A UK firm has announced the discovery of high-grade gold at its mines in Kakamega County. Acacia Mining said yesterday that it had discovered an estimated resource of 1.31 million ounces of gold at its mines in the Liranda Corridor in Kakamega, whose grade, Acacia added, is one of the highest in Africa. Mining Cabinet Secretary Dan Kazungu estimates the discovery could be valued at Sh171 billion ($1.65 billion).
The firm, however, said the scale of the find is small and it would need to undertake more tests and drill more exploratory wells. This is with the aim of increasing the resources to upwards of two million ounces, which would make the mines economically viable. It added that it is too early to assign a value to the find. Acacia said it had found an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.31 million ounces of gold at a grade of 12.1 grammes per tonne on the Liranda Corridor within the company’s West Kenya Project.