The ore bodies at New Luika comprise high grade (>6g/t Au), medium grade (3 – 6 g/t Au) and low grade (1 – 3 g/t Au) to average 3.9g/t Au.

The regional geology is characterised by deformed, folded, sheared and metamorphosed paleoproterozoic rocks with major fold axes trending east southeast to west northwest. The following main lithological units occur in the region:

Ilunga Granite Formation
The Ilunga Granite is located in the northern portion of the Lupa Goldfield and is mostly comprised of a medium to coarse grained leucogranite (aplogranite). Biotite and muscovite are commonly associated secondary minerals.

Saza Granite Formation
The Saza Granite is located in the central portion of the Lupa Goldfield and consists of numerous rock types including hornblende rich granites and hornblende-biotite rich granodiorites.

Gneiss Formation
The Gneiss Formation, the main ore bearing host, is the dominant rock unit within the Lupa Goldfield. The Gneiss Formation has been subjected to at least three granitic intrusive events that have given rise to a variety of rock types such as felsitic gneiss, biotite and hornblende granite gneiss, leucocratic granular gneiss. Diorite, granodiorite and granite rocks are evident within the Gneiss Formation.

NLGM is Shanta Gold’s anchor in the Lupa Goldfield (located in the Chunya region of Tanzania) which is the second largest gold producing area in Tanzania. NLGM is centered in the NW area of the Lupa Goldfield acting as a processing hub for key open pit deposits Bauhinia Creek and Luika (both
<3km away).

Production is by way of a conventional three stage crushing, two mills in parallel and a carbon in leach operation and cyanidation leaching facility.

The elution and electrowinning circuit at Shanta Gold’s New Luika mine near Mbeya in Tanzania has been fully commissioned.