The geology near the Da Tambuk deposit comprises a northeast trending assemblage, from west to east, that includes a thick sequence of black and grey shales (locally with rare graphitic beds), mafic tuff and bedded chert, chlorite sericite schist and variable chlorite sericite schist. Locally, the assemblage is intruded by feldspar phyric quartz eye porphyry, and leuco grabbroic units. In the area of mineralization, strong silicification is noted locally, along with quartz veining.

A zone of phyllic alteration (sil-ser-py) has been mapped over 700 m of north-south trending strike between the Mato Bula north and Da Tambuk south. This zone of alteration may prove to be the linking structure between the Mato Bula north and Da Tambuk prospect, and if true, presents 700 m of prospective strike.

This trend passes 200 m to the east of Mato Bula North, which is a gold-rich volcanichosted massive sulphide (VHMS)-type target found on the southern licence boundary of the Adi Dairo concession. The alteration indicates that Da Tambuk prospect appears to be on a separate trend with Mato Bula and Silica Hill. This hypothesis is supported by the different geochemical nature of Mato Bula North (high copper, low gold) verses Mato Bula, Silica Hill and Da Tambuk (high gold, low copper). In addition, Mato Bula and Silica Hill are hosted within altered schist, whereas Mato Bula North is hosted higher up in the sequence in the VTSM unit. However, this theory cannot be confir ........

The Da Tambuk operation has been planned as an underground mining operation to produce 550 t/day of mill feed.

A combination of cut-and-fill mining and sublevel stoping was considered for the underground operations. Cut-and-fill will be used to mine areas with irregular mining shapes that would be unsuitable for sublevel stoping, which is a bulk mining method.

Cut-and-fill requires placing waste rock or tailings into mined out excavations for use of both as ground support and as a working platform for subsequent mining cuts.

Sublevel stoping does not necessarily require backfill. The method involves blasting large voids underground that become non-entry stopes. The method requires using remote control mucking equipment, which is standard practice in modern underground mining.

CUT-AND-FILL MINING
The proposed cut-and-fill mining involves the following steps:

1. An attack ramp is driven off the main access ramp at a grade of -15% into the mineralization.

2. The first cut is excavated by driving along the vein to the width of the vein. This may be done in stages to allow partial backfilling of mined-out areas.

3. If the mineralization is narrow, blast holes will be drilled upwards into the next cut and “slashing” the rock down into the first cut. If the mineralization is wide or if rock stability is not adequate for large spans, then the first cut will be backfilled immediately after mining. ........

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