UNITED Kingdom-based miner, Ariana Resources Plc (Ariana) has announced the start of exploration drilling at its flagship Dokwe Gold Project to expand and define its gold mineralisation.
The Dokwe Gold Project, which hosts more than one million ounces of gold, represents one of Ariana’s most significant growth opportunities in Zimbabwe.
With gold prices currently hovering around US$3 966 per ounce, the project’s in-ground resource is valued at nearly US$4 billion, highlighting its potential economic impact.
The new drilling program aims to expand existing mineralisation, confirm resource estimates, and identify additional zones of high-grade gold, underpinning Ariana’s strategy to advance Dokwe toward development and eventual production.
“We are now well underway with our drilling programme at Dokwe, which has the objective of testing several targets identified in recent exploration work.
“Several areas of potential have been highlighted from the results of the soil geochemistry programme completed over the past few months,” Ariana managing director Kerim Sener said in a statement.
“We look forward to seeing the first results of this programme prior to the end of this year and have contingency to allow for an expanded RC campaign, as required.
“We are also planning for the initial metallurgical work at Dokwe Central to be completed using RC [Reverse Circulation] drilling chips.”
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RC drilling is a fast and cost-effective method that brings rock samples to the surface for analysis.
Consequently, this will allow Ariana to quickly assess gold mineralisation and identify promising zones for further development.
According to the miner, the exploration drilling is underway at the Dokwe North and Dokwe Central areas and their extensions, following the completion of regional exploration across the project area, which outlined several additional
targets.
This work included the collection of 10 086 soil samples for multi-element portable XRF and detectORE gold analysis on a 50m by 100m grid across the entire project area, totalling 44km2.
Drilling is commencing with the Dokwe North Extension target, which was outlined in the soil geochemical programme.
“Some diamond drilling will also be required on this area in the future, including for geotechnical purposes, but the results of this initial programme of RC drilling will go substantially towards defining the most appropriate and cost-effective future work activities for the Feasibility Study,” Sener said.
A few months back, Ariana revealed it would need more than the initial US$82 million capex it set to develop its Dokwe Gold Project, as its production potential jumped to 100 000 ounces of gold annually.
The Dokwe Gold Project is in the Tsholotsho District, 110km west and northwest of Bulawayo.
