Special Report: The West African gold explorer provided the revised mineral resource standing, following the review of drilling between June 2013 and April 2020 by independent consultants RPM Advisor Services Pty Ltd (RPM).
RPM advised on the updated indications, which showed considerable mineral resource upside at the 100% owned Kouri Gold project in Burkino Faso.
Golden Rim Resources (ASX: GMR) are now set to restart drilling in the final calendar quarter of 2020 after establishing a set of revised objectives for the Kouri project. These include increasing the proportion of indicated mineral resource from the current measure of 14% and increasing the gold grade of mineral resource by targeting extensions of the high-grade zones.
Managing director Craig Mackay said the updated estimate of 2 million ounces was “substantially larger than the previous mineral resource and is a major milestone for the Kouri Gold project”.
“An additional 600,000 ounces of gold mineralisation was added to the mineral resource from a further 12 diamond drill holes and 235 RC (reverse circulation) drill holes.
Golden Rim was also set to target and expand additional areas of higher-grade gold mineralisation with Mackay adding the company would plan a scoping study by the end of the March quarter in 2021 with the intent of progressing to a pre-feasibility study by end of September 2021.
Mineral resource upgrade
Three areas of the Kouri project defined mineral resources – the West, East and Central lodes, with 95% found in the Central lode which includes the Banouassi prospect and previous resource areas.
RPM concluded that there was a global indicated and inferred mineral resource of 50 million tonnes at 1.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 2.0 million ounces of contained gold at 0.5g/t gold lower cut-off grade across the three lodes – a staggering 43% increase on the previous finding in December 2018 of 1.4 million ounces at 1.4g/t gold. RPM calculated the resource using a conservative long term consensus gold price of US$1,625.
The indicated portion of the mineral resource was increased by 41% to 310,000 ounces at 1.4 g/t gold.
The remainder of the contained gold was inferred.
The location of the mineral resource pit, indicating the three key lodes
RPM provided the estimate based on the results of 24 diamond drill holes (3,308 metres) and 548 reverse circulation (RC) holes (67,374 metres), drilled between April 2013 and June 2020 over a cumulative strike of 6.5km. Drilling was instigated by Golden Rim and prior owners across that time period.
Mineral resource upside
There remains considerable mineral resource upside at Kouri.
The more densely drilled indicated mineral resource is 17% higher in gold grade than the Inferred mineral resource. Planned infill drilling to increase the level of indicated mineral resource is likely to have a positive impact on gold grade.
Most of the multiple, parallel lodes of gold mineralisation that comprise the mineral resource are open at depth and extend beneath the bottom of the optimised pit shells. Deeper holes, predominantly on the Central Lodes, are planned as part of the infill drilling program targeting higher grade and wider gold lodes.
Elsewhere within the Kouri project, RPM determined:
- A shallow, maiden inferred mineral resource of 48,000 ounces at 3.2g/t gold defined at the East Lode. This inferred source was predominantly based on the high-grade Diabatou Gold Shoot.
- The Diabatou Gold Shoot sits in high-grade mineralisation, notably at the bottom of the pit shell (approx. 140m below surface). Drilling identified 7m at 4.6g/t gold, including 3m at 10.2g/t gold.
- Potential for further exploration at the Kogodou Prospect, which lies to the east of the Central Lode, and has returned samples of 42.8g/t gold, 41.2g/t gold, 32.3g/t gold and 32.1g/t gold.
- Potential for further exploration at the Sirba Prospect which is situated 3km south of the Central Lode and has returned samples of 43.7g/t gold and 11.3g/t gold.
Next steps For Golden Rim
It is envisaged that a program of infill diamond drilling and RC drilling will be conducted, primarily at the Central Lode. Some of this drilling had originally been planned for earlier in the year, however it was disrupted by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A DGPS survey of the new drill hole collars that was also deferred as part of the pandemic will now be conducted. This is set to identify mineralisation in the north-eastern province of the Central Lode, at the Red Hill Prospect and the Diabatou Prospect, upgrading this from inferred to indicated.
A program of exploration diamond drilling is planned for the Diabatou Gold Shoot, while an infill auger drilling program is set for the Kogodou and Sirba prospects.
A scoping study will be progressively completed by the end of March 2021 to provide greater technical and costing definition and assist with the subsequent exploration and infill drilling programs. The study will include key elements such as metallurgical testing, site infrastructure requirements, community matters, operating and capital costs and storage options.
Another mineral resource update is scheduled for the end of the June 2021 quarter, with the pre-feasibility study to occur in the following quarter.
This article was developed in collaboration with Golden Rim Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.