Giyani Acquires Botswana Manganese Projects
Giyani Gold Corp, a Canadian mining company recently announced that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent with Arnoldus Brand director and owner of Matsamo Gold Corp Pty Ltd, Menzi Battery Metals Pty Ltd and Qakaza Diamond Corp Pty Ltd to acquire 88-95% interest in various prospecting licenses in Botswana that is highly prospective of manganese development.
The significant 13,283.1km2 (1,328,310 ha) land package included an application for the Kgwakgwe Hill Manganese Mine and also surrounds Rio Tinto's recent iron ore discovery. This acquisition positions Giyani with a world class manganese project far ahead of the curve before the global market realizes this product will perform similarly to lithium with increase demand and price performance. The location of this project has virtually untapped mineral potential within the Kalahari Manganese Field that fits well with our corporate strategy of acquiring raw material to feed the growing battery industry.
The regional scale project with proven historical production and drill cores containing high-grade manganese all within a favourable mining jurisdiction makes this an exceptional target to add and sustain shareholder value. Generally, the licenses lie in the Kanye Basin in Botswana that cover magnetic high features in areas underlain by rocks of the Transvaal Supergroup that extend north from the Griqualand West basin in South Africa. The Griqualand West basin is host to a number of large manganese mines, which collectively comprise the Kalahari Manganese Field, located immediately west of Hotazel in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
More than 50% of the world's manganese resources are contained in this mineral district. The cover of Kalahari sand has historically hampered exploration for manganese deposits in the Kalahari Manganese Field and Giyani believes that the prospective stratigraphy in southern Botswana was likely to be similarly covered by thick sand. Sand cover has restricted exploration to some degree, but tools such as airborne geophysics, Landsat imagery, and borehole data will complete a compilation to guide future exploration.
Under the terms of the agreements, collectively Giyani will make cash payments totalling C$550,000 and issue 4.4 million common shares. Although there are no guarantees, Giyani is pursuing a number of additional opportunities by applications, joint ventures or straight purchase that will dramatically increase its presence in creating a metals company that feeds raw materials to the battery industry. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. (Yahoo finance)
