Eagle Eye turned on Mali
Two essential assets for working in West Africa are a landholding with potential to produce gold and years of experience working there; Eagle Eye Metals has both.
Earlier this year Eagle Eye Metals acquired private, West African company Birimian Gold.
By doing so it landed two advanced gold projects located in the Birimian Greenstone Belt of West Africa, a region synonymous with gold having produced over 250 million ounces from large, low cost mines.
“About ten months ago I went back to West Africa, having worked there four years previously with Resolute Mining, with the expressed purpose of acquiring the projects of private company Birimian Gold,” Eagle Eye Metals managing director Kevin Joyce told The Inside Story.
“Within about two months we had put together the projects that we were after.”
Eagle Eye now holds substantial interests in several highly prospective gold projects in West Africa.
The company’s projects in Mali include the Korindji gold project, located adjacent to both the 13 million ounce Sadiola gold mine and the 4.5 million ounce Yatela gold deposit.
In southern Mali the company picked up the Dankassa gold project, while in Liberia it also gained the Basawa gold project.
The 450 square kilometre Dankassa project consists of three exploration permits at Kourouba, Kourouba-East, and Dankassa, and two prospecting licenses at Makono and Songoria.
Eagle Eye has the right to earn a 90% interest in all five permits by making a series of instalment payments over a period of three years.
In all cases the vendors retain a 10% free-carried interest until mining concessions are granted.
The Dankassa project brought with it a history of previous exploration that had delineated extensive gold in soil geochemical anomalism.
Dankassa was subjected to some historic drilling although this was very limited and shallow RC drilling and was only carried out on the Kourouba prospect.
Historical results include 10.0 metres at 5.75 grams per tonne gold, which was enough to spark Eagle Eye into immediate action.
Having completed the original deal in February then formalising it in April the company was drilling at Dankassa in May.
“We are not happy to just pick up a project and sit on it,” Joyce explained.
“We are off and running and that is what it is all about for us. We want to move quickly to develop what we have got.”
The initial drilling program carried out at Dankassa was designed to extend drill coverage north and south of the previous ore grade drill intercepts.
Eagle Eye also used it to determine the continuity and grade of gold mineralisation within the central portion of the Kourouba prospect.
A total of 24 holes for 2,400 metres of reverse circulation drilling were completed over approximately 800 metres of strike.
The drilling did just what it was asked to do and confirmed primary gold mineralisation extends over the 800m of strike while remaining open in all directions.
Assay results from the drilling included:
– 32 metres at 0.8 grams per tonne gold from 78m;
– 12m at 1.67 g/t gold from 26m;
– 7m at 1.12 g/t gold from 16m;
– 7m at 1.00 g/t gold from 48m;
– 3m at 2.10 g/t gold from 37m;
– 3m at 1.59 g/t gold from 40m;
– 2m at 1.66 g/t gold from 73m; and
– 2m at 1.55 g/t gold from surface.
The recent drilling has combined with the drilling carried out by previous owners to highlight higher grade shoots occurring within the broader mineralised envelopes.
“We are only just scratching the surface out there as it stands at the moment,” Joyce said.
“That is a very big anomaly in a well-known anomalous project area.”
Eagle Eye has now commenced a further round of drilling to confirm the continuity of the higher grade zones.
These high-grade shoots appear to persist at depth and have encouraged the company to consider a large mineralised system to be present at the Kourouba prospect.
The company has come to this conclusion due to the character of mineralisation and widespread distribution of gold.
This suggests the project has significant lode gold potential as well as the scope for the discovery of a bulk, mineable gold resources.
Additional drilling and detailed reconnaissance is also scheduled to be undertaken within the broader Kourouba prospect area and further afield within the Dankassa gold project, where Eagle Eye says numerous other gold in soil trends remain untested.
Having gained some understanding of the ground at Dankassa, Eagle Eye is eager to pursue additional ground holdings in order to grow the business.
“That includes working on the acquisition of separate new projects as well as accreting to the land holdings that we have already got,” Joyce said.
The company is confident it can expand its footprint in Mali through its experience and connection with the country and its people.
When Joyce was employed by Resolute Mining he was based in southern Mali.
His role as exploration manager included project generation requiring travel within Mali as well as other African gold mining centres such as Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.
“Mali is one of the best jurisdictions in West Africa to work,” Joyce said.
“It is the third biggest gold producing country in Africa behind Ghana and South Africa so it is in real company in the gold producing stakes.”
With a lot of market attention focusing on other African jurisdictions it is easy for people to under-estimate how much gold is produced in Mali.
The country’s people, and more importantly, its government are extremely familiar with gold mining and production and how it should be done.
“That makes it an excellent jurisdiction in which to work,” Joyce continued.
“It is certainly one of the premier jurisdictions within West Africa for getting things done, just because they have been doing it for a very long time.
“The local expertise levels are high and it is also a place where we know how to operate.”
Joyce indicated one aspect that distinguished Eagle Eye from other gold plays operating in West Africa being that it went to Mali and dealt directly with the local vendors and the local entrepreneurs to acquire its projects.
“We put this project together ourselves and we think we have put together a pretty good landholding,” he said.
“I think that augers well for us to be able to put together more ground as we go ahead once we get these first projects off and running.”
Although Kourouba is the company’s main focus at present the Eagle Eye story is much bigger.
Having already highlighted some excellent potential at Kourouba the company is confident it can also advance the rest of its portfolio.
“We have other targets at Korindji in the west of Mali in a fabulous gold district, which is slightly more grassroots, which we will be looking at getting moving over the next three months,” Joyce said.
“Liberia is our grassroots play where we will carry out some traditional prospecting activities and we like to think we can move that towards drill targeting stage within twelve to eighteen months.”
Eagle Eye recently raised approximately $3.4 million and is now well financed to embark on an aggressive exploration program and to assess new opportunities.
Eagle Eye Metals (ASX:EYE)
…The Short Story
HEAD OFFICE
Suite 9
5 Centro Avenue
Subiaco, WA, 6008
Ph: +61 8 9286 3045
Fax: +61 8 9226 2027
Email: info@eagleeyemetals.com
Web: www.eagleeyemetals.com.au
DIRECTORS
Hugh Bresser, Kevin Joyce, Wayne Ryder, Michael Haynes, Warren Staude
MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Directors 30.6%
Macquarie Bank 4.4%
Citicorp Nominees 4.1%