Terra Mining’s focus is on open pit mining activities. As such
Terra Mining has successfully negotiated and acquired MJK Holding
company in the United Arab Emirates, which owned the six gold
concession blocks in the Banket area, Zimbabwe.
Terra
Mining is capable to support adequate capacities for working
capital, appropriate plant and machinery, vehicles and any relevant
equipment that will be necessary to develop the mine to its highest
potentials. The negotiations have been finalized, purchase
agreements signed and all rights with ownership of all its mining
concessions and licenses have been assured through 100% ownership
of MJK Holding in Dubai by Terra Mining AG Switzerland.
Furthermore,
Terra Mining has conducted further detailed analysis of the gold
claims, which reconfirm high potential close to the ground surface.
As such the pits will be easily opened from the top and moved
downwards in open cast. A site of works plan by mining engineers
and an environmental impact assessment study are under preparation.
There are two types of gold mines:
open pit
and underground.
The nature itself determines the type of
mines. The positions of the mineral deposits are the key factors,
whether they are close to the ground level or deep under the
surface. Open pit mines are suitable for mining the deposits near
the surface. Underground mines by definition are suited to deposits
deep beneath the surface.
Source: Gold Facts
Zimbabwe has embarked on an aggressive campaign to turn around its economy through a number of initiatives including a pivotal use it or lose it campaign whereby holders of mining rights and claims are being encouraged to either gainfully exploit their mines generating both employment and production, or give them back to the state for reallocation to other prospects. Incentives are available subject to investment approvals by the mining and investment authorities.
The gold prospect is located about 1km north of Banket town. It is
about 80km from Harare. The road to the mine consists of 1km of
dirt road off the main Banket-Chinhoyi highway. Access to the mine
is through a well maintained gravel road.
The
concessional claims consist of E-W trending sub-parallel quartz
veins, each at least 1m wide, hosted in the Bulawayan group of
rocks of the Banket Greenstone Belt. The Bulawayan group of rocks
is composed of andesites and dacitic metavolcanics. The
metavolcanics are typically sheared by an anastomosing set of shear
within which gold bearing quartz veins are found. The gold bearing
quartz veins are white to grey in colour and where weath-ered take
up a typical open matrixed texture with a blue, orange to deep
maroon stain.
The mine lies on a major E-W trending
faulted and sheared feature which stretches for about 100km and
also hosted mines like Kia Ora, Guinea Fowl, Shankuru and Emarald.
Artisanal workers have worked on mineralised pockets of
the E-W trending quartz veins which also enabled easier and faster
access to sampling which resulted in grades of between 10-20g/t,
including results of free gold also found in the white quartz. The
concessional claims are located in an area where water and
electricity is available from the municipality and power from
nearby grid serving the Banket town.
Location and Access
Banket Gold Prospect is
located about 1km north of Banket town. It is about 80km from
Harare. The mine is accessed through a 1km stretch of dirt road off
the main Banket – Harare highway. Access to the mine is through a
well maintained gravel road.
Water for the mine will be
available from Banket municipality as the mine occurs within Banket
municipal area. Power will be easily drawn from the nearby grid
serving Banket town.
Key project facts
The geology of the area is dominated by the Bulawayan group of
rocks which occur as Andesitic and dacitic metavolcanics. The later
host a system of E-W quartz veins which are mineralised to form
Banket Gold Prospect, Figure 2. The quartz veins are E-W trending
and strike for 200m on a section where they are exposed. There are
reports that quartz veins trend further east towards Mandoro
prospect where the similar quartz veins are being mines.
Towards west the same E-W trending mineralized quartz veins are
being mined at Kia Ora and Shankuru Gold Prospects. Banket Gold
Prospect occurs on a regional sheared and faulted structure hosting
E-W trending mineralized pockets of gold and extend from Mandoro
Gold Prospect through Banket, Kia Ora, Shankuru, through Maggiemac,
Shambi and all the way to Emarald. It is estimated that the
regional structure is on a scale of 100-150km strike and hosts
several mines within a corridor of 1-5km width. More prospects
within this E-W corridor must be explored.
Several pits exposed confirm presence of E-W trending quartz veins
which are up to 1m wide Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5. Quartz veins
vary in thickness but attain a maximum thickness of 1m. Some of the
belts are as deep as 5m observable through a small shaft sunk
through Andesitic and Dacitic Metavolcanics, Figure 6.
At
Banket there is an area on the NW where there is evidence of an
alluvial/colluvial component characterised by rubble of quartz and
fine red soils as matrix, Figure 7. This material is reported to
have a grade range of 5-10g/t. The rubble is confined more on the
NW edge of the concession and is more developed in the adjacent
claim. The presence of rubble as a source of additional ore for the
mill will be explored within Banket Gold Prospect.
Visible
gold is evident in the quartz veins and mineralized zones are
characterised by open matrixed quartz portions with a typical
orange, maroon and bluish to black staining in support of weathered
sulphides associated with gold, Figure 8. Mineralized zones are not
continuous but isolated and occur as lenses as they are controlled
by local structures confining gold in localized pockets.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The Gold Prospect is located in a gold producing area in Banket
where previous and current workings have been confirmed presence of
gold. Several loads of ore dug from surface pits on the claim
confirm presence of gold mineralisation whose continuity on strike
and depth has been investigated in order to plan for procuring size
of processing plants.
Reported grades of 10-20g/t from
Quartz veins hosted in up to 1m wide quartz veins over 700m strike
length makes the prospect interesting and worth pursuing.
Nevertheless ongoing sampling work has to be integrat-ed into mining
works to confirm grade continuity over the entire strike length.
With the new ownership structure, beaconing of the site will be
completed and collection of bulk samples using an excavator and
tipper trucks from the mill will be facilitated to increase
confidence on grade distribution and continuity. Bulk samples will
be processed at the nearby (2km) mill, while procurement of own
processing plant is being undertaken.
The claims are located on the Southern flanks of the Odzi Mountain range approximately 12km Southwest of the village of Odzi, Zimbabwe Odzi is reached by an 8km road from the main Harare / Mutare road, while from Odzi village access is via the Odzi / Mukuni road, a distance of 12km, where the claims lie immediately North of the road.
Key project facts
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