Why our Golden Valley drone survey results position us well for 2024
Aerial view of the Golden Valley mine site in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland province.
CALGARY, Canada (Dec. 21, 2023)—Last week, we were pleased to release our interpretation of the results of the drone survey we commissioned over our Golden Valley exploration project in Zimbabwe.
The development provided us with a significant early boost at the project site, expanding its gold exploration potential considerably. Just as importantly, the update also emphasizes both the progress we’ve made in 2023 and our strong positioning for the New Year.
Let’s take a look . . .
Reaching proof of concept
A key development for Pambili in 2023 came with our drilling of the Happy Valley mine in Zimbabwe.
This verified an inferred gold resource for the project while confirming its potential for hosting additional, economic ore bodies at depth. It also offered proof of concept for two of our key strategic beliefs:
That many small-scale gold mines in Zimbabwe are not operating at their full potential due to a lack of capital investment and/or mineral resource estimates; and
That entering such projects can offer a quick route to cashflow as existing/historical production reduces geological/construction risk and removes the need for expensive and time-consuming feasibility studies.
With this confirmation in place, we turned our efforts on to identifying and systematically acquiring further projects we can inject capital into and properly develop in Zimbabwe.
From here, we identified Golden Valley as the ideal next step in our plan to consolidate a portfolio of producing gold mines alongside our technical consultant, Steve Smith.
And it was during our subsequent acquisition of the project that we were ultimately able to commission the drone survey announced last week.
To go from securing proof of concept to acquiring and actively exploring a new project in a matter of months in no easy task.
So, we feel the fact we have been able to do it is a testament not just to our belief in our strategy but also our eagerness to push forward on the ground in the New Year!
New phase of exploration
Now, last week’s drone survey results were particularly important for Pambili because they welcomed in a new era of exploration for the company. Specifically, one focused on realizing Golden Valley’s upside.
The entrance to one of the adits at Golden Valley.
To recap, the project already boasted considerable bulk mineable gold potential at the point of our acquisition. Among other features, it hosts two historically producing shafts with modern exploration targets.
What the results of the drone survey have done is take this existing potential and enhance it further.
How?
First, we identified several potential trends parallel to historical workings at the project. This suggests a potentially significant extension to Golden Valley’s known strike length.
Second, we plotted artisanal workings in previously unknown areas. This suggests the potential for an additional, as-yet-unexploited gold structure at the project.
Historical mine workings overlaid on Pambili’s new structural interpretation of Golden Valley.
Given their release date at the end of December, we’d argue that these findings put us on the front foot at Golden Valley as we enter the New Year.
After all, we are now more eager than ever to continue building our understanding of Golden Valley’s gold upside.
In fact, our near-term work plans for the project cover everything from preparing to restart gold production to underground and surface geological mapping/sampling. We even hope to restart mining in the first quarter now our processing plant is ready to receive ore and plans are being finalized for underground exploration drilling.
The road forward
In the event of success, these planned exploration streams stand to generate significant news flow for Pambili in 2024.
Given the positive developments we’re seeing across Zimbabwe at large, it seems a great time to be announcing progress in the country.
Indeed, the country has received large investments recently from everyone ranging from Caledonia Mining and Karo Mining to Armada Metals and Invictus Energy. Not to mention Kavango Resources, the London-listed exploration company we recently welcomed as a strategic investor and partner for our developing operations.
With elections now out of the way, heralding a period of relative political peace for Zimbabwe, we expect this international interest to grow further throughout 2024. And this could serve to extend the positive impact of any progress we make at Golden Valley.
In other words: After an exciting year of development, Pambili is primed to put its first-mover advantage in Zimbabwe to full use in 2024.
It’s a promising position to be in, and one we look forward to updating readers on in the New Year through news releases and further issues of this newsletter.
In the meantime, we hope you have a great festive period!