According to a recent news release that was issued by the UK-based mineral resources company, African Eagle Resources, potentially new and promising Tanzania mineral deposits of nickel laterite and gold have been discovered at the company’s Zanzui project.
The Zanzui Complex is a well-layered, circular ultramafic infusion that is approximately 12km in diameter and covers approximately 140 km².
The Complex is located 110km east of the city of Mwanza and nearly 70km south-west of the area in which another large nickel-cobalt discovery was made at the company’s Dutwa project.
The first explorations into Zanzui took place in the 1980s through the United Nations Development Program, which, at the time, reported high geochemical nickel anomalies and as much as 1.24g/t palladium in diamond drill core samples.
Since then, other companies, including African Eagle Resources, have moved in to the area in order to explore the potential mineral offerings that are available there.
In the statement that was released by African Eagle Resources a few weeks ago, the company’s Managing Director, Mark Parker said that the company is currently in a good position to advance the Zanzui project quickly not only because it is it one of the few active and fully-funded explorers in the region, but also because it is already fully equipped with an experienced team that is stationed in the area.
According to the most recent drill results, parts of the Zanzui Complex are thought to contain a nickel-enriched laterite blanket in which the grades and thickness of the mineral deposits are similar to those that representative from African Eagle Resources announced earlier this year concerning their Dutwa project, which suggests that the nickel laterite deposits at Zanzui could potentially be as significant.
“Results from scout drilling to test for a nickel-cobalt laterite blanket over the Zanzui layered intrusive complex, which lies just 70km south of Dutwa, are highly encouraging and indicate potential for the Company to define an additional nickel resource,” said Mr. Parker, “As at Dutwa, there are indications of significant cobalt by-product.”
In addition to this discovery, African Eagle Resources has also said that diamond drilling at the Zanzui complex has revealed anomalous values for gold (52ppb).
The operations director for the company, Christopher Davies, who is also a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with more than 27 years of mineral exploration experience, has been placed in charge of reviewing these findings.