Bembesi Goldfields & Bembesi North Assets
The Bembesi Goldfields Assets are composed of the Durban, Sunace and Charliesona properties. Each of these properties has a legacy of gold production, and an existing resource base of a combined 230,000 ounces (non-code compliant) as verified by previous operators and independent authors.
The Bembesi properties are located at the centre of the Bulawayo-Bubi Greenstone Belt in the west-central part of the Zimbabwe craton, which is the largest Archean greenstone belt in the Zimbabwe craton. The belt has been a major producer of gold since the beginning of modern mining in Zimbabwe, and contains 16 mines that have produced a total of one tonne of gold or more.
The history of operations within this area is one of scattered and small individual operators. Durban, Sunace and Charliesona mines have reported historic production totals of 57 koz, 262 koz and 48 koz of gold, respectively. Whetstone plans to create value through the application of modern exploration techniques which has not yet been applied extensively to these properties.
Recent exploration activities conducted by Duration, a 37% shareholder in Whetstone, have mainly been focused at the Durban property, and include underground development and diamond drilling. As a result of this exploration, Durban Mine has produced a limited amount of gold, which was processed at Duration's nearby plant. Whetstone's primarily focus is on defining a larger resource base, rather than near-term small scale production.
Click HERE to view the Bembesi Project 43-101.
The Bembesi North project is composed of the Hester, W&B, Tiberius, Peter Pan, Ferroro and Mabel's Luck Mines. They have produced a combined total of 49,538 ounces of gold to date. The Bembesi North project is also located in the Bulawayo-Bubi Greenstone Belt. Several historic Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates have been completed by previous operators on the properties, however, these have yet to be varified so have not been included in the 43-101.