BRITISH miner Kavango Resources Plc has reported encouraging gold estimates at Bill’s Luck Prospect within its Hillside Gold Project in Zimbabwe, after drilling confirmed high-grade mineralisation and continuity at depth.
The discovery reinforces Zimbabwe’s growing reputation as a high-potential gold destination, highlighting the country’s untapped mineral wealth. Bill’s Luck, with its structurally complex reefs and historical production, positions Kavango to significantly expand its gold footprint in the region while supporting future mine planning and production.
The announcement paves the way for a formal mineral resource estimate to confirm a high gold resource.
Bill’s Luck is one of four promising prospects at the Hillside Gold Project, along with Britain, Nightshift, and Steenbok. Kavango operates three projects in Zimbabwe, but is focusing on Hillside, which comprises 44 gold claims covering 503 hectares. The other two projects are the Nara Gold and Leopard Projects.
“The resource drilling programme at Bill’s Luck was designed to establish a maiden mineral resource estimate to support and inform future mine planning and scheduling while also unlocking the full value of what is increasingly believed to be a significant mineralised system at Bill’s Luck,” Kavango said in a statement.
The programme included an initial wide-spaced diamond drill programme, followed by infill diamond drilling and a separate reverse circulation (RC) drill programme along strike to the northwest and southeast. A total of 7 714 metres were drilled — 3,556m of RC drilling and 4,158m of diamond drilling. Results from the RC programme are expected in the coming weeks.
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“The drill programme has intersected the currently mined ‘Main Reef’, as expected, but has also confirmed the presence of an additional ‘reef’ structure adjacent to and parallel with the ‘Main Reef’ that is also mineralised,” Kavango said.
“The drilling also tested and intersected further ‘reefs’ in both the hanging wall and footwall. The diamond drilling results, together with the RC drill programme, will now be used to inform a maiden mineral resource estimate at Bill’s Luck.”
Originally mined between 1916 and 1950, Bill’s Luck produced around 17 000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 7,7 grammes per tonne. Since then, only limited informal mining and small-scale retreatment have occurred.
Kavango is currently focusing on development at Bill’s Luck ahead of commissioning a 50-tonne-per-day pilot carbon-in-pulp (CIP) plant. Gold mineralisation is structurally and hydrothermally controlled, occurring along shear zones with quartz-sericite-chlorite alteration, disseminated sulphides, and vein-controlled syntectonic quartz-sulphide veins. Zones of higher vein density coincide with stronger deformation, including quartz boudinage, pressure shadows, and mylonitic veins, which serve as key mineral traps. Late-stage mineralised veins also crosscut earlier fabrics, suggesting prolonged, multi-phase mineralisation.
Peter Wynter Bee, Kavango’s interim CEO, said the drilling programme had exceeded expectations, demonstrating that the mineralised system extends beyond 220 metres in depth and exhibits continuity along strike.
“The resource drilling programme at Bill’s Luck has exceeded our expectations, demonstrating that the mineralised system extends to depths greater than 220m and exhibits continuity both along strike and at depth,” he said.
“Together with our incoming RC results, we hope to define a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate in the near future, which will be used to inform mine planning and scheduling at Bill’s Luck and to underpin our assessment of the mine’s longer-term production potential.”
He said the miner would soon provide further updates on its plans to increase gold production.