Photo by: reuters
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Multicommodity explorer Sula Iron & Gold has completed a direct shipping ore (DSO) and magnetite drilling programme, at its Ferensola project, in Sierra Leone.
The current exploration programme followed a nine-hole, 2 000 m drilling programme, completed in September 2013, which demonstrated consistently high-grade iron, with highs of 14.59 m at 55.54% iron and 29.7 m at 52.25% iron.
The drilling programme targeted subcropping iron-oxide mineralisation within an identified 3.1 km banded iron formation unit proven to extend from African Minerals’ nearby 12.8-billion-ton Tonkolili iron-ore mine.
As a result of better-than-expected progress on the DSO drilling, an additional three deep holes, targeting the magnetite iron mineralisation, were also completed.
Out of 12 batches of samples, five had already been received and reported, with the final seven batches expected by the end of September.
“The team in Sierra Leone have done a tremendous job in completing the programme on time and under budget and we are very grateful for their tireless hard work.
“As previously announced, we anticipate receiving all analytical results by September and completing a maiden mineral resource estimate on both the DSO and magnetite iron by the end of the year,” Sula CEO Nick Warrell said in a statement.