Gold One International (ASX: GDO, JSE: GDO) flagship operation is the Modder East mine, also owns the nearby existing Sub Nigel mine. The company's assets include a pipeline of Southern African projects comprising 21.71 million ounces.
Gold One is currently under a A$0.55 cash offer for a minimum 60% stake from a Chinese consortium.
Gold One International looks to Ventersburg as next flagship project
Gold One International (ASX, JSE: GDO) has received assay results from its current drilling campaign at the Ventersburg project in the Free State region of South Africa that indicate the resource continues to meet and exceed the company's expectations.
The first drill hole completed in the current campaign (AFO-039) targeted the projected payshoot extension to the south and intersected a thick (3.37 metres), well developed A-Reef conglomerate channel (payshoot) at a depth of 555 metres below surface. The borehole comprised an original intersection and two short deflections.
The company said the average grade of the three intersections yielded 2.40g/t over 3.37 metres including 1.13 metres at 4.17g/t. The latter represents a selected mining cut (determined from the top of the reef contact down) at which resources are determined.
In addition, the company has successfully intersected the A-Reef in a second borehole (AFO-043). Similar to the borehole reported on above, the second borehole was sited based on the updated geological model and drilled in the projected payshoot extension to the south of a regional fault structure.
A well developed and channelized A-Reef was intersected at a depth of 579 metres below surface, some 150 metres shallower than the company anticipated.
Gold One said this second successful reef intersection has provided further confidence in the geological model developed, confirming the channelized nature of the orebody. Assay results of this borehole are still outstanding.
Neal Froneman, president and chief executive officer, commented “with the drilling campaign continuing, the Ventersburg resource continues to meet and exceed expectations, and we firmly believe that Ventersburg will be our next flagship project."
"In the interim, our focus continues to be the production ramp-up at the Modder East mine, while finalising the components of our new debt facility, which is progressing well,” he added.
The company said this drilling is part of a campaign of 16 drill holes aimed at delineating the Ventersburg payshoot extensions, which remain open to the north and south, and more confidently defining localised high grade payshoots through infill drilling.
This campaign will be utilised to update the existing JORC/SAMREC resource at Ventersburg, which currently comprises an indicted resource of 8.73 million tonnes at an average grade of 5.12 g/t resulting in 1.44 million ounces of gold plus an additional 13.48 million tonnes at an average grade of 4.24 g/t (1.84 million ounces of gold) in the inferred resource category.
Updated resources will be incorporated into a pre-feasibility study being undertaken by Gold One at Ventersburg, which follows a positive scoping study, the results of which were announced in April 2010.
Gold One has also been granted a further prospecting right at its Ventersburg exploration project which covers an area of almost 5 square kilometres (494 hectares), and brings the total Ventersburg Prospecting area to 135 square kilometres (13,510 hectares).
The A-Reef horizon at Ventersburg, which forms the primary gold target, extends from a depth of 400 metres to 1,000 metres below surface at an average dip of 17 degrees to the northwest.
The company said the shallow nature of the reef is in line with Gold One’s corporate strategy of developing and mining shallow, high margin, low-risk assets.
