B2Gold Corp. (TSX: T.BTO, Stock Forum) said it has received positive drilling results from the exploration programs at the Otjikoto Gold Project in Namibia.
The Otjikoto gold project is located approximately 300 kilometres north of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The main Otjikoto deposit has an in-pit indicated mineral resource of 24.93 million tonnes at a grade of 1.74 grams per tonne gold containing 1,392,690 ounces.
According to the B2Gold press release, highlights of drilling included hole OTG25D which returned 19.81 metres grading 15.0 grams per tonne gold, including 10.03 metres at 21.60 grams per tonne gold from the recently discovered Wolfshag zone.
The Wolfshag zone is situated immediately to the northeast of the proposed open pit on the main Otjikoto deposit. The Wolfshag zone has been intersected for an additional 550 metres and now has a known minimum strike length of 950 metres.
The company is planning an aggressive exploration program in 2013 to further explore the zone and to provide definition to allow for an initial resource estimation.
Furthermore, B2Gold has received the receipt of a mining licence from the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy for the Otjikoto project and is nearing completion of the final feasibility study.
Mine construction will commence in the first quarter of 2013 with gold production scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2014.
B2Gold is a Vancouver based gold producer with two mines in Nicaragua and a strong portfolio of development and exploration assets in Nicaragua, Colombia, Uruguay and Namibia.
On Tuesday morning, B2Gold was trading at $3.57 a share. The company has a market cap of $1.4 billion, based on 393.1 million shares outstanding. The 52-week high and low was $4.55 and $2.64 respectively.