Giyani Metals Corp. (TSXV:EMM, GR:A2DUU8) (“Giyani” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce the commencement of its Feasibility Study (“FS“) field program (“2020 Field Program“) for its K.Hill manganese project in Botswana, with the appointment of a drilling contractor, project management and geological services contractor and their imminent mobilisation. The 2020 Field Program follows Giyani’s recent successful capital raising, which closed on September 18, 2020.
2020 Field Program Highlights:
- Infill drilling program intended to upgrade existing resources to the Indicated category
- Geotechnical study to determine geotechnical parameters for the open-pit mine design
- Geophysical study to assist with greater definition of the resource estimation
Infill Drilling
The objective of the infill drilling program is to upgrade the current inferred mineral resources at K.Hill, into the indicated mineral resource category, from which a CIM Code compliant reserve could then be estimated. The program will consist of 90 holes and 2,700m of reverse circulation (“RC“) drilling, as well as 9 holes and 250m of diamond core (“DC“) drilling.
The contract was awarded to Stewardship Drilling (“Stewardship“), a well-established drilling contractor in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a vast portfolio of experience having worked with Rio Tinto, De Beers, and the Paladin Group. Stewardship is expected to have fully mobilised to site by mid October, subject to the current COVID-19 regulations being maintained in Botswana. The drilling contractor will be supported by the Company’s project management and geological services consulting company, Lambda Tau.
The map provided below in Figure 1 (below) shows the planned locations of the twin verification holes in blue triangles, the 50x50m RC grid in green triangles, the DC drilling confirmation twin holes as red triangles and the location for the trenches and channel chip sampling along 50m trenches as the red lines. Samples from the RC drilling will be collected at 50cm downhole intervals. Appropriate sample sizes will be split and submitted for XRF analysis by Borate Fusion at SGS Laboratories in Johannesburg, South Africa. In addition, samples from the RC drilling as well as the core recovered from the DC drilling will be provided to Tetra Tech for hydrometallurgical and comminution lab testing.
Geotechnical & Geophysical Studies
The geotechnical study will be led by SRK in Cardiff, UK. Geotechnical sample data will be collected from the drill core as well as outcrops of mineralisation. This data will assist the geotechnical modelling of the deposit, slope stability and the open pit mine design.
The geophysical study will use a low frequency ground penetrating radar (“GPR”) method. The survey aims to define with greater accuracy the resource estimation.
Shares for Drilling Services
Stewardship has entered into a drilling contract with Giyani under which Giyani will partly pay the drilling costs through the issue of common shares of the Company for 27% of the contract total value.
The deemed price per share at which Giyani will make the payment in shares will be at a discount of 25% to the last closing price of the Giyani shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV“) on the trading day immediately prior to Giyani’s subsequent notification to the TSXV, which will occur following invoicing under the contract. The shares will only be issued following completion of the drilling contract.
The partial payment of shares remains subject to acceptance by the TSXV. Common shares issued in connection therewith will be subject to a statutory four-month hold period from the date of issue.
Robin Birchall, CEO of Giyani Metals Corp. commented:
“The next step with our FS is to conduct in-fill drilling in order to upgrade the current inferred mineral resource to an indicated mineral resource. We have designed an operational program that is both effective and economical, by taking advantage of RC drilling where possible. This data will strengthen our confidence of the optimum drilling interval across the K.Hill deposit and additional geotechnical work will enable us to produce an optimal pit–shell design.
I am very excited by the progress we are undertaking in Botswana, especially with moving forward rapidly with our operational program. With borders reopening in sub-Saharan Africa, we plan to announce the next phases of the 2020 Field Program in due course.”
About Giyani
Giyani Metals Corp. is a mineral resource company focused on the development of its K.Hill, Lobatse & Otse manganese oxide projects in the Kanye Basin, Botswana, Africa. The Company’s flagship K.Hill project is a near-surface deposit currently going through a feasibility study to produce high-purity electrolytic manganese metal and manganese sulphate, both key cathode ingredients for batteries in the expanding electric vehicle (EV) market.
Additional information and corporate documents may be found on www.sedar.com and on Giyani Metals Corp. Website: https://giyanimetals.com/.
About Lambda Tau
Lambda Tau is a South African based consulting and contracting company offering geological services across Southern Africa.
NI 43-101 Disclosures
Mr. Michael John Beare, BEng, CEng, MIOM of SRK Consulting is the qualified person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content contained in this press release. Mr. Beare is independent of the Company and visited the site in December 2019.
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