Jabal Guyan is an orogenic gold deposit hosted within deformed Proterozoic metasediments and metavolcanic rocks. Two sub-parallel shears each host a steeply dipping auriferous quartz vein that can reach 2 m in thickness. The deposit was first exploited over 2,000 years ago using simple hand tools to excavate small pits and grinding stones to crush gold-bearing material. Over 30 shafts and pits were identified in the mid-1960s when they were rediscovered from aerial-photographs. In the late 1970s, 23 diamond drill holes were completed along the 1,500 m length of the Guyan veins by the Arabian Shield Development Company, however no further development took place until Al Masane Al Kobra Mining Co (AMAK) began exploration in 2015.
AMAK contracted SRK to complete a resource drilling programme over the Guyan deposit in 2016. This primarily involved the designing of drill hole locations, lengths, and orientations, optimised to maximise the mineral resources and provide sufficient confidence to move forwards with mine planning. Drilling company Spektra Jeotek was contracted for the 126 hole HQ diamond core programme. Over a 10 month period, SRK’s geologists managed the activities of Spektra, completed rig-side geotechnical logging, set-up the core shed, and conducted all logging and sampling of the 11,800 m of core. AMAK’s geologists were trained in all aspects of the programme to provide succession of technical capacity after completion of SRK’s commission.
In addition to the drilling programme, SRK geologists undertook a geological mapping programme at 1:25,000 scale over the 87 sq.km Jabal Guyan project. New quartz veins were discovered and described in addition to those named by past exploration. Sample assays allowed an assessment and ranking of each vein occurrence in terms of gold prospectivity for future detailed investigations.
The culmination of SRK’s contribution to the project was SRK UK completing a mineral resource estimate for the Guyan deposit, reported in accordance with the JORC Code, totalling 59,000 oz Au combined indicated and inferred resource in an open pit and 40,000 oz Au as indicated and inferred underground resources. The mineralisation remains open at depth.
Since SRK’s successful involvement at Guyan, AMAK reportedly continued exploration drilling in 2017 and started a feasibility study in early 2018.
