Meyas Sand Minerals Co. Ltd is owned 70% by Perseus, while the government of Sudan holds a 20% interest without any cost. The remaining 10% is owned by Meyas Nub Multiactivities Co. Ltd. Additionally, a production royalty of 7% must be paid to the Government of Sudan.
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Summary:
The mineralisation types being targeted within the Block 14 Project are broadly categorised into 3 groups, namely, Orogenic Gold, Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide, and Rift Associated Epithermal.
Evidence of orogenic gold mineralization is present throughout the project area. It is generally associated with narrow gash veins, shear type veins and quartz veinlet swarms in well foliated schistose rocks within the volcano-sedimentary domains which are intruded by stocks and sheets of diorites, syenites and granitoids.
The geological framework of Block 14 is dominated by two distinct geological domains - the andesite dominated Gabgaba terrain of the Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS) to the east and the marine sediments of the Keraf Suture in Western Gabgaba; these are separated by the Eastern Gabgaba Fault System (EGFS). The central part of the licence is dominated by the Northern Gabgaba Graben, a downthrown portion of the Keraf that has been infilled by clastic sediments.
Galat Sufar South (GSS)
The GSS deposit is located in the central portion of the Galat Sufar Andesite Domain. The GSS deposit is located just south of the contact between marine sediments to the north (a remnant of the Keraf sediments) and an andesitic volcanic sequence to the south. The andesitic sequence is heterogeneous comprising lava flows, pyroclastic deposits and primary volcanic breccias.
Of importance to deposit formation, the andesite sequence contains a discrete 80 – 200 m wide volcaniclastic-sedimentary horizon which contains dioritic sills / dykes. Mineralisation and alteration are concentrated in this unit, which is bordered to the north and south by increasingly unaltered andesitic flows and further volcaniclastics.
The host unit has been sequentially and intensely altered by the addition of albite, sericite, silica and lastly carbonate. Alteration grades from largely unaltered andesitic lavas and volcaniclastic host rocks to strongly altered and foliated silica – sericite schists in which the protolith cannot be identified.
Pyrite is by far the most dominant sulphide with chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tennantite / tetrahedrite occasionally seen in core and confirmed in petrological investigation. Gold is fine grained, typically <40 µm. With 95% of the gold being free gold, the remainder occurs as Petzite (Ag3AuTe3). The pyrite contains ± 20% silver.
The dominant foliation at the prospect scale (S1) is pervasively developed throughout the GSS deposit area. It is sub-vertical and strikes towards the NW (330° - 340°) at moderate to high angles to the orientation of the mineralised unit.
Wadi Doum (WD)
The main, high grade mineralization at WD outcrops at the base of the hill and is hosted by a strongly sulphidic volcaniclastic unit, which is in contact with a distinct rhyolite unit to the immediate east. The volcanoclastic unit dips at an angle of 20° to the south west. This rhyolite is bounded to the east by a dacitic unit intruded by syn-tectonic syenite / potassium altered diorite body which forms the summit of the main hill.
These lithologies are cut by thin (<0.75 cm), late, un-mineralized felsic and mafic dykes. In contrast to the volcaniclastics, the rocks on the hill dip 75° to the east. Mineralization on the hill is associated with stringer zones within the syenite and in places smaller shears.
The high grade mineralization is hosted within the volcanoclastic units which are confined by late felsic and mafic dykes. The mineralization is divided into a western volcaniclastic unit characterized by a dark colour caused by very fine grained sulphides (>10 - 15%), which contains some of the best intercepts and a central unit of paler, sulphide rich felsic volcaniclastics which contain deformed sulphide veinlets and a lower grade footwall unit of largely un-deformed felsic volcaniclastics.
The dominant sulphide is pyrite (85% in Qemscan analysis) with the remainder comprising a mix of sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and freibergite.
Alteration is confined to sericitisation within the felsic volcanics and a wider halo of carbonate alteration. Silicification is noticeably absent or weak within the high grade part of the deposit (hence its location at the base of the hill.
The area is dominated by a strong and pervasive, north-south trending schistosity, which is largely followed by the late dykes. The high grade mineralization often appears un-affected by structure, whereas the mineralization hosted by the syenite on and around the summit of the hill does appear structurally controlled.