IRR.L Share News (IRR)

(Sharecast News) - Africa-focussed mineral exploration company IronRidge Resources has secured the right to acquire a highly prospective gold license application in Côte d'Ivoire, it announced on Thursday.The AIM-traded firm said access rights to the Zaranou Gold Project had been secured via an earn-in agreement, covering 397 square kilometres.It said a it consisted of a strike of highly prospective shear zone structure of more than 40 kilometres, multiple recorded gold occurrences, and coincident large-scale artisanal workings throughout the application area, with eight high priority targets already identified.The high-priority target areas of hard-rock artisanal workings were observed in multiple pits over a 1.6 kilometre strike length, with individual artisanal pits between 60 metres and 120 metres wide.A "characteristic response" for a hard-rock artisanal mining zone was evident in regional aeromagnetics data, the board claimed, with at least eight additional high-priority targets identified over the 40 kilometre strike length.Artisanal mining zones and additional geophysical anomalies that had identified were interpreted as repeated en-echelon structures, which IronRidge said were typically associated with favourable settings for gold deposits.There were reports of historical mining activity during the 1930's at the Yosso occurrence, with quartz vein zones between two metres and 60 metres thick, and more than 300 metres in length with evidence of gold mineralisation extending 10 metres into pyritic schists either side of the veins and averaging 1.5 grams per tonne to 12 grams per tonne of gold.Historical results returned during the late 1990's and 2008 included a best result of 2.2 grams per tonne over 21 metres, including 5.7 grams per tonne over five metres, in a limited rotary air blast (RAB) drilling programme.The company said the conditional acquisition complemented and enhanced its existing portfolio, for a combined total 3,584 square kilometre gold-focussed land package over what it called "highly prospective" geology.It added that the application was within close proximity to an existing gold and lithium portfolio, providing operational synergies.The area also had "good access" via extensive bitumen and laterite road networks- 200 kilometres via bitumen and 30 kilometres via laterite from Abidjan to the northernmost extent of license area.IronRidge said the Ivory Coast represented an "underexplored and highly prospective" gold rich terrain within the prolific West African Birimian Greenstone sequence, with a diversified economy and pro-mining investment framework."Zaranou represents a high priority, near drill ready opportunity with substantial geological potential over a 40km strike gold mineralised shear zone," said IronRidge Resources chief executive officer and managing director Vincent Mascolo."Multiple large-scale artisanal gold workings, exposing up to 60m to 120m wide working faces within weathered bedrock and occurring repeatedly along the identified 1.6km strike is highly encouraging; providing a robust, high-priority target zone and confidence in a potential significant mineralised system."Reports of historical results including broad mineralised quartz vein zones up to 300m long averaging 1.5g/t to 12g/t gold and mineralised pyrite alteration zones extending a further 10m into the host rock is highly encouraging."Mascolo said likewise, historical results including 21m at 2.2g/t gold in RAB including 5.7 g/t over five meters provided additional conviction to the "important" project."This acquisition complements IronRidge's existing gold portfolio in Cote d'Ivoire which now totals 3,584 square kilometres, providing further operational synergies for exploration programmes going forward and enhancing the company's strategy of discovering a multimillion-ounce deposit in the pro-mining jurisdiction of Côte d'Ivoire."