Special Report: An aggressive regional drilling program by Golden Rim Resources is just beginning to uncover the 1.4 million-ounce Kouri project’s massive potential.
Ten big mines in Africa’s Burkina Faso have come online in the last decade or so, like Kiaka (5.9moz), Bomboré (5.2moz), Essakane (7moz) and Sanbrado (2.8moz).
These are all controlled by a major fault system which runs directly through Golden Rim’s (ASX:GMR) ground. For this $6m market cap explorer, the upside is clear.
New assays have now been received for four drill holes totalling 767m — three designed to ‘infill’ the existing 1.4moz resource area, and one hole to extend the new high-grade Diabatou discovery, 7km away.
Designed to increase confidence in the existing deposit, close-spaced infill drilling was conducted in the northern portion of the 1.4moz resource beneath Guitorga Hill, an area only sparsely drilled previously.
New assays — such as 8m at 2.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 169m from surface — confirm that the multiple gold lodes that make up the mineral resource “have strong continuity along strike and at depth”, Golden Rim says.
Five significant gold lodes have now been identified in a more intensely mineralised 120m wide corridor directly beneath the hill.
So far, these lodes have been traced up to 200m down-dip (or 160m below surface) and remain ‘open’ at depth.
Diabatou is where Golden Rim hit that astounding +783g/t intercept underneath some artisanal gold workings in August last year.
New drill hole MRC026 has hit 6m at 9.5g/t gold from 63m, including two 1m intersections grading 20.9g/t and 27g/t.
Golden Rim says the gold mineralised zone at Kouri shows excellent continuity and remains ‘open’ along strike, both to the east and to the west, and at depth:
Two additional follow-up drill holes at Diabatou are in the lab, with assays pending. Drilling assays are also pending at the super high-grade Kogodou and Perga prospects.
In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Golden Rim has now suspended all field exploration activities, including drilling at Kouri.
“Having considered the scale and potential duration of this pandemic and its market consequences, the board considers it prudent to take steps to protect its people and preserve cash,” the company says.
“At this stage, the board is confident that once this situation has abated and upon a decision to re-commence operations at Kouri, the company will be able to act strongly and quickly.”
The explorer – which had about $1.8m in the bank at the end of December — will continue to compile and assess the considerable amount of drilling, surface geochemical and geophysical data collected at Kouri over the past months.
The results for a further 13 drill holes and 232 rock chip samples are also expected during the next few weeks.