Aim-listed gold producer Goldplat reports a 61% increase in Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource at its Nyieme gold project in the prospective Birimian greenstone belt, in southern Burkina Faso.

We expect this figure to increase signif- icantly as we implement our planned development programmes that will test the 11 identified prospective zones, as well as the zones with extensive artisanal workings,” says Goldplat CEO Demitri Manolis.

The updated Jorc-compliant gold resource has increased, compared with the maiden resource declared on December 2010 to 1 395 000 t at 2.06 g/t gold for 92 589 oz at a cutoff grade of 1.0 g/t for all categories. At a 0 g/t cutoff, the Jorc-compliant resource is 5 613 000 t, grading at 0.88 g/t gold for 156 756 oz.

A 30-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme started on May 17, 2011, and was completed on June 7, 2011.

Nyieme is located in a prime geological area within a favourable structural corridor,” says Manolis.

The high-grade Nyieme Village target is proving to be promising with the test drilling confirming extensions at depth and to the north. The four new mineralised zones identified at the A1 zone, 1.5 km due south of Nyieme Village and along the current 8 km known strike, underpin Goldplat’s geological model and the potential for Nyieme to host a significant economic gold deposit, says the miner.

Goldplat completed a 30-hole, 3 100 m RC drilling programme at Nyieme, which produced positive results.

he programme successfully tested the northerly section and the depth extension of the previously drilled high-grade Nyieme Village zone.

A 1.9 km anomaly with extensive artisanal workings containing several thick quartz veins was identified in the area of the maiden resource, and RC holes NYRC32 and NYRC57 drilled to the north of the Nyieme Village zone both intersected gold values of 1 m, grading at 3.11 g/t and 1.85 g/t.

NYRC32 returned anomalous gold values over the first 44 m of the hole and NYRC57 showed multiple gold anomalous zones, including one 10-m-thick zone. Holes NYRC55 and NYRC56 were drilled in the middle of the Nyieme Village zone and were positioned to target the quartz-vein orebody at depth. Both holes also exhibited multiple anomalous zones up to 15 m thick.

In the A1 zone, 1.5 km south-west of the high-grade Nyieme Village, which is a 500 m × 500 m gold-in-soil anomalous area, 18 RC holes arranged in four north-west/south-east trending fences were completed.