The project has been underexplored in the modern era and has the potential to host a bulk mineable gold deposit, the company says.
Pambili Natural Resources (TSXV: PNN) has produced its first gold from the Golden Valley mine in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland province, which the company recently acquired as part of its strategy to consolidate underperforming mines in the region.
The Canadian junior believes that the Golden Valley project, which has a history of underground mining, has been underexplored in the modern era and has the potential to host a bulk mineable gold deposit to anchor a large-scale commercial operation.
While formal mining has yet to re-start at Golden Valley, Pambili has already completed some underground development in preparation for a proposed drilling program, which is scheduled to start later this month.
The drilling program was endorsed by a technical report earlier this year, which noted that there are 56 historical mine shafts within a 5 km radius of Golden Valley, 19 of which have total recorded production of 31,154 oz. of gold at an average grade of 7.27 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
“The Golden Valley mine is only 8.3 km away from the How mine, which is hosted in the same formation as Golden Valley and has produced over 1 million oz. since 1942,” the independent report stated.
Some 630 tonnes of material from this underground development, together with historic sands on surface, were processed through the Golden Valley plant to recover 235 grams (7.5 oz) of gold at a recovery of 0.52 g/t.
The imminent restart of toll milling, together with further cleanup of historic sands on the site, is expected to yield additional gold before underground mining begins, Pambili stated. However, given the nature of the material being processed, the company added that it is yet able to predict what this will yield.
“The first gold production from the Golden Valley project really is exciting news for Pambili,” said Jon Harris, CEO of Pambili Natural Resources, commented in a news release dated August 1.
“The decision to process material from the off-reef underground development was based on the visible mineralization observed within that material and the experience of the local team. The fact we were able to produce gold from this off-reef material and the reworking of old sands supports our belief in the upside potential of Golden Valley.”
In addition to Golden Valley, Pambili also has an earn-in agreement for the producing Happy Valley mine located 15 km from Bulawayo, which is not operating at full capacity due to capital constraints. Drilling has also taken place on this project with the objective of defining an NI 43-101-compliant resource.
“Despite the plethora of small-scale gold mines in Zimbabwe, very few—if any—have had the required resources to drill out their claims and therefore do not know the full potential of their assets,” Harris noted.
“Pambili believes that by investing in clearly defined drilling programs, this can be the game-changer in the small-scale mining sector in Zimbabwe.”
