London-listed Hamak Gold has completed exploration work across two priority areas in the highly prospective Gozohn licence area in central Liberia.

Hamak executive director Karl Smithson said on March 14 that the company had moved “exceptionally quickly" since the company's recent initial public offering to undertake exploration activities in the two priority areas.

“Two detailed grid blocks have been soil sampled which are centred over intensive artisanal gold diggings of saprolite overlaying high-interest greenstone belt geology. Our exploration strategy is to fast-track detailed geochemical soil sampling to identify and delineate gold anomalies related to underlying hard-rock gold sources that can then be trenched and drilled,” he said.

Smithson added that samples were being assayed in the laboratory and the company expected to announce the first results over the coming weeks.

The Gozohn licence covers an area of 766 km² and is located 30 km to the south of the high-grade Kokoya gold mine operated by gold miner MNG Gold.

The licence is host to a number of structurally controlled greenstone belts similar to those at Kokoya, with strongly deformed amphibolite, quartzite, schist and banded ironstone formations which generally occur as topographic highs, the company explained.

Several of these greenstone ridges are mineralised with gold as evidenced by extremely active artisanal gold diggings, particularly on the western slope of Mount Koklun. Geological mapping and sampling, therefore, initially focused on this area and 46.5 km of baseline and sampling traverse lines have been cut with 853 soil samples collected across the whole area at a sampling interval of 50 m with traverse lines spaced 250 m and 500 m apart.

These samples were consigned to the Liberia Geochemical Services laboratory in Monrovia, where they were weighed, dried and screened to minus 180 micron, prior to shipping to the ALS laboratory in Loughrea, Ireland, where the soil samples are currently being assayed for super trace gold and multi-element analysis.

A second priority soil sampling block was also completed to the south of Mount Koklun over deformed greenstone units comprising quartz-mica-amphibolite-banded iron formation that is also being exploited by artisanal gold miners. A total of 40 km of baseline and sampling traverse lines have been cut, with 701 soil samples collected across the area at a sampling interval of 50 m with a 500 m interval line spacing.

These samples have been prepared at the Liberia Geochemical Services laboratory as well and will thereafter be consigned to ALS for multi-element and gold assay. First results from the Gozohn sampling exercise are expected over the coming weeks, the company stated.

Meanwhile, the company said field teams, headed by three West African geologists, have been mobilised to the high-priority Nimba licence to begin exploration work over key areas previously identified as being subject to significant artisanal gold mining activity.

The Nimba licence covers an area of 986 km² located about 101 km to the northeast of the Gozohn licence, along the same deformed greenstone belt structure. The eastern boundary of the Nimba licence is located about 25 km southwest from the 3.8-million-ounce Ity gold mine in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire.

“Our geological teams have commenced exploration in the Nimba licence and we look forward to updating shareholders on progress and results in the near future,” Smithson concluded.