Great buying Opertunity, huge potentialDistrict
The Handeni Gold District consists of numerous gold discoveries in an area of eastern Tanzania, highlighted by the Magambazi prospect, which currently hosts an active artisanal gold mining operation. Recent gold discoveries in the Handeni region have occurred on a district scale and have defined an extent of
mineralization with a strike length of over 100 km. Canaco Resources' management believes these discoveries are evidence of a highly prospective emerging gold district in Tanzania and have been successful in establishing a large land position in the district.
The Property
The Handeni Gold Project consists of two contiguous claims totalling 200 km²: Magambazi 0.34 km² and Kilindi 199 km². The district is located adjacent to the town of Handeni. Local roads access workings on all four claims. Local mining related infrastructure is non-existent as a result of the recent emergence of the region's mining potential based on discoveries made since 2003.
Ownership
The Handeni Project is 100% owned by Canaco Resources Inc and covers 196 square kilometres.
The Magambazi property is owned 100% by Magambazi Mines Company Ltd. Canaco has an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Magambazi PMLs subject to cash payments of US$180,000 over two years for the rights to explore and US$1.8 million to acquire 100% interest subject to a 2% NSR.
The Kilindi property is owned 100% by Canaco.
History
Gold was discovered in the area in 2003, spurring a gold rush and intense alluvial, then hard-rock mining which remains ongoing at present. A mining village is established at Magambazi, the principal focus of the exploration effort on the Handeni Project.
The discoveries of gold at Kilindi and Magambazi are indicative of a new and emerging exploration environment capable of hosting primary gold mineralization. Recent graduate level research published by the University of Western Australia (Kabete et al., 2008) show that the highly-endowed Sukumaland Superterrane, the geological host to Tanzania's most significant gold deposits, has been overprinted on its east-southeastern extension by a Proterozoic orogeny adjacent to the Mozambique Belt further east. Newly-recognized gold prospects, exploited on a small scale by artisanal miners, are sited at several locations in this overprinted Archean terrane.
Of particular interest is the well-exposed Magambazi prospect in the Handeni region of the Tanga District. Here, high gold-grade sulphide-bearing quartz veins are enclosed in up to 40m thick alteration zones with lower-grade, sulphide-associated gold ore over an exposed strike of several hundred metres, demonstrating its high economic potential. The host rocks and alteration zones are high-grade gneisses with both silicate and sulphide minerals having granulite textures. This, and the absence of strong foliation, suggests a high-grade metamorphic overprint of an originally lower metamorphic-grade orogenic gold deposit. Magambazi thus demonstrates the potential for discovery of world-class, overprinted, Archaean orogenic gold deposits in non-traditional exploration terranes in Tanzania.
Geology
The geology of this region represents a non-traditional exploration environment dominated by Proterozoic, high-grade metamorphic (granulite to amphibolite facies) rocks. As such, the region is only beginning to receive the attention of mineral exploration companies and very little is known of the local geology as it specifically relates to the potential to host mineralization. The geology and location of known gold discoveries, which occur in both alluvial and in bedrock settings, suggest the mineralization is controlled by regional structures.
Mineralization
The sulphide mineralization exposed at Magambazi has significance with respect to establishing a deposit model that can be applied to exploration in the region and potentially as a deposit with extensions that may project onto the Kilindi property.
Field observations indicate the Magambazi prospect contains numerous, significant, bedrock artisanal workings that are located on the western flank of a 11 kilometre geochemical anomaly.
Local miners are exploiting gold mineralization within steeply dipping, north-north-westerly trending occurrences of sulphide and quartz veins.
Mineralized occurrences are being mined over widths up to 10 metres and define a north-northwesterly tend with a total strike length of 350m as observed to date. Four specific exploration targets have been identified and sampled as part of the initial geological assessment of the Magambazi prospect; the "Big Pit", "Banded Amphibolite", "Central Fault", and "Biotite Gneiss" target areas.
The mineralization is said to remain open at depth and along strike.
Gold is hosted in high-grade metamorphosed mafic to felsic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of Archaean or Proterozoic Age. Mineralisation is vein-related structurally-controlled mesothermal gold associated with sulphide including pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite. The dominant host rocks are garnet-silica altered amphibolite, with lesser gneiss (bitotie-kyanite-quartz-feldspar).
Recent academic studies (Kabete 2008, age dating) highlight the area as prospective for traditional (but metamorphosed) Achaean orogenic gold deposits within the Sukumaland Corridor, the host to major deposits (i.e. Bulyhulu, Golden Pride, Geita) in the Lake Victoria Goldfields.
Exploration
Exploration thus far has focussed on defining the extent of the mineralizing system and on developing sound drill targets, and has included mapping, soil sampling, petrology, rock chip sampling and reverse circulation (RC) drilling as well as acquisition of remote sensing data sets including aeromagnetic data and IKONOS Landsat imagery.
Exploration on the Project is ongoing, with advanced exploration including RC/Diamond drilling due to commence in September 2009, to test the Magambazi, Magambazi North and Majiri Bomba target areas.
The Magambazi claims host an active mining operation by local miners. Ore extraction is done by hand and through the use of explosives.Ore is sorted and hand-cobbed at the mine site then transported to the mill site. The mill site consists of 7 small mills operating independently.
Ore is milled, concentrated by hand and recovered through the use of a sluice box and mercury. Arsenical ore is problematic for the local miners and recoveries of this ore type is poor (approx. 40%) even when treated through roasting.
As a result, the mining operation tends to focus parts of the occurrence containing ore types that are easily milled without roasting and particularly high-grade zones where mobilization has created vein style mineralization with visible free-gold.
Exploration recommended for the near future includes a detailed airborne heli-magnetic survey and EM survey across the Project, generation of detailed DEM and topographic contours, expansion soil sampling and mapping, and infill soil geochemistry where reconnaissance sampling has defined anomalous areas. RAB drilling will be required in areas of significant cover along strike of known mineralization.
The gold mineralizing system at Handeni has excellent potential for the discovery of a new gold deposit, as demonstrated by the intensity of local artisinal mining, tenor of gold assay results and size of anomalies in soil geochemical sampling (including coincident As anomalism) and the ore grades and width intercepts from channel rock chip samples taken from the artisanal mine exposures.
- Handeni Gold Mineralization Areas PDF (92Kb)