26th Jul 2016 10:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Kodal Minerals PLC on Tuesday said it has continued to progress its array of gold projects in West Africa, including the newly acquired Nangalasso project, and said the region has seen a pick-up in activity within the gold sector.
"The area of West Africa we are currently focused on already contains a number of multimillion ounce mining operations and we are looking to add to this total through the development of our portfolio of concessions in Mali and Cote d'Ivoire," said Chief Executive Bernard Aylward.
"We believe the recent pick-up in activity in West Africa combined with the increasing interest in the gold sector generally shows we are in the right commodity and the right region at the right time," he added.
Kodal acquired the Nangalasso project in May this year as part of its general strategy to buy prospective ground before developing it through low-cost exploration to improve the attractiveness, allowing it to find partners to help develop the assets further.
The miner said field exploration work has started on the asset through a trenching programme designed to find priority targets for the next phase of exploratory drilling, and said excavation and initial inspection of the geology has highlighted "abundant zones of quartz veining, strong alteration, haematite staining and strong geological structures" at the prospect.
Sampling of the first trench will be completed "in the near term", and the programme is continuing with a further five trenches, the results of which should emerge sometime in August.
The trenches are located along the strike of previously identified mineralised intersections, including 3.0 metres at 7.12 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, located in a wider section of 21.0 metres graded at 1.25 grammes of gold.
Other intersections include 1.0 metre at 7.8 grammes of gold per tonne of ore and 7.0 metres at 4.31 grammes of gold per tonne.
At the wholly-owned Korhogo project in the Ivory Coast, geological sampling on the surface will begin imminently.
Kodal's joint venture partner Newcrest Mining Ltd is restarting field work at the pair's Dabakala project that also lies in the Ivory Coast, and a field camp has been established and site preparations completed for the auger drilling of the gold anomalies. Work is expected to continue for the next two months, with results expected to follow in the fourth quarter.
Lastly, Kodal's joint venture partner at the Nielle and Tiebissou projects in the Ivory Coast, Resolute Mining Ltd, is continuing with geochemical sampling, and the pair are holding discussions with the government there about securing a licence for M'Bahaikro to allow field work to start in the area.
Kodal shares were down 6.9% to 0.0419 pence per share on Tuesday.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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