Caracal Gold PLC (LSE:GCAT) has boosted the indicated and inferred resource at Kilimapesa Hill in Kenya to 12.15mln tonnes of ore grading 1.4 grams of gold, for a total of 565,700 ounces of contained gold.
The new resource will support a minimum 10-year mine life for the project, with production targeted at 24,000 ounces per year.
The overall resource at Kilimapesa now stands at 14.05mln tonnes grading 1.56 grams for 705,000 ounces of contained gold.
Kilimapesa Hill is one of two key deposits at Kilimapesa, the other being Red Ray, a new licence for which has been approved for issue.
Caracal's total portfolio resource now stands at 26.36mln tonnes of ore grading 1.61 grams for 1.365mln ounces of contained gold.
Meanwhile, the acquisition of the Nyakafuru project in the world-class Lake Victoria Gold Fields in northern Tanzania continues to proceed according to plan. The resource at Nyakafuru already stands at 659,000 ounces, and is likely to be boosted as further exploration takes place.
"We are delighted to announce the updated mineral resource estimate for the Kilimapesa Hill deposit,” said Robbie McCrae, chief executive of Caracal.
"This significant increase in the quality of the resource at Kilimapesa Hill has further strengthened the project team's confidence and justifies our decision to expand production at Kilimapesa to 24,000 ounces per annum, with the ounces contained in the measured and indicated category now able to be converted into reserves to support the mining and processing plant.”
He added that with resource expansion drilling ongoing, it’s expected that the next batch of drill results will grow the resource and life of mine even further at Kilimapesa Hill.
“These results should further enhance Kilimapesa Hill, as we have tested the western extent of the deposit and stepped out on strike to the eastern boundary of the mining licence. Alongside this, current drilling is focussed outside of the initial mineral resource estimate area on the prospecting permit and regional targets, where we believe there is higher grade potential. Accordingly, we believe there is significant further uplift potential and are very excited to find and prioritise the next sources of production to compliment the growth on Kilimapesa Hill and the existing mining licence.”