Panthera Resources Plc (LON:PAT), the diversified gold exploration and development company with assets in West Africa and India, has announced that the Bassala licence has been extended for a further three years.
Having met all of the requisite statutory obligations, the Company’s joint venture partner applied for a three-year extension to the entirety of its Bassala exploration licence. Following the approval by the Direction Nationale de la Géologie et des Mines and the Ministère des Mines de l’Énergie et de l’Eau, the Bassala exploration licence extension has been confirmed.
Highlights
· Three-year extension secured on Bassala exploration licence in Mali
· Bassala contains a significant new gold discovery in 2021
· Planning is underway for deeper RC drilling to identify coherent mineralisation for resource definition targets
Background
The Bassala project is located within a highly gold endowed Birimian volcano-sedimentary belt in southwestern Mali, approximately 200km south of the capital city Bamako.
The belt hosts the Kalana (Endeavour Mining, 4Moz) and Kodieran (Faboula Gold, 2Moz) gold mines, both within a few kilometres of the Bassala project. The adjacent belt to the west is also well endowed with gold and hosts the Siguiri (AngloGold Ashanti, 17Moz), Tri-K (Avocet Mining, 3Moz), Kobada (African Gold Group, 3Moz), and Yanfolila (Hummingbird Resources, 2Moz) gold mines.
In the second half of 2020, the Company recommenced exploration activity at Bassala with the results of gold in soil and ground magnetic surveys announced on 26 March 2021; and IP survey announced on 10 June 2021. These surveys were successful in confirming that two major gold anomalous trends are present, a 9 kilometre long north-northeast trending zone and a second, cross-cutting, 3 kilometre northwest-trending zone.
Following the successful gold in soil, ground magnetic and IP surveys in early 2021. The Company tested 22 targets across two drilling campaigns in 2021, with the results announced on 24 August 2021, 10 September 2021, 30 September 2021 and 17 February 2022.
This drilling delivered excellent initial results from a broad spaced pattern (200m x 50m) that generally only penetrated to the base of weathering. Better intercepts from the 5m composite sampling include:
· 20m @ 2.12g/t Au from 10m incl. 10m @ 3.79g/t Au from 20m
· 10m @ 3.45g/t Au from 60m incl. 6m @ 6.59g/t Au from 60m
· 5m @ 5.10g/t Au from 15m
· 5m @ 2.75g/t Au from 55m
· 45m @ 0.57g/t Au from 25m incl. 5m @ 2.53g/t Au from 40m
· 30m @ 0.88g/t Au from 20m incl. 5m @ 3.18g/t Au from 20m
· 20m @ 0.75g/t Au from 15m incl. 5m @ 1.92g/t Au from 15m
· 10m @ 0.96g/t Au from 35m incl. 5m @ 1.44g/t Au from 35m
· 25m @ 0.51g/t Au from 15m incl. 5m @ 2.07g/t Au from 20m
· 5m @ 1.98g/t Au from 40m
· 6m @ 1.59g/t Au from 70m (end of hole)
· 5m @ 1.41g/t Au from 35m (end of hole)
· 25m @ 0.87g/t Au from surface incl. 5m @ 2.96g/t Au from 10m
· 2m @ >8.00g/t Au from 55m at end of hole (re-assays at 3.01, 8.40 and 1.06g/t Au)
· 5m @ 1.10g/t Au from 5m
· 16m @ 0.90g/t Au from 40m at end of hole incl. 5m @ 2.58g/t Au from 40m
· 55m @ 0.29g/t Au from 5m at end of hole incl. 5m @ 1.05g/t Au from 30m
· 5m @ 2.45g/t Au from 5m
Several coherent zones of mineralisation are beginning to emerge, generally trending NNE in the north, N-S in the centre and NW in the south. These zones are between about 600m and 3000m in strike and hence have significant size potential.
A comprehensive geological interpretation of the dill logs and assays is underway. This will feed into a closer spaced RC and/or diamond drilling programme that is currently being designed for the higher priority targets.
Commenting on the announcement, Mark Bolton, Managing Director of Panthera Resources said:
“Underpinning the significant and widespread new gold discoveries made at Bassala from the two successful drill campaigns in late 2021, the licence extension our confidence ahead of our planned investments to identify potential resources at Bassala.
We thank our partners, employees and the Government of Mali for their efforts and ongoing support of the Company’s investments in the local gold mining sector.”
