Cora Gold Limited Drill Programme Completed at Madina Foulbé

RNS Number : 1721Q

Cora Gold Limited

29 May 2024

 

Cora Gold Limited / EPIC: CORA.L / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

29 May 2024

Cora Gold Limited

('Cora' or 'the Company')

 

Drill Programme Completed at Madina Foulbé in East Senegal

 

Potential for a large scale, in-situ gold mineralisation

 

Cora Gold Limited, the West African focused gold company, is pleased to announce that it has completed the drilling phase of its exploration drill programme at the Madina Foulbé gold permit within the Kenieba Project Area ('the Project') in east Senegal. The permit is in close proximity to several Tier 1 gold deposits located within the Mako Geological Belt of the Kédougou-Kéniéba Inlier.

 

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

·    2,018 metres of Reverse Circulation ('RC') over 40 holes completed on schedule.

●    All samples have arrived at the laboratory for testing with results expected Q3 2024.

●    Drilling tested prospective gold anomalies not previously drill tested, within the large 3km long by 1.6km wide Tambor gold-in-soil anomaly (>20ppb).

●    The region is serviced by excellent infrastructure within a mining friendly jurisdiction.

 

Bert Monro, Chief Executive Officer of Cora, commented, "I am pleased to confirm that the drilling phase of our 2,018m drill programme has been successfully undertaken at Madina Foulbé with all samples now at the laboratory for testing. Thanks must go to our exploration team for their hard work in delivering on this work programme, which was completed on schedule, and marks the start of an exciting new exploration campaign in Senegal. Given the Project's proximity to several operating mines and strong geochemical soil samples received to date, we are excited for the development opportunity Madina Foulbé presents. We look forward to sharing further updates in due course once the drill results have been analysed."

 

Further Information

Figure 1: The Kenieba Project Area in east Senegal.

 

Location

The Madina Foulbé permit in Senegal is approximately 27km directly west of the Sadiola Gold Mine and close to several other Tier 1 deposits (Loulo, Gounkoto, Fekola) in the gold belt known as Kédougou-Kéniéba Inlier ('KKI'). Two operators within the KKI have recently been acquired, including Chesser Resources Limited purchased by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. in May 2023 for US$60m, 860koz @ 1.77 g/t Au; and Oklo Resources Limited purchased by B2Gold Corp. in May 2022 for US$66m, 668koz @ 1.83 g/t Au.

 

Within the Madina Foulbé permit are 5 exploration targets - Tambor, Dalaoule and Tombolo South targets are located on the eastern side of the permit, all are proximal to the regional North-South trending structure cutting through the permit; and the Madina and Diombalou South targets which straddle a large North - South structure on the Western side of the permit.  These targets were a result of gold in soil sampling programmes by Cora and Toro Gold Limited. Some ICP-MS data exists from a small soil sampling programme in which evaluation of the multi-element data has defined a large (+5km) and anomalous Cu & Fe anomaly in the South/East of the permit over the Tombolo South target which combined with the anomalous gold values and geological contacts makes this area a highly prospective target as well.

 

Figure 2: Map showing the Madina Foulbé Exploration Project in Senegal.

Previous Tambor Exploration

Cora commenced preliminary exploration field activities at Madina Foulbé in 2018; this work combined with previous historical data was used to design a reconnaissance drill programme at the Tambor Gold in soils anomaly. Drilling commenced in April 2020 but after completing 1½ fences (nine holes for 642m) of the five planned fences, the programme was stopped in June 2020 due to Covid-19. Results (see announcement dated 6 May 2020) included:

 

●    47m @ 0.63 g/t Au from 27m, in hole MFC007, including 1m @ 16.4 g/t Au;

●    36m @ 0.53 g/t Au from 6m, in hole MFC001, including 3m @ 3.78 g/t Au; and

●    27m @ 0.47 g/t Au from 45m, in hole MFC002.

