New Target Area Identified at the Kurmuk Gold Mine in Ethiopia

According to Mining.com, Allied Gold (AG) announced that at least five new target areas have been identified in its Kurmuk mining license area in western Ethiopia, providing support for the construction of a high-production gold mine.

AG stated in an announcement on the 28th that hole TSDD041 drilled in the Tsenge–Hiccup Hill section of the license area intersected 16.4 meters at 13 grams per tonne gold from a depth of 43 meters; the Tsenge–Setota section intersected 10.5 meters at 1.85 grams per tonne gold from 161 meters depth.

Mohamed Sidibé, mining analyst at National Bank Financial, believes that AG’s latest report highlights the "expanded exploration potential of the Kurmuk license area." He considers these drilling results "constructive."

More work is needed

In addition to Tsenge, other new sections in the Kurmuk license area include Dul, Urchin, Western Prospects, and Northern Prospects. Based on known gold mineralization and associated large-scale soil gold anomalies, these areas may "require more work" to expand resource reserves, AG said.

Other significant intersections include hole DMDD774 in the Dish Mountain section, which intersected 12.6 meters at 2.93 grams per tonne gold from 403 meters depth. Another hole, DMDD752, in the same section intersected 9.3 meters at 3.35 grams per tonne gold from 15 meters depth.

Since mid-2024, 193 holes have been drilled in the Kurmuk license area, totaling 39,064 meters. AG’s exploration program aims to extend the mine life by at least 15 years, as previous reserves support an 11-year operation.

The Kurmuk project is located within the Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 500 kilometers northeast of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and open-pit mining is planned to commence by mid-2026. The mine is expected to have a central beneficiation plant with an annual ore processing capacity of 6.4 million tonnes.

The gold mineralization at Kurmuk consists of quartz-carbonate-pyrite veins, classified as shear zone type, concentrated within linear structural zones.

Management targets annual gold production of 290,000 ounces in the first four years after commissioning, and 240,000 ounces per year over the entire mine life. All-in sustaining costs are projected to be below $950 per ounce. The long-term goal is to increase annual production to over 300,000 ounces.

The measured and indicated mineral resource for the Dish Mountain and Ashashire deposits in the Kurmuk license area is 57.9 million tonnes at a grade of 1.68 grams per tonne gold, equating to 3.12 million ounces of gold. The inferred ore resource is estimated at 5.98 million mt, with a gold grade of 1.62 g/mt, equivalent to a gold resource of 311,000 ounces.

The resource update is expected in early 2026. AG company's five-year exploration target for Kurmuk is to achieve a resource of 5 million ounces.