Shanta Gold Ltd (LON:SHG) said visible gold was identified in seven different intersections as part of an 11-hole drilling programme on the West Kenya project.
The AIM-quoted company said 2,489 metres of drilling was conducted in March and April 2021 at the project’s Isulu deposit.
Drilling highlights included hole 237 where 219.5 grammes a tonne (g/t) gold was intersected over 6.0 metres, including a 1-metre section at exceptionally high grades of 440.5 g/t.
“The intersection of 219.5 g/t over 6 metres in hole 237 has a grade x width of over 1,300 g/t Au [gold], the highest to date on this metric at the West Kenya project,” said chief executive Eric Zurrin.
“These new intercepts verify the current model and can be linked with other high-grade intercepts nearby, indicating that exceptionally high-grade shoots should be present not only below the 400 m depth, as previously thought, but also at the higher levels of the deposit.”
“Current drilling has also discovered an up-dip extension of the additional parallel zone, which was previously modelled only at deeper levels. Results so far have been strong with some intersections demonstrating remarkably high grades,” he added.
A resource update for the West Kenya project, focused on about 10% of the total NI43-101 inferred resource of 1.2mln ounces, between 0-200 metres in depth, is expected in the third quarter following the completion of Phase 1 drilling at the end of June.
Shanta said it was on track to complete approximately 40% of total planned drilling at the project by the end of 2021.