Australian gold exploration and devel-opment company Cardinal Resources intends to expedite further diamond drilling at its Namdini project, in the Bolgatanga region, in Ghana.

With midstage exploration under way at Namdini, the Ghana-focused company earlier this year said it expected good near-term catalysts for share price appreciation, including drill assays from diamond and reverse circulation drilling and potential new ground acquisitions.

The company announced in March that it had issued 42 666 642 fully paid ordinary shares at 12c a share and, subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting this month, would further issue up to 6 416 670 shares, with 1 750 002 shares allocated to the directors of Cardinal.

Cardinal announced the completion of two diamond drill holes at Namdini in February, and additional diamond drilling is planned for midyear about 100 m east of these holes. The data obtained as a result of this drilling will form the base model to establish a degree of geological and grade continuity for an exploration target.

Cardinal first entered into an agreement to access the Namdini mining concessions in northern Ghana in late July 2014. Initially, wide zones more than 100 m from the surface reported good grades and, given the style of mineralisation, the geological setting and substantial mineralised intervals and grades, the discovery displayed all the hallmarks of a gold deposit with potential to produce more than one-million ounces.

Cardinal realised a substantial share price appreciation of more than 230% over the course of 2015 after announcing the discovery of the new, shallow gold mineralised system at its Namdini project in December.

Shareholders have continued to receive good news, with the company noting in February that the completion of two diamond drill holes at Cardinal’s Namdini project confirmed that gold mineralisation is consistently being intersected along strike and at depth.

“The gold potential of the Namdini project has been further enhanced by the intersection of visible gold. “The intersection of 45 m is within a much larger mineralised zone of 358 m and the 35.35 m intersection is also within a much larger mineralised zone of 306 m,” notes Cardinal MD Archie Koimtsidis.

Meanwhile, airborne geophysical surveys over Cardinal’s Ndongo tenement, the Bongo prospect and the Kungongo prospect, in the Bolgatanga project area, in north-east Ghana, have identified target areas containing possible mineralised structures. These areas are being assessed for their potential to contain metal and gold-bearing sulphides.