Nyota Minerals (LON:NYO,ASX:NYO) has found multiple new gold targets on its northern licences in Ethiopia, around 100 kilometres away from its flagship Tulu Kapi mine development project.
It highlighted three of the most substantial targets in a statement to the stock exchange this morning. The main targets are Boka-Sirba, the Quartz Vein (QV) target and the Mole-Fadumi target.
These targets were initially picked out from airborne geophysics data and were subsequently confirmed through a substantial reconnaissance field programm. Nyota said it has confirmed the presence of gold mineralisation, and base metals, in a large number of heavy mineral concentrate samples.
"Nyota believes that the scale of the individual targets discovered together with the confirmed presence of both gold and base metal mineralisation is significant,” chairman Melissa Sturgess said.
“No assay results have been received to date but the exploration team have clear evidence of gold present at all of the major targets complemented by active artisanal mining.”
A variety of samples – taken from stream sediments, rock chips and soil – have been submitted for assay.
Sturgess emphasised Nyota’s ‘twin focus’ which is still set on building the Tulu Kapi production profile and exploring the group’s other licence areas to provide the medium and long-term growth potential.
She added: “The discovery of potentially large, previously unrecognised gold and base metal targets to the north of Tulu Kapi in conjunction with the multiple gold targets already discovered in and around Tulu Kapi, strengthens the company's view that its large landholding sits within a new gold province in western Ethiopia."
The northern licences comprise four separate exploration areas - Bambasi, Mendi, Gombe and Dura – and collectively they cover about 3,200 square kilometres.
The three individual targets named in this morning’s statements were found within broader target areas, Nyota said. The group noted other targets of merit namely Bendokoro North, Daleti-Urungu and Wawu North.
It also highlighted that from a geological point of view the structurally complex, with multiple styles of mineralisation recorded to date.
Once the assay results are in Nyota plans to prioritise a group of targets for a drill programme which could get underway in the fourth quarter of 2011, after Ethiopia’s wet season.
