West Africa-focused gold company African Gold Group has announced positive results from the preliminary trenching programme at its Kobada Est exploration target in southern Mali.

The Kobada Est trenching programme was completed in June and consisted of three trenches with a combined length of 260 m.

Kobada Est is part of a group of permits located on the western flank of the Bougouni basin covering an area of 63 679 acres.

The shear zones discovered in the Kobada Est concession form part of the combined 55 km shear strikes identified across the three concessions from previous geophysics and soil geochemistry.

The trenching programme continues to expand the footprint of the mineralised shear zones discovered on the property over the years.

Two of the three trenches intersected mineralisation, extending laterally for hundreds of meters.

Artisanal mining in the vicinity also shows structures and mineralisation within or close proximity to the target area.

One trench has returned a 22-m-wide mineralised zone at 1.1 g/t or 16 m at 1.4 g/t.

Preliminary trenching and artisanal pits confirm a similar mineralisation and structural environment as the Kobada Main shear.

“We are pleased to see such impressive results as part of our regional exploration programme within our Kobada Est exploration concession area. This is the first time we have followed up prior programmes with trenching to determine possible gold mineralisation and the results are very pleasing.

“From this trenching, it’s clear that a drilling programme should be designed to determine the continuity of the mineralisation identified in the trenching,” CEO Danny Callow says.

“These results further reinforce our thesis that the exploration upside within our permits is significant, and we look forward to taking Kobada Est to the next stage of exploration,” Callow adds.