Management at Omai Gold Mine, located near the West Bank of the Essequibo River, announced this afternoon that exploration results from initial trenching and drilling on its Broccoli Hill target totalling 690 metres, intersected significant gold mineralization deposits. In fact, four of the six holes returned assays greater than 1 gram per tonne of gold (g/t Au) and as high as 4.04 g/t Au.
In his statement to shareholders, Elaine Ellingham, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said this drilling, which commenced in late 2020, has already resulted in several significant gold values and is “quite an achievement for our first year.”
Ellingham said, “Broccoli Hill is an area located only 300 metres north of the Wenot pit and less than 200 metres east of the Fennell pit. These two pits combined, produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold. After fieldwork and trenching in October and November, we completed six initial wide-spaced holes on Broccoli Hill before the holiday break in December.”
“We intersected gold in four of the six holes and consider this very successful for first-pass drilling on a large, relatively untouched target area. With the knowledge gained, this week we started additional trenching, mapping and sampling. Over the next couple months, we will advance some of the property’s prime exploration targets, including Broccoli Hill, that holds potential for new near-surface mineralization amenable to open-pit mining.”
Guyana Standard understands that Broccoli Hill has been worked by artisanal miners for over 100 years. But Omai officials noted that exploration across this large 900m by 700m area has been hampered by a lack of knowledge of the underlying bedrock due to deep tropical weathering complicated by transported laterite (a mixture of soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas).
It was further noted that the abundance of past placer gold workings in the lowlands flanking the hill, together with the numerous scattered artisanal workings on the hill itself, indicate to Omai officials that a gold source is nearby. Work is expected to continue towards this project.
Omai Gold Mines Corp., through its wholly-owned subsidiary Avalon Gold Exploration Inc., holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License covering 4,590 acres (18.575 sq. km) that includes the past-producing Omai gold mine, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits covering 1,519 acres.
Omai which was once South America’s largest producing gold mine, produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. Mining ceased at a time when the average gold price was less than US$400 per ounce, leaving significant drilled mineral resources untapped and prime exploration targets untested.
The company’s short-term priorities are to verify and expand the known mineral resources, while advancing exploration on key targets, providing a solid opportunity to create significant value for all stakeholders.
