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‘High grade gold discovery in Guyana is like a mine within a mine’ – Canadian mining company CEO
…aims to reclaim Omai’s position as major gold producer in South America
By Renay Sambach
Kaieteur News- Omai Gold Mines Corp. has its eyes set on reclaiming its position as a top gold producer in South America, through its Guyana gold project.
Omai, a Canadian gold company, holds a 100% interest in the past-producing Omai gold project in Guyana, located in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). The project encompasses two orogenic gold deposits: the shear-hosted Wenot Deposit and the adjacent intrusive-hosted Gilt Creek Deposit. A 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the gold project outlined 2.0 million ounces of gold indicated and 2.3 million ounces inferred.
Elaine Ellingham, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Omai Gold Mines Corp.
During a recent interview with Crux Investor, Elaine Ellingham, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Omai, spoke about the progress the company has made since returning to Guyana’s gold industry. “We’ve been moving forward on our project down in Guyana, Guyana being in South America…we’ve drilled 30,000 meters since then [2024] and so we’re just working our way up to that next resource which we think is going to be quite substantial,” Ellingham said.
Once a prolific gold producer from 1993 to 2005, the mine yielded 3.8 million ounces of gold, producing an average of more than 300,000 ounces of gold per year during a period when gold traded below US$400 per ounce.
Since its return to “mining-friendly” Guyana, Omai has revitalised the property, which benefits from much existing infrastructure. Of the two gold deposits located on the property, Omai has been more focused on the Wenot “superpit”.
Wenot and Gilt Creek Deposits
The Wenot deposit is located some 400 metres from the Gilt-Creek deposit. “So we have focused our drilling on the Wenot shear, it’s like 2 and a half kilometers long. Most of what we did previous to last year was above 350 metres but we’ve been, you know, after we proved it was shallow, now everyone says does it go deeper, so we’ve been drilling deeper so yeah so we’ve drilled about 30,000 metres since our last resource,” Ellingham said.
The Omai president explained that drilling deeper at the Wenot deposit has revealed significantly higher-grade gold than previously recorded. Ellingham labelled this as “pretty exciting” and explained that historically, the Wenot deposit recorded gold grade at about 1.67 g/t (grams per tonne). However, to date, she said the company has proven that it gets to higher grades. She outlined that what changed the game was when Omai’s recent drilling revealed wide intercepts of high-grade gold zones of 4.5 g/t over 57 metres and 3.16 g/t over 68 metres.
“So we went huh you know it’s like having a mine within your mine and so we continued to step out on the 2 and a half kilometer deposit but then we did sort of try to explore that higher grade zone to see you know, exactly how big is that, what’s the extent, so that’s been exciting,” she added.
Notably, while Ellingham agreed that Omai could have stopped and focused on infill drilling, she highlighted that the company believes that there is more value in exploring and proving how big the Wenot deposit is.
Moreover, Ellingham stressed that while Omai has been focused on what actions will create more value for its shareholders with a fairly substantial deposit of 2.3 million ounces of gold indicated – she outlined that players have entered Guyana’s mining sector with large-scale projects. With the aim of having a multi-decade mine, Ellingham reminded that the Omai gold mine was the largest primary gold producer in South America when it was in production. To this end, she added, “So we think it can be there again.”
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4 thoughts on “‘High grade gold discovery in Guyana is like a mine within a mine’ – Canadian mining company CEO”
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
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Sir. Ronald Sanders
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Weekend Cartoon
I need work. If you give me job
I need work. If you give me a job. So I want me to do so. I want you to work. I want to come to work. You help me.
The gold should be for the people of Guyana and not to be exploited
I hope the people of Guyana also benefit from their gold. Western powers and cooperations have the tendency of looting resources and leaving the locals to suffer in poverty.