Shanta Gold identifies visible gold after West Kenya exploration

East Africa-focussed gold explorer, developer and producer Shanta Gold updated the market on exploration at the West Kenya Project on Tuesday, following the 2,489 metres of drilling it conducted across 11 holes in March and April at the Isulu deposit.

The AIM-traded firm said visible gold was identified in seven different intersections across the 11 holes.

It said the true width of mineralisation was estimated at approximately 60% to 70% of the intercept core length.

A resource update for West Kenya, focused on about 10% of the total inferred resource of 1.2 million ounces, between nil and 200 metres in depth, was expected in the third quarter following completion of the first phase of drilling at the end of June.

Shanta said it was on track to complete around 40% of its total planned drilling at West Kenya by the end of 2021.

It added that 16% of total planned drilling for 2021, and 7% of total planned drilling over the three phases, had now been reported.

“The intersection of 219.5 grams of gold per tonne over six metres in hole 237 has a grade-by-width of over 1,300 grams per tonne - the highest to date on this metric at the West Kenya Project,” said chief executive officer Eric Zurrin.

“These new intercepts verify the current model and can be linked with other high-grade intercepts nearby, indicating that exceptionally high-grade shoots should be present not only below the 400 metre depth, as previously thought, but also at the higher levels of the deposit.”

Zurrin said current drilling had also discovered an up-dip extension of the additional parallel zone, which was previously modelled only at deeper levels.

“Results so far have been strong with some intersections demonstrating remarkably high grades and we look forward to updating the market on ongoing performance in due course.

“We will soon be transitioning into Phase 2 drilling as well as expanding our exploration drilling to regional high priority targets across our portfolio of 1,162 square kilometres of licences at West Kenya.”

At 1503 BST, shares in Shanta Gold were up 10% at 16.5p.