The drilling programme at the Ravene deposit in Mozambique has been completed, Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) announced.
The deposit forms part of the Mutamba minerals sands project, which is being developed by Savannah and Rio Tinto.
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The drilling team has drilled 107 holes in all over a 21 kilometre strike of potentially mineralised sand dunes.
The programme targeted high-grade zones, where previous drilling had returned results of up to 14.7% total heavy minerals (THM).
Results will be used to estimate an initial inferred resource over the Ravene prospect to potentially increase the Mutamba project's recently defined initial indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate of 3.5 billion tonnes at 3.8% THM.
Samples are currently being analysed for heavy mineral concentration. The tests are expected to be completed in February.
“The completion of this fast-paced resource definition drilling programme highlights the capabilities of Savannah's in-country operations team,” claimed David Archer, Savannah’s chief executive.
“The programme was planned to more precisely define the high-grade zones of THM at the Ravene deposit, which we believe could increase the current global Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource inventory of 3.5 billion tonnes at 3.8% THM at the Mutamba Project North. We look forward to receiving the drill results in the coming weeks, which we intend to include in our scoping study for the project, which is underway and continues to progress well," he added.