West African Resources encounters further Burkina Faso gold mineralisation
THE DRILL SERGEANT: West African Resources (ASX: WAF) reported first results from shallow oxide drilling carried out at the Mankarga 1 (M1) prospect, on the company’s Tanlouka permit in Burkina Faso.
Recent RC drilling undertaken by WAF at the M1 prospect intercepted oxide mineralisation beneath historic artisanal workings with two scissor holes ending in mineralisation.
The company explained it is now completing shallow first pass RC drilling with an Aircore rig.
Two holes, TAC0657 and TAC0658, both ended in quartz veining returning: 8 metres at 1.5 grams per tonne gold and 6m at 1.3g/t gold respectively.
These results are up dip of a previous RC hole TAN10-RC-23, WAF drilled in 2010, which returned results of 2m at 25g/t gold from 58m.
WAF said it expects oxide mineralisation from M1 will exhibit similar metallurgical characteristics to M5 oxides, from which it presumes it will be amenable to heap leach processing.
“Shallow RC drilling at the M1 prospect has intercepted mineralisation in the oxide zone beneath artisanal workings and above historic drilling,” West African Resources managing Director Richard Hyde sadi in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“The results at M1 will be added to the current Feasibility Study.
“Adding higher grade oxide tonnes to the mine schedule will enhance the economics of the project.
“RC drilling is ongoing at M1 and, importantly, only 15 per cent of the current program has been completed.”
WAF explained none of the gold mineralisation at the M1 prospect is currently included the project resource inventory.
The M1 mineralisation will be modelled and incorporated in a resource update later this year, and subsequently added to the mine schedule.
The company anticipates any additional higher grade oxide tonnes will have a positive impact on the project economics.
RC drilling at M1 has produced initial results including:
TAC0656
2m at 0.78g/t gold from surface and 1m at 0.74g/t gold from 6m;
TAC0657
8m at 1.45g/t gold from 25m, ending in mineralisation;
TAC0658
6m at 1.32g/t gold from 21m, ending in mineralisation; and
TAC0659
1m at 0.65g/t gold from surface.
WAF declared it is fully-funded by Macquarie Bank to complete a Feasibility Study for a heap leach starter project by Q3 of this year, which will incorporate any positive results from ongoing exploration programs.
Email: info@westafricanresources.com
Website: www.westafricanresources.com