Drilling program begins at Happy Valley Mine
Pambili Natural Resources Corporation is pleased to announce that drilling has begun at the Happy Valley Mine in Zimbabwe to validate previous surface exploration work.
The drilling rig, owned and operated by KW Blasting of Harare, a division of Drilling Resources Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, is now engaged in a Phase 1 resource drilling program to define a 200-metre strike and 150m down-dip, NI 43-101-compliant resource on a drill grid of 40m x 40m.
The program requires about 1,180m of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling, with holes on a 40m line spacing. Sampling and testing will be taken at one-metre intervals, generating 1,180 sample points and percussion chips that characterize the geology of the different rock types. This information will form the basis for estimating a mineral resource on the drilled area and help determine the parameters for the second phase of drilling, which will include diamond drilling and a closer hole spacing. More details of the program are available in the National Instrument (NI) 43-101 Technical Report on the Happy Valley Mine.
CEO Jon Harris commented: “Despite the plethora of small-scale gold mines in Zimbabwe, very few-if any-have had the required resources to drill out their claims and therefore do not know the full potential of their assets. Pambili believes that by investing in clearly defined drilling programs, it can be the game-changer in the small-scale mining sector in Zimbabwe. This program at the Happy Valley Mine is only the start of our journey.”
Samples from the campaign will be analyzed by Antech Laboratories in Kwekwe. Antech is Zimbabwe’s leading ISO/IEC 17025 accredited commercial metallurgical assay laboratory servicing the mining and exploration industries in Zimbabwe, the SADC region and beyond. The intention is to submit samples from every two holes drilled so as to minimise the time taken to get the full assay results.
The NI 43-101 report, completed in early 2022, states: “The surface exploration work that has been completed has verified historical production from the gold reef present on the claim; however, there is clearly the requirement for a drilling campaign to determine the extent and magnitude of the gold mineralization.”
