MALI
UPDATES FROM THE GROUND BY KEY JUNIORS
Kobada Gold Project, developed by African Gold Group
“After delivering on our DFS in July last year, we raised funds and carried out more drilling, for the first time testing the sulfides to incorporate all the data in an updated DFS. A key highlight of the 2021 DFS is the growth in our reserve base, which is 66% bigger compared to 2019-2020 results. We are now looking at a 1.25 million oz reserve with 16 years LOM and a production guideline of 100,000 oz/y for the first 10 years. As it stands, the project is very compelling, though we think there is significantly more there and we can keep drilling and add oz, but we thought it was the right time to present a detailed DFS.
We have delivered a very robust updated DFS with a 1.2 million oz reserve and resources up of 3 million oz, both with substantial upside, and very good pre-and-post cash flows.”
Danny Callow, President & CEO, African Gold Group
Kandiolé Gold Project, developed by Roscan Gold
“We had a very rapid evolution since last year. Increasing our land package from 250 km2 to just over 400 km2, we have secured a prolific area to build significant oz for a standalone operation. Kandiolé already counts six discoveries with exceptional progress at Mankouke South. As we speak, we work towards delivering a maiden resource. On top of these, we have just initiated an additional 16,000 m drilling campaign and we still have a 15,000 m drilling backload at the lab to be received.
Our detailed metallurgy tests came with 97.6% recovery for the oxides and 92.9% recovery in fresh rock, a few percentages higher than in the preliminary met tests.
Sandwiched between two of the largest producing assets in West Africa, the Luolo-Guonkoto complex to the north and the Fekola mine to the south, and with our six discoveries made already, we hope to join that league of tier-one mines.”
Nana Sangmuah, CEO, Roscan Gold
Sanankoro Gold Project, developed by Cora Gold
“Cora Gold was listed in 2017 on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM and we hold over 1,100 km2 of exploration ground across two of West Africa’s prolific gold belts: the Kenieba Window along the Senegal-Mali border, and the Yanfolila belt in southern Mali.
Sanankoro is our most advanced project, and we are working towards the publication of a DFS in H1 2022. The DFS is based on the recently updated MRE, which saw our total resource inventory increase by 200%. The MRE was supported by our largest ever drilling campaign of over 40,000 m, completed in October 2021.
Drilling results indicate both exceptional widths and grades, with 15 holes retrieving gold mineralization at 100 m depth. In our final release of drilling results, we published headline hits of 17 m at 17.13 g/t Au from 89 m at the Zone B deposit.
Sanankoro is essentially a shallow oxide project with high metallurgical recovery at over 95%. Free-digging, easy-to-process material entails lower processing costs.”
Bert Monro, CEO, Cora Gold
The Tarabala Zone, Sikasso Property, developed by Compass Gold
“Our corporate objective this year was to narrow down our 850 km2 Sikasso property to the highest priority targets, with the ultimate goal of arriving at a commercial resource, and I am pleased to say our team has done an outstanding job. Out of the three mineralized trends stretching 7 km across our existing permits, we identified along the Tarabala structural trend three strongly mineralized zones with good intersections and good widths and grades. The Tarabala Zone is our most advanced one, over 1 km long and starting just 40-50 m deep, which is hinting at an open pit resource, the most economic type of mineralization we’re after. Drilling different sections of the Tarabala trend, we found mineralized intersections more than 15-20 m wide with grades around 0.5 g/t, which are sufficient to sustain a commercial open-pit operation.
These results encourage us to drill deeper to 100 m or more below the mineralization using diamond drilling to get more precise answers about the orientation of the veins and the structure of the rock at depth. This is the focus of our drilling campaign till the end of 2021.”
Larry Phillips, CEO, Compass Gold
Namarama Exploration Licence, developed by Stellar AfricaGold
“We want to make Namarama - and Mali - a full-time opportunity for Stellar. Namarama is a relatively small license of 52 km2. In the past, we had a partnership with Newmont who had spent about US$2 million on the property conducting an airborne magnetic survey across the area. We are checking other opportunities in the country and speaking to private owners and developers to forge potential partnerships where we could lend in our expertise to develop their permits. Mali has experienced political instability since last year, together with disputes concerning provisions in the mining code, but things are falling back into place and the country’s gold potential is unmatched.”
François Lalonde, CEO, Stellar AfricaGold
Goulamina Lithium Project, developed by Leo Lithium (new company spinning off from Firefinch to start trading on the ASX in 2022)
“Considerable progress has been made advancing Goulamina over the past few months. The key takeaway is that following the proposed demerger in 2022, Goulamina will be substantially funded, with engineering and procurement well progressed and 50 km of drilling already underway. Importantly, Goulamina will be on a quick path to production, expected in 2023, and in an enviable position to take advantage of prevailing very strong lithium market conditions.”
Michael Anderson, Managing Director, Firefinch