Aim-listed Lexington Gold is “encouraged” by the significant exploration target potential identified at its Ventersburg gold project in the Free State, South Africa, chairperson Ed Nealon says in an update announcing further progress on the project.

Held and operated through Lexington’s subsidiary, White Rivers Exploration (WRE), the project is strategically situated within the Witwatersrand basin.

The update is based on the findings of a detailed technical report prepared by independent geological consultancy firm Shango Solutions.

Shango reported an independent exploration target (grade and tonnage estimate) for the project.

The project’s independently calculated exploration target is estimated at 1.39-million ounces to 3.55-million ounces of contained gold at grades of between 2.82 g/t and 3.44 g/t (grade and tonnage estimate).

Potential uranium and silver by-products have also been identified, based on the exploration results of neighbouring projects and consistent with historical data from the Witwatersrand basin.

Exploration targets comprise an estimate of the exploration potential of a mineral deposit which are typically quoted as a range of tonnes and a range of grade owing to geological uncertainty and insufficient supporting data.

The potential quantity and grade are therefore conceptual in nature, in that there has been insufficient exploration completed to date to estimate a mineral resource, and it is currently uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a mineral resource, Lexington Gold points out.

Gold One Africa’s mining right is directly adjacent to WRE's Ventersburg A tenement and Sibanye-Stillwater’s Robijn project is also nearby.

Lexington and its broad-based black economic partner Letsema Holdings are in discussions with Gold One Africa to explore the potential consolidation of the Ventersburg Goldfield, by aligning the adjacent properties to maximise resource and operational efficiencies.

WRE holds data over 2 500 historical boreholes, with a subset relevant to the Ventersburg area, supporting geological modelling and informing future drilling programmes.

Gold One Africa’s established mining plan, including a 17-year life-of-mine and considerable infrastructure investments, provides a suitable benchmark for potential development strategies for WRE’s Ventersburg project, the company avers.

“Our ongoing discussions with Gold One Africa aim to explore and evaluate possible synergies that could enhance the development prospects for the Ventersburg Goldfield,” Nealon highlights.

The Modder East mine, operated by Gold One Group in South Africa’s historically rich East Rand Goldfield, situated 30 km east of Johannesburg, has reported an average gold grade of about 2.84 g/t in the indicated mineral resource category.

“As such, the estimated exploration target for our project at Ventersburg represents a potentially higher grade than that reported for the equivalent depth Modder East Mine and therefore represents an exciting development opportunity for Lexington,” he adds.