(Alliance News) - Shanta Gold Ltd on Monday said that it remains confident of the long-term potential of the Singida gold mine in Tanzania, as it outlined its five-year plan for the site.

The East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer set a gold production forecast for Singida of 169,000 ounces over five years, with average annual gold production of 34,000 ounces.

It added that there was potential for "further optimisation" of the mining schedule. This includes adding a second ball mill, which if successful, would double plant throughput to 2,000 tonnes per day and reduce cut-off grades.

A cut-off grade of 1.0 grams per tonne has been utilised for each of the deposits. There are lower grade areas that currently fall outside the mine plan, but which could be mined with no additional development, thereby providing gold price optionality.

"The Singida process plant was designed with expansion in mind and we have already identified potential for upsizing gold production through additional resources both within our existing and surrounding mining licenses. We are confident that Singida will live up to the early reputation it has earned as a transformational asset for Shanta," said Chief Executive Officer Eric Zurrin.

"As a company, we are guiding for 90,000-98,000 ounces of gold production in 2023, reflecting only nine months of production from Singida, and [more than] 100,000 ounces of annual gold production thereafter, establishing Shanta as Africa's newest 100,000 [plus] ounces [per annum] gold producer."

Shanta Gold shares were trading 6.4% higher at 9.63 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.

By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter

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