MINERAL SANDS TANZANIA
Syrah has 100% ownership of eight Prospecting Licenses focused on mineral sands exploration in the northern and central coastal areas of Tanzania. This significant portfolio of licenses covers an area of 1350 km2 and strike extent of greater than 100 km. The geology of the area is conducive to a build-up of mineral sands deposits, with the world class Kwale deposit located only 70 km to the north. Previous exploration has demonstrated thick, high grade results. The best prospects, from historical results, are Tajiri and Fungoni. The high zircon content at Fungoni is particularly impressive. All prospects are lightly drilled and have open zones of mineralisation. Syrah now controls over 30 km of anomalous mineral sands stratigraphy (>200km2) in the Fungoni area and 60 km of anomalous minerals sands stratigraphy (>300km2) in the Tajiri area. Significant expansion of Syrah’s mineral sands portfolio has been in progress since 2011, before the strong increase in mineral sands prices.
FUNGONI PROSPECT
The Fungoni prospect is situated on a promontory around 25 km southeast of Dar es Salaam, and 15 km inland. At Fungoni, there is a 300m x 150m very high grade core at the northern end of the prospect containing over 15% heavy minerals. Historical drilling was completed with a hand auger and was limited to the depth of the ground water table, located at 4m. The best drill intersections included:
- 4 m containing 27.8% heavy minerals
- 4 m containing 24.9% heavy minerals
- 4 m containing 23.1% heavy minerals
The representative assemblage of the mineralisation at Fungoni is exceptional. The heavy minerals are made up of 25% zircon, 5% rutile and 44% ilmenite. This extremely high zircon content makes Fungoni a high priority exploration target.
TAJIRI
The Tajiri prospect is located south of Tanga on the northern coastline of Tanzania. Of the three licenses in this area, only Tajiri has been seriously followed up with additional auger drilling. The best drill intersections included:
- 14 m containing 9.2% heavy minerals
- 9 m containing 12.3% heavy minerals
The average assemblage of heavy minerals at Tajiri is 7% zircon, 12% rutile and 72% ilmenite. More drilling is required to assess Tajiri; however, it is already looking very prospective.
OTHER LICENSES
Tongani and Kimanga
The Tongani and Kimanga licenses cover a very large heavy mineral sands anomaly called Pangani that stretches for about 28 km along the Tanzanian coast. The major port town of Tanga is only 10 km north of the Tongani license, and can be reached in 4 hours by major, sealed road from Dar es Salaam. Syrah’s Prospecting Licenses cover the vast majority of the Pangani anomaly.
Pangani was discovered by Tanganyika Gold as a result of its coastal sampling program. A traverse drilled by Tanganyika yielded values up to 5.4% HM. Pit sampling was undertaken over a 30 km long stretch of coastal plain from Tanga to Pangani.
Grain counts from samples within the prospective area averaged 2.82% HM, with values up to 5.2% HM found. The average assemblage was 4% zircon, 7.3% rutile and 66.8% ilmenite.
Tanga
The Tanga license is located only 30 km south of the Kwale mineral sands deposit currently being developed by ASX listed Base Resources Ltd. The main area of prospectivity at Tanga covers an expanse of sand totalling around 17 km long and 1 to 3 km wide. Tanganyika Gold earmarked the Tanga licence area as one of their top priorities and drilled a traverse over the area.
Bagamoyo
The two Bagamoyo licenses are located approximately 70 km north of Dar es Salaam. There are three arcuate zones of anomalous mineral sands 200 to 400 m wide, running for 5 to 10 km across the license. The highest grades found were 8.6% HM in soil sampling and 5.7% HM in pit sampling. A total of 13 heavy mineral concentrates from the prospect had an average assemblage of 5.5% zircon, 5.5% rutile and 59% ilmenite. The Bagamoyo prospect has only been lightly explored and warrants further assessment.