RANTHAK
LOCATION & ACCESSIBILITY
GMC’s Ranthak Gold Property is a 10sq.km operational area located in the Ganche district 2.94km from Haldi town. Haldi-the base of operations is linked to a major international tourist destination namely Skardu via a 175km road passing through Khaplu. Skardu the divisional headquarters of the Gilgit-Baltistan province is a 715Km drive or a one hour flight from Islamabad the Fedral capital of Pakistan
GEOTECHNICAL FACTS
REGIONAL GEOLOGICAL SET UP
Located in the heart of the Karakoram, on the western side of the Siachen Glacier, one of the two longest glaciers outside the Polar Regions, the Ranthak Gold Property is part of the Main Karakoram Thrust (MKT) that lies between Ladakh and Karakoram terranes. MKT is 5 Km thick in the east, pinches out to 500 meters moving towards the west and has a faulted contact with the Karakoram Metamorphic rocks which are comprised of phyllites with blocks of serpentinites, talc carbonate schists, green stones and green schists making a typical mélange. Auriferous oxidized and silicified zones occur along the MKT and range from a few meters up to 600 meters.
LOCAL GEOLOGICAL SET UP
The Property Area as shown ABCD on the geological map below is covered from the north to south by the rocks of Main Karakoram Thrust Zone (MKTZ) which are composed of green schists, bodies of serpentinites, pyroxinites, talc carbonate and talc chlorite schists. Oxidized and silicified zones containing gold mineralization occur along the MKT Zone.
Further south are the rocks of Ladakh Island Arc which are represented by the Shigar volcanic that consist of basalts, andesites and rhyolites.
GOLD IN THE SOURCE ROCKS
Subsequent to a regional geochemical exploration study, a narrow follow up study of 9 rock chip samples directly taken from only one mineralized zones , out of 10 such already discovered concluded gold values to be between 1.7 to 24gm/ton. In addition, a 90Kg crushed, ground and hand panned bulk sample has yielded 2.2g/t free gold after applying hand panning techniques
RANTHAK IS A PRIME LOCATION IN THE GB PROVINCE
Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) during their regional studies from 1959 to 1974 collected river gravel samples from the region that indicated up to 0.3g/t gold in these samples, an indication to conduct detailed studies in the area Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC), in collaboration with Ausaid Australia, conducted regional geochemical exploration studies during 1992-2001 in which the GMC’S M/L property area and its surrounding contiguous drainage catchment cell areas capitulated record values of gold between 1.6 to 88.5 gms/ton from 8 – 100gms standardized pan concentrate and -80# geochemical samples each representing 2 to 39 sq.km measured catchment cell areas. In addition, the same samples designated the Property area to contain Copper between 41 to 249, Cobalt 22-59, lead 39-1076, Molybdinum 1.6-1.8, Nickel 67-166 and Platinum 5 to 12.5 gm/ton values for each sample. A 90kg bulk sample collected from mineralized zone yielded 2.2g/t gold after being manually crushed, grounded and subjected to traditional panning & washing techniques. Geological Survey of Pakistan during geological mapping of the area during the years 2004-2006 collected 30 hard rock samples from the mineralized source rock, out of which 26 samples yielded gold contents ranging from 1 to 6 g/t. GMC during 2008 to 2010 collected 6 samples which were tested in Geoscience Labs of GSP and thereafter tested by SGS Canada, which showed gold contents ranging from 0.5 to 27g/t. The above tests were conducted in only one zone out of ten mineralized zones, which is an indication of very attractive gold deposits in all ten mineralized zones in the GMC’s Property Area
RANTHAK GOLD MINING LEASE LOCATION
The available first-hand geological data depicted sparkling indications of the presence of high potential gold resource Initially GMC plans to develop essential infrastructure for the prospect including construction of an 8km road, establishing site offices, acquiring essential machinery / equipment / stores and allocating relevant human resource. During phase-1 of operations, GMC plans to establish a gold bearing resource between 250-300 thousand tons containing minimum of 0.5g/ton free gold recoverable through the gravitational process of pilot plant operation. The phase-1 operations include trenching, pitting, shallow aditing, conducting chemical analysis, conducting laboratory/pilot plant scale studies and consequently establishing a process for large scale gold extraction from Ranthak. During Phase-2 operations, GMC plans to establish a gold bearing resource sufficient to feed a medium scale gold ore bearing, processing plant for 30 years. Operations of this phase include detailed geological mapping, geophysical surveying, core drilling, exploratory aditing leading to estimation of reserves- However small scale mining activities such as extracting free gold and producing gold bearing concentrate through pilot plant operation shall be in operation during the execution of both the phases.
The Overall Fiscal Package Mining activities being carried out in Pakistan are mainly through small scale mining by sole proprietorships, association of persons (partnerships) and in certain cases by private limited liability companies. Medium and large scale mining activity in the country has been carried outby private limited and public limited companies including non-resident (foreign) companies. Government, within the context of the taxation and other relevant laws, would design fiscal measures conducive to the promotion of mineral exploration and development including beneficiation and other forms of product refinement. In view of the changing mineral scenario and challenges linked with large-scale mining, both at the national and international level, fiscal regime will be reviewed from time to time consistent with the general tax structure. Various kinds of taxes/levies applicable to the mineral sector are listed in Appendix-I and will be subject to revision from time to time by the respective governments.
Efforts will be made through seminars and conferences to encourage the mining community/investors to prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards.
Rate of royalty for minerals will be determined by respective government from time to time and changes will be notified to other provinces/federating units and the Federal Government.
The Governments will encourage joint ventures between foreign and local private investors. In addition to royalty, the relevant Government will be entitled to participate in the project in the form of a negotiated equity, participating interest, enhanced royalty rate or such other structure as agreed to by the Government and the mining company.
