A structural, not a stratigraphic, hunt
The Archean greenstone terranes wrapping Lake Victoria host gold overwhelmingly in deformation corridors: shear zones, fold hinges and the quartz vein arrays that develop around them. The 2026 programmes we have reviewed reflect that, allocating the majority of metres to structurally defined targets rather than to broad soil geochemistry.
Cheap high-resolution magnetics and drone-flown surveys are the enabling change. Targeting that once took two field seasons can be narrowed in one.
Uganda's flank is the underdrilled one
Tanzania's side of the belt carries the production history and the drill density. The Ugandan flank, including the Busia district, has produced gold for decades but overwhelmingly through artisanal workings, which means comparatively little of it has been drilled to a standard institutional capital recognises.
That gap is precisely why formalised medium-scale concessions with verified reserves attract disproportionate attention relative to their size.
What good looks like
We look for three things in a belt programme: a defensible structural model, licence coverage broad enough to follow the structure where it goes, and the mechanised capacity to convert a hit into a mining plan rather than a press release.