Announcement • Aug 28
Lake Victoria Gold Reports High-Grade Near-Surface Assay Results from Hq Diamond Drilling At Imwelo Gold Project
Lake Victoria Gold Ltd. reported high-grade, near-surface assay results from recent HQ diamond drilling at its fully permitted Imwelo Gold Project in Tanzania, including 28.71 g/t gold over 2.75 metres from 21.00 metres in hole IMWDR029 and 12.20 g/t gold over 4.50 metres from 32.00 metres in hole IMWDR028. Individual quartz-vein samples within these intervals returned up to 142.90 g/t gold and 124.83 g/t gold, respectively. The intercepts occur within the shallow, highly weathered mineralized sequence at Area C, the Company's planned initial open-pit mining area, and provide additional data for detailed mine planning and grade-control work. Whole-core samples from the eight HQ drillholes have been submitted to independent metallurgical laboratory Nesch Mintech Tanzania Limited for a comprehensive testwork program that will determine the metallurgical character of the weathered mineralization. The testwork will establish whether clay removal through scrubbing and screening of the weathered ore will be necessary, and will characterize the effect of the clay on the processing parameters and flowsheet. Key highlights include 28.71 g/t gold over 2.75 metres from 21.00 metres in IMWDR029, including 59.77 g/t gold over 1.30 metres from 21.00 metres, with an individual 0.50 metre quartz-vein sample returning 142.90 g/t gold; 12.20 g/t gold over 4.50 metres from 32.00 metres in IMWDR028, including 27.94 g/t gold over 1.90 metres from 33.00 metres, with an individual 0.40 metre quartz-vein sample returning 124.83 g/t gold; shallow mineralization within the Area C mining horizon, with the two strongest reported intervals commencing at only 21 metres and 32 metres downhole, respectively, within weathered saprolitic and quartz-vein material; weathered-ore metallurgical program underway, with whole-core testwork to define the preferred treatment route for the clay-rich near-surface material, spanning baseline recovery, desliming and attrition scrubbing; direct integration into development planning, with results to inform the final Area C process flowsheet, treatment-rate assumptions and plant configuration while supporting further grade-control planning, detailed pit design and mine scheduling. The eight holes total 225 metres and span approximately 240 metres of strike at Area C. Four of these holes, IMWDR025, IMWDR026, IMWDR027 and IMWDR030, intersected voids created by historical artisanal mining, where the shallow mineralized zone had been removed. Results for all eight holes are summarized as follows: IMWDR024, from 13.00 metres, interval 1.00 metre, grade 0.70 g/t gold; IMWDR024, from 15.20 metres, interval 0.35 metre, grade 0.38 g/t gold; IMWDR025, hole intersected void (historical artisanal mining); IMWDR026, hole intersected void (historical artisanal mining); IMWDR027, hole intersected void (historical artisanal mining); IMWDR028, from 32.00 metres, interval 4.50 metres, grade 12.20 g/t gold, including 27.94 g/t gold over 1.90 metres from 33.00 metres, including 124.83 g/t gold over 0.40 metres from 34.50 metres; IMWDR029, from 21.00 metres, interval 2.75 metres, grade 28.71 g/t gold, including 59.77 g/t gold over 1.30 metres from 21.00 metres, including 142.90 g/t gold over 0.50 metres from 21.80 metres; IMWDR030, hole intersected void (historical artisanal mining); IMWDR031, from 21.90 metres, interval 2.50 metres, grade 0.96 g/t gold, including 3.73 g/t gold over 0.40 metres from 24.00 metres. Whole-core samples have been submitted to Nesch Mintech Tanzania Limited for a program specifically designed to quantify the effect of clay on material handling, gold liberation and recovery. Three principal treatment conditions will be evaluated: untreated whole ore to establish a baseline; washing and desliming to determine whether removal of fine clay improves processing performance; and attrition scrubbing followed by desliming to determine whether breaking down clay aggregates improves gold liberation and recovery. Gravity recovery and cyanide leaching will be evaluated across the relevant treatment conditions. Supporting work will include grind sensitivity at target product sizes of P80 125 µm, 106 µm and 75 µm; size-by-assay analysis; gravity separation; bottle-roll cyanidation; slurry rheology and settling tests; density measurements; head-grade determination; and multi-element characterization. The objective is to determine whether additional front-end clay-handling equipment materially improves processing performance and, if so, to define the appropriate configuration before the final plant design is completed. The results will inform recovery assumptions, treatment rate, equipment selection, operating parameters and capital scope for the Area C flowsheet. The drilling and metallurgical work form part of a broader integrated development program at Imwelo. Area C is the Company's planned initial mining area, and LVG is advancing detailed pit design, grade-control planning, process optimization and site development in parallel. Phase 1 earthworks have commenced, including access-road improvements and preparation of the plant-site footprint, while development of the site camp and supporting infrastructure continues. On completion of the weathered-ore testwork, LVG will select the preferred front-end treatment route for Area C and integrate the results into the final flowsheet and plant design. In parallel, the Company will shortly continue grade-control drilling, finalize the Area C pit design and production schedule, and advance site development at Imwelo.
