London and Victoria Falls Stock Exchange-listed mining and exploration junior Kavango Resources has declared a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate of 33,900 ounces of gold at its Bill’s Luck Gold Mine within the Hillside Project in Zimbabwe, bringing the total JORC-compliant resource at Hillside to 52,900 ounces, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The preliminary resource, with an effective date of 30 January 2026, comprises 2,600 ounces in the measured category at 3.3 grams per tonne, 13,400 ounces in the indicated category at 2.7 grams per tonne, and 18,000 ounces in the inferred category at 2.6 grams per tonne. The resource is reported at a cut-off grade of 0.5 grams per tonne, based on reasonable prospects for economic extraction at a gold price of US$3,000 per ounce.
This maiden resource at Bill’s Luck builds on the 19,000 ounces declared at Kavango’s Nightshift Project in October 2025, consolidating the Hillside Project as a meaningful gold camp in the Filabusi Greenstone Belt.
Speaking on the announcement, Kavango Interim Chief Executive Officer Peter Wynter Bee said the declaration represents a significant milestone in modernising the historic operation.
“At Kavango, we have always believed Bill’s Luck Gold Mine has the potential to become a meaningful, long-term contributor to gold production at Hillside. Having been mined intermittently for over a century, today’s announcement represents the first step in modernising operations at Bill’s Luck with the declaration of its maiden JORC-compliant MRE,” Wynter Bee said.
“The delineation of this resource paves the way for a process of longer-term mine planning and efficient gold extraction to unlock further value. We are well positioned to ramp up production and capitalise on the strong gold price environment as our CIP plant comes online.”
Bill’s Luck Mine, originally mined between 1916 and 1950, produced approximately 17,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 7.7 grams per tonne during its early operational life. Since then, only limited informal community mining and small-scale retreatment have taken place. Kavango is now focused on developing the underground mine ahead of commissioning its 50 tonnes per day pilot carbon-in-pulp plant in the first quarter of 2026.
The resource drilling programme, designed to establish the maiden estimate and support future mine planning, comprised 24 surface diamond boreholes totalling 6,721 metres, 35 surface reverse circulation boreholes totalling 4,646 metres, and 30 underground diamond boreholes totalling 1,703 metres. This was supplemented by underground mapping and sampling of 192 channel samples across exposed workings.
Geological Setting and Mineralisation
Gold mineralisation at Bill’s Luck is structurally and hydrothermally controlled, occurring within steeply north-northeast-dipping anastomosing shear zones and along the intrusive contact between metasedimentary rocks and the Balmoral mafic intrusives.
The drilling programme successfully intersected the currently mined Main Reef as expected, but also confirmed the presence of an additional reef structure adjacent to and parallel with the Main Reef that is also mineralised. Further mineralised reefs were intersected in both the hanging wall and footwall.
The main ore zone comprises three en-echelon quartz vein-filled shears, offset from each other by tens of metres, with a total strike length of 450 metres. While the mineralised shears outcrop on surface and have been extensively mined down to approximately 50 metres below surface, the deposit has been demonstrated to extend a further 150 metres to depth, with the deepest intersection at 200 metres below surface. Importantly, the deposit remains open at depth and along strike, presenting significant upside potential for future resource growth.
Estimation Methodology and Quality Control
The resource estimate was prepared by Competent Person Stephen John Savage of S. J. Savage Consulting CC using Surpac Vision software. Block grade estimation was undertaken using multiple indicator kriging, a non-linear geostatistical method appropriate for deposits with highly skewed and mixed-grade distributions, commonly applied in gold deposits with nuggety characteristics.
A comprehensive assay quality control programme was implemented throughout the drilling campaign, with results confirming negligible sample contamination and acceptable accuracy. The Competent Person noted that precision was lower than expected, attributed to the low-grade and nuggety nature of the gold mineralisation, with recommendations made to improve this in future programmes.
Strategic Context and Next Steps
The declaration of the Bill’s Luck resource forms part of Kavango’s broader strategy to increase gold production in Zimbabwe through the construction of modern carbon-in-pulp plants offering higher throughput rates and significantly improved gold recoveries compared to traditional stamp mills and static vat leaching methods.
The company is commissioning its first modern 50 tonnes per day carbon-in-pulp plant at Hillside in the first quarter of 2026, which will be fed by a combination of ore from the Bill’s Luck underground operation and contractor-mined sands from the project area.
Following the publication of the preliminary resource at Bill’s Luck, together with the Nightshift resource, Kavango is evaluating an increase in processing capacity at Hillside to capitalise on the strong gold price environment and the growing resource base.
The technical team will now use the mineral resource estimate to de-risk and accelerate development and gold production from Bill’s Luck, ensuring low dilution through appropriate mining methods. The team is also working on the economic feasibility of small-scale trial mining pits in the unconsolidated sediments overlying the Nightshift Project to further boost gold production.
Technical Governance
The technical information contained in this announcement has been compiled by Competent Persons Stephen John Savage and David Catterall, both members of recognised professional organisations with sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration.
The mineral resource estimate utilises all data available as of 30 January 2026 and is reported in accordance with the JORC Code 2012 Edition, with full details of sampling techniques, data quality, and estimation methodology provided in the accompanying JORC tables.
