British exploration firm Kavango Resources Plc has announced encouraging early drilling results from Prospect 3 of its Hillside Gold Project in Matabeleland, southern Zimbabwe.
By Ryan Chigoche
The Hillside Project is Kavango’s most advanced venture in the country. It spans 503 hectares and includes 44 gold claims, divided into six exploration zones. Prospect 1, which includes the historic Bills Luck Mine, has previously shown strong potential. Between 1916 and 1950, the mine produced 17,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 7.7 grams per tonne.
With global gold prices now exceeding US$3,000 per ounce, Kavango is intensifying exploration efforts at Prospects 3 and 4. Recent drilling at Prospect 3 revealed better-than-expected gold grades across six defined mineralised shear zones. These zones appear to become richer with depth, indicating potential for shallow open-pit mining in the short term, followed by deeper mechanised underground mining.
The company’s shallow drilling programme—34 diamond drill holes in total—has provided enough geological and assay data to begin defining a resource at Prospect 3. A follow-up drilling phase is now being planned to explore the extent of the gold mineralisation along strike and at greater depths. An official update will be released once preparations are complete.
Kavango noted that the structural characteristics of Prospect 3 resemble those found in gold deposits in Western Australia, where modern spiral decline mining methods are commonly used.
CEO Matthew Turney said the higher-than-expected grades across multiple zones offer a bigger opportunity than initially anticipated. The results suggest a mineralised system with economic potential, supported by a strong correlation between high-grade drill intercepts and existing artisanal workings.
Artisanal miners have been active at Prospect 3 for the past 20 years, but their operations typically reached only 25 metres below the surface. According to Kavango, deeper sections of the hard rock—specifically granodiorite—remain largely untouched and show increasing gold grades at depth.
Early findings indicate that the mineralised zone at Prospect 3 could be at least 150 metres wide and over 650 metres long. It remains open both along strike and at depth. Kavango’s next drilling phase will aim to test the full extent of this system and potentially confirm a significant gold discovery.
Alongside Hillside, Kavango is also developing its Nara and Leopard projects. Nara includes four historic mines near Bulawayo, with a combined production history of more than 90,000 ounces of gold. Leopard consists of two claim groups that have together produced 2,000 ounces.
