Shanta Gold finds mineable material at another New Luika satellite

Shanta Gold Ltd (LON:SHG) has hit multiple gold intercepts at decent grades at Nkuluwisi, one of the satellite targets close to its New Luika gold mine in southwest Tanzania. Shallow drilling at the deposit , which is 12km from New Luika’s central processing hub, recorded gold indications at mineable grades down to 120 metres below surface. Exploration to date has covered a strike length of about 900 metres while a significant portion of the regionally prominent Nkuluwisi Shear Zone remain untested, Shanta said. Work is ongoing and a maiden resource for Nkuluwisi is anticipated to be published in the next quarter. Best results included 13m at 6.31 g/t gold from a depth of 60m; 19m at 3.58 g/t from 22m and 15m at 4.16 g/t gold at 27m down. All of those holes also contained high grade patches. Toby Bradbury, Shanta’s chief executive, said: "The excellent exploration results from Nkuluwisi once again showcases the geological potential of the Lupa Goldfields.” New Luika comprises eight deposits in the south of Tanzania. Two of these, Bauhinia Creek and Luika, are the current source of the ore being processed but Shanta has been exploring the others to extend the mine’s relatively short life. Resource upgrades have already come through for the Elizabeth Hill deposit (in 2015) and Ilunga (in 2016) and Bradbury said Nkuluwisi highlights how Shanta's exploration team continues to create value through the through the drill bit. "The grades and thicknesses of the mineralisation at Nkuluwisi are very encouraging, he said, but key was that the deposit is open at strike and at depth.” The discovery followed the same process Shanta has used elsewhere at New Kuika, he added. “We progress exploration programmes in a very measured and responsible way. We test to a certain strike length and down to a certain depth. If It looks interesting, we do modelling and see what it looks like as a resource.” “If that show promise, it may warrant deeper exploration but it is always easier to follow the strike.” Bradbury that while the is still a lot of work to be done at Nkuluwisi, it underlined that New Luika has the potential to be a mine for many, many years to come. Peel Hunt added that given the discovery sits 12.5km from the New Luika mill it should be within trucking distance and gives further evidence of the ability of company's licence area to yield mineralised targets. A review of the drill results suggests that the mineralisation generally starts from about 30m below surface with intercepts ranging from 3-19m thickness at 2.1-6.3g/t. Buy with a 17p target. Shares rose to 9.17p. -- updates for detail, share pirce and broker comment --