AusqQuest hits high-grade gold in West Africa
THE DRILL SERGEANT: ASX-listed junior gold exploration play AusQuest Limited has received further high-grade gold results from diamond drilling at its Comoe Joint Venture in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
The company said the latest results confirm the presence of high gold grades at depth within the mineralised system at Phaco Hill.
Two of the drill holes returned results including six metres at 8.5 grams per tonne gold and three metres at 9.66 grams per tonne gold indicating high gold grades continue to depths of at least 200 metres at Phaco South and 120 metres at Phaco North.
“These results continue to support the presence of a large VMS gold system at Phaco Hill containing high-grade gold shoots which extend to depth,” AusQuest said in the announcement.
A portion of the recent drilling was sited to test around 100 metres below drill intersection the company had previously reported of 4m at 2.84g/t gold and 13.8m at 2.89g/t gold.
AusQuest considers these to demonstrate the variability of gold grades at this drill-hole spacing while also confirming the presence of high gold grades (6m at 8.5g/t gold) at depth.
“The gold mineralisation remains poorly constrained by the limited drilling to date and is open in all directions,” AusQuest said.
“Gold intersected continues to display a strong spatial association with significant sulphide content but is not always directly associated with the sulphide mineralisation.”
Other drill holes undertaken to test for continuity of gold mineralisation at Phaco North returned a high-grade intercept of 3m at 9.66g/t gold around 50 metres from another hole from the previous campaign, which intersected 17m at 2.4g/t gold, which the company said infers the start of a high-grade gold shoot in this area.
“The thick, low grade gold intercept in drill-hole KPHD012 (89.7m @ 0.27g/t Au) infers continuity of the same gold system to the north and at depth,” AusQuest said.
“Drill hole KPHD010 which was sited to test the Phaco East prospect located approximately 200 metres east of the main gold trend, reported further, thick low-grade intersections, but no significant high-grade gold intercepts.”
The company is carrying out down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys in each drill-hole to help define the distribution of the sulphide mineralisation which it considers to be spatially associated with the gold.
A full assessment of these results will be carried out once the program is completed.
Diamond drilling is expected to continue at the Phaco Hill prospect until early July when drilling operations will likely cease for the duration of the wet season.