Aim- and TSX-V-listed African mining royalty generator Altus Strategies has recorded high-grade drilling results from the FT prospect at its 100 km² Tabakorole gold project, in southern Mali, about 280 km south of the capital Bamako.

The eight-hole, 1 544 m diamond drilling programme was commissioned by ASX-listed Graphex Mining under a joint venture with Altus, through which it is earning an initial 33% interest in the project.

It was undertaken by Capital Drilling and were drilled between -52^o and -60^o inclination, perpendicular to the strike of the FT prospect and ranged between 62.5 m to 293 m in length.

The drilling  programme discovered gold intersections of 4.7 g/t over 14 m and 1.2 g/t over 31 m. The results also indicate a potential 600-m-long north-west extension confirmed with 1.2 g/t of gold over 12 m, with the project remaining open along strike and down dip to the south-east and representing a high priority target for follow-up drill testing.

As such, an updated mineral resource estimate on Tabakorole is now being prepared.

The Tabakorole gold project sits on the Massagui Belt, which hosts Barrick Gold’s Morila gold mine, which is located about 100 km to the north.

One of the key aims of the drilling programme was to target the interpreted high-grade plunge extension at the south-east end of the FT prospect. Three holes were positioned to follow-up on historical intersections of 2.5 g/t gold over 24 m and 2.6 g/t gold over 24 m.

Graphex intends to incorporate these results, along with assays from 11 736 m of reverse circulation drilling and 1 936 m of diamond drilling, which have been completed on the project since 2007, into an updated mineral resource estimate.

Altus CE Steven Poulton says the intersection of 4.7 g/t gold over 14 m, within a wider envelope of 38 m, averaging 2.1 g/t gold, is excellent. “The results have also extended a high-grade plunge that was not previously modelled in the 2007 historical mineral resource estimate.”

The Tabakorole project was discovered by a regional soil sampling programme completed on a 500 m by 100 m grid by BHP in the early 1990s.

Since 2003, a total of 28 912 m of diamond drilling, 31 943 m of reverse circulation drilling, 6 577 m of auger drilling and 62 718 m of air core drilling has been completed, in addition to 1 400 line kilometres of airborne geophysics.