LONDON (Alliance News) - Amara Mining PLC Tuesday said it has completed its drilling programme at its Yaoure gold project in the Ivory Coast, and is expecting a second mineral resource update before the end of the year.
The drilling programme comprised 85,574 metres of drilling. This included 251 diamond drill holes and Amara has released the results of 176 of these to date. It also drilled 80 reverse circulation holes and has released the results of 55 of them to date.
"This extensive drilling campaign has significantly de-risked the deposit and increased the company's confidence in it," Amara said in a statement.
Samples from the remaining 75 diamond drill holes and 25 reverse circulation holes are being examined and the results are expected to be released in the next two weeks, said Amara.
In September, Amara updated its mineral resource which saw the indicated resource more than double and an increase in ounces of gold at higher grades. Amara is now expecting a second mineral resource update in December, which will take into account all of the results from the drilling programme. The company is expecting the mineral resource to be upgraded and the project is fully funded to deliver a pre-feasibility study in the first quarter of 2015, it said in a statement.
"The 2014 Yaoure campaign was the largest drilling programme in Africa this year and it was completed on time and on budget. We will use the data to deliver a second mineral resource update for the project in December 2014 and this will form the basis of the pre feasibility study, which is expected to further confirm that Yaoure has the potential to be one of the top 10 African gold mines by production," said Chairman and Chief Executive John McGloin.
Amara shares were up 2.7% to 18.75 pence per share Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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