10m @ 5.3 g/t 
   --     15m @ 4.16 g/t gold 27m in hole SGR185, including 3m @ 10.48 g/t and 1m @ 10.8 g/t 
   --     12m @ 3.54 g/t gold from 54m in hole SGR186 
   --     10m @ 3.13 g/t gold from 116m in hole SGR098 
   --     5m @ 5.05 g/t gold from 24m in hole SGR179 
   --     4m @ 5.47 g/t gold from 7m in hole SGR088, including 1m @ 13.7 g/t 
   --     5m @ 4.11 g/t gold from from 30m in hole SGR181 
   --     9m @ 2.05 g/t gold from 120m in hole SGR099 
   --     6m @ 2.81 g/t gold from 56m in hole SGR122, including 1m @ 10.95 g/t 
   --     4m @ 4.21 g/t gold from 30m in hole SGR182 
   --     3m @ 3.87 g/t gold from 38m in hole SGR089 

Toby Bradbury, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"The excellent exploration results from Nkuluwisi once again showcases the geological potential of the Lupa Goldfields. Furthermore, after resource upgrades at Elizabeth Hill in 2015 and Ilunga in 2016, Shanta's exploration team continues to demonstrate its ability to convert its knowledge and experience into value-creation through the drill bit.

"The grades and thicknesses of the mineralisation at Nkuluwisi are very encouraging. The deposit remains open at depth, and strike, and we are confident that further exploration will add to the forthcoming expected maiden resource at Nkuluwisi due in Q2 2017."

Enquiries:

 
 Shanta Gold Limited 
 Toby Bradbury (CEO)               [phone] 
  Mark Rosslee (CFO)                829 
 
 Nominated Adviser and Broker 
 Peel Hunt LLP 
 Matthew Armitt / Ross Allister 
  / Chris Burrows                  [phone] 
 
 Financial Public Relations 
 Tavistock 
 Jos Simson / Emily Fenton 
  / Barney Hayward                 [phone] 
 

About Shanta Gold

Shanta Gold is an East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer. It currently has defined ore resources on the New Luika and Singida projects in Tanzania and holds exploration licences over a number of additional properties in the country. Shanta's flagship New Luika Gold Mine commenced production in 2012 and produced 87,713 ounces in 2016. The Company is admitted to trading on London's AIM and has approximately 583 million shares in issue.

For further information please visit: www.shantagold.com.

The technical information contained within this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Awie Pretorius MSc.Pri.Sci.Nat. Mr. Pretorius is a consultant to Shanta and a member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professionals (SACNASP Membership Number 400060/91).

He has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' and for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note on Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009.

Nkuluwisi Mineralised Target

Nkuluwisi was identified after regional soil geochemical surveys commissioned in the general area resulted in the identification of significant gold-in-soil anomalism. The gold-in-soil anomalism identified was found to coincide with airborne magnetometry and radiometrics anomalism interpreted earlier. A trenching programme targeting the achieved geochemical anomaly resulted in the identification of a mineralized ductile/brittle shear zone displaying strike extent extending several kilometers.

To date, a total of 44 RC drill holes comprising 5,833 meters of linear drilling has been completed at Nkuluwisi. Significant portions of the regionally prominent Nkuluwisi Shear Zone remain untested and further evaluation by means of focussed trenching programs is under consideration.

Thus far, a total strike expression of approximately 900 meters has been targeted with trenching and channel sampling, as well as RC drilling. Mineralised intersections in drill holes have been achieved up to a maximum vertical depth of approximately 120 meters below surface.

The drilling results are currently being modelled and will be submitted to the Company's independent resource consultants for Resource Estimation purposes in the near future. Nkuluwisi is located outside of the NLGM Mining Licence Area (Figure 1). The Company has secure licence tenure on the area in question and envisages that satellite deposits identified within reasonable hauling distance from NLGM may, in future, contribute to the project's resource baseline.

Table 1: Detailed Intersection Summary - Significant intersections > 1g/t

 
 Borehole      Depth      Depth    Intersection   Composite Au 
     ID       From (m)    To (m)     Width (m)     Grade (g/t) 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR088         7         11           4             5.47 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR088        49         52           3             1.01 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR088        56         65           9             1.17 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR089        38         41           3             3.87 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR089        51         52           1             1.61 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR089        55         59           4             1.12 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR089        74         76           2             1.15 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR089        89         92           3             1.23 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 
  SGR090        60         73           13            6.31 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR090        93         98           5             1.51 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR091         1          3           2             1.06 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR091         8          9           1             2.61 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR091        59         70           11            1.81 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR091        72         73           1             2.09 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR092        42         44           2             3.70 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR092        54         56           2             1.25 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR092        62         67           5             1.34 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR092        69         77           8             1.04 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR093        54         60           6             2.72 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR094        65         70           5             1.38 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR096        111        119          8             1.48 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR097         2          3           1             2.10 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 

  SGR097        106        111          5             1.10 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR098        112        115          3             1.39 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR098        116        126          10            3.13 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR099        120        129          9             2.05 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR099        133        142          9             1.02 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR099        145        147          2             2.34 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR099        153        154          1             1.85 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR100        175        176          1             1.16 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR100        185        186          1             1.00 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR114        38         40           2             1.07 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR114        58         69           11            1.74 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR115        135        145          10            1.17 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR116        59         62           3             1.13 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR116        63         68           5             1.40 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR118        64         68           4             1.33 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR118        85         86           1             1.13 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR119        121        123          2             1.13 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR119        130        132          2             1.42 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR120        64         65           1             7.72 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR120        67         72           5             1.44 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR120        78         79           1             1.59 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR120        108        109          1             1.64 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR121        117        123          6             1.62 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR121        155        156          1             1.07 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR122        56         62           6             2.81 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR123        110        112          2             1.20 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR124        61         62           1             1.55 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR176        96         99           3             1.14 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR177        17         22           5             2.04 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR177        54         62           8             1.92 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR177        66         69           3             1.10 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR178        22         41           19            3.58 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR179        24         29           5             5.05 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR179        31         32           1             1.07 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR180        78         83           5             1.02 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR180        87         92           5             1.23 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR180        106        110          4             1.62 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR180        111        115          4             1.11 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR181        30         35           5             4.11 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR181        63         68           5             1.72 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR182        30         34           4             4.21 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR182        45         51           6             1.07 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR182        55         58           3             1.28 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR182        75         76           1             1.89 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR182        81         82           1             3.19 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR183        69         70           1             1.23 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR183        73         74           1             1.12 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR183        100        111          11            1.04 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR184        12         17           5             1.23 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR184        25         40           15            1.72 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR184        42         45           3             1.14 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR184        56         59           3             1.78 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR184        60         66           6             2.54 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR185        27         42           15            4.16 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR185        48         60           12            1.09 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR186        54         66           12            3.54 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR186        67         76           9             1.85 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR186        91         92           1             2.54 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR187        47         48           1             1.18 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR187        50         56           6             1.07 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR187        87         89           2             2.00 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 

  SGR188        21         23           2             1.63 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR189        22         23           1             2.27 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
    And 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
  SGR189        32         42           10            1.36 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR190        49         57           8             1.30 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 
  SGR191        56         61           5             1.65 
----------  ----------  --------  -------------  ------------- 
 

(1) See link for accompanying plan of drill hole locations

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7894Y_-2017-3-7.pdf

(2) All holes were drilled at inclinations of -50o to -60o into a sub-vertical mineralised zone

(3) No top-cut applied

This announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 596/2014.

ENDS

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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