Modern Mining February 2020

price,” he says. “This is a project with a manage- able capex, a very quick payback of around a year. It really has profitable prospects and it could be moved into production relatively quickly with posi- tive results.” The next step Monro says Cora’s immediate focus is to extend drill- ing activities at Sanankoro, with a view to expanding the resources, given that the life of mine is short at the moment, projected to be three years. “However, we will focus on further drilling in Q1 2020, and there is a significant upside potential, with drilling to date having only covered less than 25% of the potential mineralised structures,” says Monro. “This year we are focusing on expanding resources through some metallurgical test work. Assuming that those results will come back posi- tively, next year (2021) we can complete the feasibility studies and then hopefully we can start building the following year (2022),” says Monro, adding that this will, however, be subject to results and financing, among other factors. As part of the resource expansion programme, this year Cora aims to show potential extensions to the Selin resources. The company has just finished a step-out programme, and will be releasing results of that particular exercise in the coming weeks. Gold oxide mineralisation here extends up to depths of 90 m. Cora has already recorded potential commer- cial mineralisation subsections of 25 m at 2,81 g/t, 19 m at 1,61 g/t and 9 m at 2,37 g/t. Metallurgical tests conducted last year showed that coarse ore gold recoveries of up to 97% are achievable through cyanide leach extraction, which is indicative of potential for industry standard pro- cess methodology of gold extraction. “Test work at Selin has found a 2,25 km long mineralised structure

with new oxide gold zone and depth of oxidation extending 80-90 m at the southern end and 50-60 m towards the north,” explains Monro. He further notes that primary, potentially eco- nomic, gold structures also exist in areas extending away from Selin. Zone A offers a wide zone of gold mineralisation identified within the 250 m-long high grade gold zone, which plunges moderately to the north. Oxide assay results here demonstrate depth

Cora’s immediate focus is to extend drilling activities at Sanankoro, with a view to expanding the resources.

Drilling at Sanankoro in May 2018.

February 2020  MODERN MINING  33