Nyota Minerals (LON:NYO, ASX:NYO) has begun an airborne geophysical survey over its exploration properties in Ethiopia.
The company is undertaking the extensive assessment after it acquired an 80% stake in a portfolio of exploration tenements in June.
Along with the wholly-owned claim blocks which host the company’s flagship Tulu Kapi gold mine development project, Nyota now has seven separate properties for a total of 3,550 square kilometres.
Supported by a recent £21.6 million fundrasing Nyota is advancing Tulu Kapi to reach production 'as soon as possible'. The company's flagship project is currently at the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) Feasibility stage.
The placing is also funding the earlier stages of exploration across the other properties. The airborne survey is the first step in finding new targets on the expanded exploration area.
"Flying a large airborne survey with this level of detail is, when combined with the existing regional data, an excellent way to identify targets for follow up exploration work,” Nyota chief executive Terry Tucker said.
“This knowledge, along with our success at Tulu Kapi, will assist in guiding and prioritising our regional exploration work."
The wholly-owned properties consist of the Billa Gulliso, Yubdo and Tulu Kapi-Ankore claim blocks. Here the company already has an extensive amount of data.
The newly acquired blocks are: Mendi, Bambasi, Gombe and Dura.
These tenements cover 3,550 square kilometres, and they were last explored in the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties.
Back then some geological mapping and sampling was conducted, including stream sediment, rock-chip and heavy mineral concentrates.
Most recently a new discovery by a private company, near Dura, boosted the land's prospectivity.
The privately owned explorer discovered a deposit containing an estimated over 0.5 million ounces of gold just 2.5 kilometre to the north of Dura.
The data gathered by the airborne survey will guide Nyota's regional exploration programme.
The upcoming programme will consist of rock and soil geochemical sampling, mapping, trenching and drilling.
On the wholly-owned properties Nyota has already identified a number of priority targets, some of which are drill-ready.
The priority targets are: Kobera, Soyoma, Dina, Guji and Syenite Hill.
Earlier this week Nyota unveiled more encouraging test results from Tulu Kapi.
Test work carried out on samples taken in July reveal they contain gold grades ranging from 8.16 grams per tonne right the way down to 0.14 grams.
The study of 28 samples, which were taken at depths from near surface down to around 400 metres, show an “indication of high free gold content and excellent gravity recovery potential”.
With these characteristics, a combination of gravity and flotation recovery should be able to achieve greater than 95 per cent gold recoveries to a concentrate.
Nyota said the results also indicated the ore is hard and abrasive, “but not to the extent that will pose problems for plant design and operation”.
“The results also demonstrated consistently good gold recoveries and low reagent consumptions,” it added.