 

Recent field visits to the Tambor anomaly confirmed the presence of multiple intrusive lithologies over the entire anomaly and that mineralisation is hosted by well-developed sheeted and stockwork quartz vein sets within. Pegmatite veins are commonly observed with gold mineralisation occurring also at their contacts. Weathering of the intrusive rocks is weakly developed with the fresh rock commonly found within a few metres from surface; with little to no laterite formation formed, the gold in soil anomaly is considered indicative of the underlying gold mineralisation within the host intrusive rocks. Previously, rotary air blast ('RAB') drilling by Toro Gold Limited (responsible for the discovery of the 1.5Mozs Mako deposit and bought by Resolute Mining Limited in 2019 for US$274m) intersected some well mineralised zones: TNB026; 6m @ 21.02 g/t Au (from 15m), TNB091; 15m @ 1.79 g/t Au from surface, TNB039; 9m @ 1.85 g/t Au from surface; and many shorter RAB holes ending in mineralisation on encountering fresh rock.

 

Rock chip and grab samples of the many quartz veins have confirmed the widespread nature of the in-situ gold mineralisation with a maximum grade of 95.3 g/t Au sampled, however, most values are within 0.3 - 2.0 g/t Au. Geophysical data sets show a large circular feature coinciding with the Tambor gold in soil anomaly, which in addition to the regional (+200km in length) scale north-south trending fault system cutting directly through the centre of the soils anomaly confirms the geological prospectivity of the Tambor anomaly.

 

2024 Drilling Programme    

The planned 2,000m reconnaissance RC drilling programme commenced in April 2024 (see announcement dated 8 April 2024) to test for gold mineralisation under the best gold-in-soil and termite mound anomalies. Drilling tested specific and highly prospective targets, some of which had never been drill tested. Drill samples have now been sent to the laboratory for testing and will be analysed by ICP-MS (4 acid) in addition to fire assay for gold, which will give multi-element data in conjunction with gold assays to better understand this large gold system. The intent of the drill programme is not to define mineral resources but test conceptual targets (see map below), which if successful would require additional drill programmes to define the size and grade of the mineralisation and allow for mineral resources to be reported in the future.

 

The Tambor gold anomaly map below shows the gold-in-soil anomaly as contours (>20ppb) and the corresponding soil and termite values that define the large Tambor gold anomaly.  Using all the available gold related data sets i.e. soil samples, termite visual gold samples, previous RAB & RC drilling, trenches, grab and channel samples, combined with the topography, regional magnetics, and geology, 10 high priority targets were identified for reconnaissance drill testing.  Intersecting the source/s of the soil anomaly was the objective of the reconnaissance drill programme.

 

Figure 3: Map showing the Tambor gold anomaly.

 

Competent Person's Statement

The technical information in this release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Murray Paterson in his capacity as a Competent Person, in accordance with the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM Companies, which outlines standards of disclosure for mineral projects. Mr. Paterson is Cora's Head of Geology and is a member of good standing with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM). Mr. Paterson has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity which he is undertaking, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr. Paterson consents to the inclusion in this release of the Exploration Results in the form and context in which it appears.

 

Market Abuse Regulation ('MAR') Disclosure 

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ('MAR'), which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information, please visit http://www.coragold.com or contact:

 

Bert Monro Craig Banfield	Cora Gold Limited	[e-mail]
Derrick Lee Pearl Kellie	Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (Nomad & Broker)	[phone]
Susie Geliher Isabelle Morris Charlotte Page	St Brides Partners (Financial PR)	[e-mail]

 

Notes

Cora is a West African gold developer with de-risked project areas within two known gold belts in Mali and Senegal. Led by a team with a proven track-record in making multi-million-ounce gold discoveries that have been developed into operating mines, its primary focus is on developing the Sanankoro Gold Project in the Yanfolila Gold Belt, south Mali, into an open pit oxide mine. Based on a gold price of US$1,750/oz and a Maiden Probable Oxide Reserve of 422koz at 1.3 g/t Au, the Project has strong economic fundamentals, including 52% IRR, US$234 million Free Cash Flow over life of mine and all-in sustaining costs of US$997/oz.

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