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Explorer optimistic about Guinea

11th July 2014

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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Drilling is under way at Australian gold and base metals explorer Drake Resources’ Seimana gold project, in the Siguiri province of northern Guinea.

CEO Jason Stirbinskis says the company expects results that reflect the high-quality gold surface samples collected thus far across a number of targets in Drake Resources’ licence area.

He tells Mining Weekly that the company did not expect to be launching into drilling at Seimana so quickly, but “impressive” surface results and market expectations prompted the company to fast-track work on the project.

Drake Resources also holds the Tasiast South gold project, near Canadian gold miner Kinross Gold’s “multimillion-ounce” Tasiast project, in north-western Mauritania.

“Five months after acquiring the new Seimana tenements, which appear not to have been explored previously, we have conducted two field programmes and have started drilling,” enthuses Stirbinskis.

He adds that the results of Drake’s initial field programme continue to reveal an emerging and significant gold discovery. Key observations from this first programme of mapping and sampling highlight the abundance of ancient and modern artisanal gold mine workings.

“Thousands of individual pits have been mapped and occur in 55 clusters. “Of these, 42 artisanal mine clusters have clearly mined quartz veins, while the remainder comprise gold in alluvial soils,” he adds.

Stirbinskis points out that 17 of the 55 clusters have been classified as Priority A sites, which, just from surface observations, cover a strike length of at least 100 m and a width of 10 m. Nineteen clusters and many shafts are rated Priority B sites.

One site was also selected for preliminary soil sampling to test the effectiveness of this exploration method in defining mineralisation.

“At Fouwa, which is the largest site, almost 20% of the area returned +0.1 g/t gold, which is unusually high for soil values. “This extensive area of high-grade gold in soil values indicate potential for additional large areas of near-surface low-grade gold, which may be amenable to heap leaching, as was recently announced by London-listed gold mining and exploration company Avocet Mining with regard to its three-million-ounce Tri-K deposit – 7 km south of Seimana,” he says.

He adds that there is no evidence of prior exploration or drilling within the permit area and that, “given the lack of outcrop, it is possible that other occurrences remain undetected”.

Stirbinskis further highlights that the region hosts an “exceptional multimillion-ounce gold belt, including the Siguiri and Tri-K deposits”.

Project Progress
Stirbinskis says that, in January, Drake doubled its footprint in Guinea.

He explains that this year’s field-mapping activities, completed in March and May , aimed to accurately define historic and current artisanal gold workings, as well as sample quartz veining in and around the artisanal workings.

Stirbinskis adds that the vein sampling returned many high-grade values of more than 5 g/t gold and up to 70 g/t across many mineralised clusters.

“It is unusual that a short three-month programme of mapping and sampling can identify so many gold occurrences, many of which had very high gold grades in quartz veining,” states Stirbinskis.

He says several of the significant priority targets are more than 500 m long, as defined by current and historic workings. These are spread across the 18 km width of the new tenements.

He adds that Drake’s original Seimana tenements also have gold anomalous zones defined by termite and soil sampling that spans more than 20 km over the length of the gold mineralised belt within Drake’s licences.

Stirbinskis believes that Seimana could be a significant “world-class” gold discovery.
Meanwhile, sourcing funding for the development of Seimana in the current depressed markets has been a major inhibiting factor for Drake Resources.

“However, we are beginning to see some momentum, given our success and commitment to ongoing fieldwork, especially when many junior explorers are almost dormant and conserving cash for a more favourable financial climate,” Stirbinskis says.

“Our recent capital raising was oversubscribed and I think that speaks volumes about our strategy and our prospects,” he enthuses.

Guinea Industry Insight
Encouraged by Guinea’s recent stability, Stirbinskis tells Mining Weekly that proactive mining policies have translated into substantial advancement in several large-scale projects.
Drake highlights the commitment of mining giant Rio Tinto, Chinese mining major Chinalco and international financial institution the International Finance Corporation to progressing the development of the $20-billion Simandou South high-grade hematite project, in Guinea.
“This project will be the largest combined iron-ore and infrastructure project ever developed in Africa,” Stirbinskis points out.

The commitment follows an announcement in November last year that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reached an agreement with the Guinea government which stipulates that the UAE will invest $5-billion in bauxite mining and in an alumina refinery.

Stirbinskis notes that Guinea is one of the world’s largest bauxite producers.

“I believe Guinea’s re-emergence as a favourable mining jurisdiction reached a significant advancement following its first free and fair democratic Presidential and legislative elections in 2010 and again in 2013.

“Subsequent political stability and efforts to promote a reasonable and transparent mining sector are improving confidence and are starting to reap rewards for Guinea. With the country’s incredible mineral endowment and a stable government, Guinea should be well placed for the next wave of resources investment,” Stirbinskis concludes.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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