Modern Mining May 2019

GOLD

sulphide potential has barely been touched by the current exploration.” Notwithstanding the focus on Sanankoro, Cora is steadily advancing its other projects. In the Yanfolila gold belt these include the Tekeledougou project, located just 10 km from the Yanfolila gold plant, where two drill pro- grammes have been completed, and Farabassa III, Tagan and Siranikele, all within possible haul distance of the Yanfolila plant, where drill targets are being identified. Cora is also active in the so-called Kenieba Window, an area encompassing south-west Mali, which is home to mines such as Sadiola and Loulo, and the Mako gold belt of neigh- bouring Senegal, which hosts the Mako and Sabodala gold mines. Cora’s projects in the Kenieba Window are Diangounte in Mali, which is located within 10 km of Sadiola, and Madina Fulbe, about 30 km north-west of Diangounte on the Senegal side of the border. At Diangounte surface work is being under- taken to finalise the prioritisation of drill targets while at Madina Fulbe a short reconnaissance drilling programme to test two drill-ready tar- gets is being planned. According to Forster, the Kenieba Window represents one of the most prospective gold regions in Africa, with more than 50 Moz hav- ing been discovered over the past two decades in 12 gold project areas. Summing up, Forster says that with a total landholding of more than 1 300 km 2 across some of West Africa’s best greenstone gold belts and with Sanankoro potentially offering a fast route into production, Cora is arguably one of the most exciting gold juniors listed on AIM. “With exploration there is never any guar- antee of success but my view is that Cora has an excellent chance of delivering a new mine within the next few years,” he concludes. Photos courtesy of Cora Gold

same time, the company announced a joint ven- ture agreement with Maifa Mining Corporation SARL to enable Cora to extend its explora- tion of the Selin structure further to the north. Maifa holds the 50 km 2 Kodiou permit that lies immediately adjacent to the northern edge of the Sanankoro permit. Also in March, Cora revealed interim results from metallurgical test work undertaken by consultants Wardell Armstrong International (WAI) on oxide samples from the Zone A and Selin prospects. These demonstrated that coarse ore gold recoveries ranging from nearly 70 % to over 97 %, depending on crush size, are achievable through cyanide leach extraction. “The testwork is ongoing but already it is clear that the Sanankoro ore can be treated using industry-standard heap leach or CIL pro- cesses,” notes Forster. “Results from column leach and gravity-CIL testwork are expected during the current quarter and will help us to determine which of these process routes is the most appropriate for Sanankoro.” Looking ahead at further activities expected to be completed this year, Forster says that Cora will continue with infill and extensional drill- ing of predominantly oxide targets through the current quarter with the objective of commis- sioning a maiden mineral resource estimate during Q3 2019. If this exercise is successful, a Scoping Study will be launched with results targeted for Q4 2019. “We envisage that the Scoping Study will look at an initial smaller-scale mining scenario based on one or more higher-grade starter pits but it will also examine the potential for future incremental expansion of the project to a pro- duction level of plus 100 000 ounces of gold a year,” says Forster. “We believe a project with this scale of production is perfectly fea- sible, given the Exploration Target determined by SRK and the fact that the full oxide and

Above: Artisanal mining of E-W veins at Tekeledougou.

Left: RC drilling at Sanankoro using multi- purpose drill rig.

“The testwork is ongoing but already it is clear that the Sanankoro ore can be treated using industry- standard heap

leach or CIL processes.”

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