Richer gold reserves found in Trans Mara

By Moses Michira

NAROK; KENYA: Goldplat has discovered richer gold reserves at it Kilimapesa mines in Trans Mara to support commercial exploitation of the precious metal expected to be a key source of wealth of Narok County.

The firm has also found gold deposits in an abandoned site, Red Ray, around Kilimapesa mines, which are expected to raise the mineral output to over 285kg per year, worth about Sh1.5 billion

The UK-listed resources firm, which was granted a mining licence in November, last year, has reported the Kilimapesa Mines also yielded the highest mineral content of its three gold mines in Africa, which incliude mines in Ghana and Burkina Faso.

“We are pleased to report a 25 per cent increase in our total resource to 931,071 ounces of gold across our three gold mining and exploration projects in Kenya, Ghana and Burkina Faso,” said Goldplat’s CEO Russell Lamming in a statement.

More deposits

Goldplat now estimates the mineral resource from the Kilimapesa Gold Mine at 8,715,291 tonnes, which is more than double its earlier find.

The latest information points to a much higher gold desposit in the Lolgorian area, which has for a long time invited artisanal miners from the local communities.

The company had in January reported that it has produced 12.4kg (399 ounces) of gold bullion worth over Sh59 million from the Kilimapesa site, which was more than twice its initial estimates.

Goldplat produced processed gold bars after it commissioned its smelting plant at the mining site last year.

Its first gold produce was sold to Rand Refinery Ltd of South Africa.

The firm was granted a 21-year commercial mining lease to exploit gold in the Kilimapesa site, which has an estimated reserve capacity worth Sh20 billion.

The royalties from the gold sales, like other minerals, will be shared between the central government (80 per cent), the county (15 per cent), and the remaining five per cent will go to the local community.

Prices for the rare metals have skyrocketed over the recent years in the international markets, triggered by an investor flight from risky assets, notably government securities.