African Queen Mines said Monday it has completed an airborne geophysical survey together with the first phase of ground exploration on its Rongo Gold Field project in Southwest Kenya.
The project covers an area of approximately 112 sq. km in the Kanango gold mining area of the Migori District of Nyanza Province.
The airborne survey and ground exploration program, which together comprise phase 1 of the project, were designed to identify areas of structural interest, as a way to confirm targets for follow-up exploration drilling and a reconnaissance core drilling program, the company said.
Although geological interpretation of the survey data has not yet been finalised, the company said it observed a number of features, including the position of a major northwest trending structure, now termed the Kamwango Shear Zone, the contact of the granite with the greenstones, which is regarded as an important control of the gold mineralisation, and a number of smaller shears and faults related to the much larger Kamwango Shear Zone.
In addition, approximately 1200m of trenching at the Kamwango target was completed, together with related reconnaissance mapping, sampling and other ground exploration activities.
"These activities revealed extensive zones of silicification, epidotisation and carbonatisation of the basaltic andesites (greenstones), while a very large structure is clearly visible on the airborne magnetic data crossing the Kamwango area. Quartz veining was encountered in the trenching together with visible gold," the company said in a statement.
The Rongo Gold license is situated in south-western Kenya south of the town of Kisumu. A number of historical gold mines are known in the general area and include Migori, one of the earliest gold mines in Kenya.
Abba Mining currently holds the exploration license to the project, and African Queen can earn up to an 85% interest in the property under a joint venture agreement. African Queen is the operator of the site.
The Vancouver-based company is exploring its properties in Mozambique, Kenya and Ghana for gold and other metals and its properties in Botswana and Namibia for diamonds. It was up nearly 2% to $0.56 as of 1:24pm ET on Monday.