Tanzanian Mining Commission approves transfer of Imwelo Mining License to Lake Victoria Gold!

With effect from October 30, 2024, the Tanzanian Mining Commission has approved the transfer of the Imwelo Mining License (“ML”) to Tembo Gold Tanzania Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lake Victoria Gold Ltd. (TSX-V: LVG; FRA: E1K). Concurrent with the transfer, the authorities have extended the license by 10 years to 2035. With the transfer of the Imwelo mining license, LVG is well positioned to intensify its exploration, site preparation and development activities. LVG is in advanced negotiations for non-dilutive financing options to fully fund the CAPEX portion of the development costs for the Imwelo Project.

Completion of the acquisition of the Imwelo Project is formally subject to final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. Upon satisfaction of the remaining conditions to the acquisition and the completion of the final engineering design of the Imwelo Project, the next tranche of the Taifa Group equity participation will be triggered, further supporting the development of the project. Pursuant to the existing August 2023 agreement between LVG and Taifa, Taifa will increase its equity participation in LVG by an additional 16 million units. The price per unit has been set at C$0.24, which would result in Lake Victoria Gold receiving C$3,840,000 in gross proceeds. Each unit will consist of one common share of LVG and one common share purchase warrant of LVG exercisable for a period of two years at a price of C$0.26 per share. Upon closing of this investment, LVG will enter into an additional mining services contract with Taifa pursuant to which Taifa will provide mining services to LVG’s project.

Figure 1: The Imwelo Gold Project is an open-pit, bluesky-style project. Drilling to date, which resulted in the delineation of a resource in 2017, was only 80 meters deep.

The Imwelo Project is a gold project in Northern Tanzania, 12 km west of Anglogold Ashanti’s Geita Gold Mine. An updated Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) was completed in 2021 by the Australian Measured Group Pty Ltd. and includes mine planning, mine scheduling, reserve estimation and costing. The Project is held under a Tanzanian Mining License ML538/2015 and includes a Primary Mining License PML2637, which LVG can acquire under a Purchase Agreement. The ML is 3.85 km² in area and the PML is 8.5021 ha in area. The Project is subject to a 2% royalty to a previous owner. The ML is fully permitted for construction of the mine and commencement of production. The 2017 historic project resource, under Australian standards, comprises seven mineralized sites that have been drill tested and, at a cut-off grade of 0.50 g/t each, includes 42,000 ounces of Measured Mineral Resources at 3.1 5 g/t, 95,700 ounces Indicated Mineral Resources at 1.95 g/t and 153,900 ounces Inferred Mineral Resources at 1.53 g/t for a total of 291,600 ounces Au. The gold occurs as typical quartz-vein shear zones hosting gold deposits amenable to open-pit mining. The ML Project has “bluesky” potential. Drilling to date has only reached 80m below surface, with average drilling to only 45m debth. A number of areas have not been drilled as they were not accessible at this time and extensions to the known mineralization are untested along strike and certainly down dip. Lake Victoria Gold is confident that the Company can define a current mineral resource and ultimately mineral reserves that will allow for an expansion of production and an extension of the mine life.

Marc Cernovitch, CEO and Director commented, “This renewal and transfer of the Imwelo mining license cements our foundation for long-term growth in the Lake Victoria goldfield. This achievement underscores our commitment to building a sustainable, high-quality mining operation and creating significant value for all stakeholders. We are now poised to advance our development plans with confidence and look forward to realizing the full potential of the Imwelo Project.”

No longer a mere exploration company

Rostam Aziz, Chairman of Taifa Group, commented: “We are pleased to support LVG in securing the long-term future of the Imwelo Project. This license renewal is a critical milestone that fits perfectly with our aggressive growth strategy in the Lake Victoria goldfield. Our partnership with LVG is based on a shared vision of sustainable development and we look forward to advancing the next phase of investment to realize the full potential of the project. We look forward to supporting LVG in its significant contributions to Tanzania’s mining sector.”

Taifa Group is a conglomerate with interests in mining, telecommunications, oil and gas, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and leather. Taifa Mining, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taifa Group, will carry out all contract mining and construction work for the Imwelo project. Taifa Mining is Tanzania’s largest mining contractor with over 30 years of mining experience. Taifa has been the preferred contractor for most mines in Tanzania and has long-standing and successful relationships with companies such as Petra, De Beers, Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti. In addition, Taifa also owns the largest fleet of mining equipment in Tanzania. As a company, Taifa is committed to adopting and adhering to the latest internationally recognized standards in all areas of its business.

Conclusion: The successful transfer of the Imwelo license marks a decisive milestone for Lake Victoria Gold. From now on, LVG is no longer a mere exploration company. A mining license is completely different from an exploration license! The mining license allows the company to turn into a producer. An important part of the success is that Lake Victoria has secured the direct support of one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Tanzania. Rostam Aziz, the chairman of the Taifa Group, is deliberately quoted verbatim in LVG’s press release today. So it is worth listening carefully to what he says: he emphasizes that the Imwelo project is a “perfect” fit with his company’s aggressive growth strategy in Tanzania. This statement suggests that Imwelo could be the prelude to further joint activities between Taifa and LVG. We look forward to seeing what happens next.