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LONDON (Alliance News) - Cora Gold Ltd on Thursday said recent drill results from its Sanankoro gold discovery in Mali present the opportunity to fast-track the project on a smaller scale.
Shares in Cora were down 12% at 3.86 pence on Thursday afternoon.
Thus far, multiple gold zones have been found at Sanankoro and it now has a mineralised footprint of more than 8 kilometres and an exploration target of between 1 million and 2 million ounces of gold, as well as a significant upside.
Areas that could become higher grade starter pits are currently being outlined, with recent drill results including 46 metres at 4.48 grammes of gold per tonne of ore and 24 metres at 2.8 grammes per tonne.
Deeply weathered oxide gold zones have already been identified at Sanankoro, which are amenable to heap leach and cyanide in leach, potentially resulting in up to 97% gold recovery with low-cost mining and processing.
In the near-term, Cora intends to start work that would fast-track a smaller scale project, which would include targeting a maiden mineral resource estimate.
If results are positive, Cora will commence a scoping study and target a report for the third quarter of 2019, incorporating an expansion plan with a target as of more than 100,000 ounces per annum.
Cora Gold Chief Executive Jonathan Forster said: "Since listing on AIM in October 2017, Cora Gold has executed a focused exploration programme at Sanankoro aimed at confirming the potential for a standalone gold mine. This has been successful and has allowed us to now consider the next step in the development of Sanankoro whilst being mindful of minimising shareholder dilution."
"Recent drill results have been highly encouraging having successfully defined near surface, oxide, high recovery gold presenting the opportunity to fast track development towards mining."
Forster added: "When considering the ultimate scale of Sanankoro, where the oxide and sulphide potential has barely been touched, I would expect that, with time, the project could expand to a scale that accommodates what we believe to be an undiminished, conservative target of over one million ounces."
