Modern Mining May 2019

GOLD

Above: Worked-out artisanal mining area at Zone B, Sanankoro. Note the ‘drowned’ artisanal mining excavator.

Right: Hand-dug trench at the Tekeledougou project.

discoveries to his credit, totalling over 8 million ounces over seven separate projects in seven different countries. At SAMAX, for example, he was closely involved with the multi-million ounce gold discovery of Kukuluma-Matandani, subsequently developed as part of the Geita mine, and at AXMIN he directed the explora- tion activities which led to the discovery of the very significant Passendro gold deposit in the Central African Republic which remains unde- veloped primarily as a result of the instability in that country. During his tenure as CEO and head of exploration at Bambuk, he oversaw the grassroots discovery of the million-ounce Petowal deposit in Senegal, which is today the basis of Toro Gold’s Mako gold mine. “We have a small but highly effective team on the ground in West Africa, with some of its members – who are mainly Malian – hav- ing worked with us over many years in several different countries,” says Forster. “They are hugely experienced, know the exploration game backwards and are committed to follow- ing up past successes with new discoveries.” While Cora’s tenements are split over three separate project areas in Mali and Senegal, Sanankoro is the most advanced project and is currently receiving the lion’s share of Cora’s attention, with the company having already made impressive progress since explora- tion started in earnest after its AIM listing in 2017. Its first drill programme was launched in

May 2019  MODERN MINING  23