Trillion rolls up sleeves in Zimbabwe

Regulatory approvals are in place for Trillion Resources (TLQ-T) to acquire the Indarama property, a 16-sq.-km package of mining leases near Kwekwe in south-central Zimbabwe.

Trillion is conducting a $4.4-million, 41-hole drill campaign on the Ford Porphyry prospect. It plans to block out a minable reserve exploitable by open-pit methods and delineate an underground resource.

The prospect has a 450-metre strike length and is open along strike to the north. The deepest drill intersection from previous work on the zone was at 300 metres.

The current resource estimate is 7.5 million tonnes with a gold grade of 2 grams per tonne.

The porphyry hosts gold mineralization in disseminated sulphides, and most intersections in previous programs cut mineralized lengths of 15-50 metres.

Preliminary metallurgical tests suggest gold recoveries in the 90% range, and indications are that the material is not refractory.

Indarama, which currently produces 18,000 oz. gold annually, consists of three active mines and several former producers. Trillion, which bought an indirect interest in the project by taking up 28.6% of the shares of International Exploration & Mining (IEM), has an option to buy the rest of the project for US$24.5 million; alternatively, it may withdraw its option and sell the indirect interest back to IEM for the original purchase price of US$3 million.

Trillion has also started work on two properties in Mozambique, where it has dealt an option to earn 50% to Greenhope Resources (GRH-M). The properties are in the Odzi-Mutare greenstone belt, about 230 km west of the seaport of Beira, and near the border with Zimbabwe.

On the Braganza-Chimeze property, several zones with high gold concentration in soils surround several old workings, including the Richmond and Braganza mines. Drill holes will test the soil anomalies and the downdip extension of a vein at the Braganza mine.

When work at Braganza-Chimeze is complete, four holes will be drilled on the Chadzuca-Zambuzi property, where earlier percussion drilling intersected a 3-metre interval grading 17.5 grams gold.

Meanwhile, Trillion and Nickelodeon Minerals (NKM-V) have renewed their Sansukwe exploration licence in Zimbabwe, where the latter is earning a 50% interest by funding exploration. Originally explored for diamonds, the project was expanded to include gold prospecting after stream sediment samples taken to find kimberlite indicator minerals were found to carry anomalous concentrations of gold.

Trillion continues to evaluate kimberlite pipes at Sansukwe, where bulk samples from the Mambali-1 pipe were found not to carry economic quantities of diamonds. The company is using airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys to generate new targets on the property.