JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Minerals exploration and development company Sula Iron & Gold on Monday said five target areas for hard-rock gold mineralisation had been confirmed for follow-up exploration at its wholly owned 153 km2 Blue Horizon iron-ore and gold exploration licence, in Sierra Leone.

A reconnaissance review of the gold potential of the exploration licence area was carried out by exploration geology consultancy Exploration Alliance and revealed the five target areas, based on the location of historic drill intercepts, potential source areas for alluvial gold deposits and the position of major structures, as defined by airborne magnetic data and drainage orientation.

Of these, the Dalakuru and Lagunda prospects were high-priority targets.

Areas prospective for gold in the licence were located in the highly prospective Sula–Kangari greenstone belt rocks, which trend north-east through the licence. The Sula–Kangari belt also hosts Amara Mining’s 2.91-million-ounce Baomahun deposit.

Sula considered the association of placer gold workings and chief lineaments within greenstone belt rocks at the licence to be highly significant. Drilling in the licence area further discovered hard-rock mineralisation, which was open in all directions at the Dalakuru prospect, and also identified additional gold targets that remained to be explored.

Dalakuru, located on a major northeast-southwest trending structure, is the most advanced prospect in the licence area and historic diamond drilling intercepted 2 m at 8.76 g/t gold, 8.72 m at 10.46 g/t gold, 1.55 m at 11.68 g/t gold and 9.03 m at 6.63 g/t gold.

Sula was planning a detailed ground magnetic survey to better constrain the location of the fault zone, which would then be followed by a soil and channel sampling programme to assist with drill targeting along strike. Step-out and step-back drilling of mineralisation intercepted in historic drill holes was priority.

Sula considered Lagunda, which outlined a northeast-southwest trending target that was about 6 km long and 2 km wide, a high priority target. A detailed ground magnetic survey was planned, in conjunction with reconnaissance soil sampling, to better define the structural architecture and location of the most prospective targets.

The other prospect areas, known as Simbako, Simbako East and Northeast, were located on regional, north-east trending lineaments that defined the contact between magnetic highs and magnetic lows. Localised alluvial workings at each prospect indicated the potential for hard-rock gold mineralisation.

"We are delighted that reconnaissance work has identified five highly prospective exploration targets that appear to host the source areas of placer gold within the licence area. The potential presence of these gold sources confirms our belief that the licence is highly prospective for gold. This marks another step in our efforts to establish a leading dual-commodity iron-ore and gold exploration company,” Sula nonexecutive technical director Chris Wilson said in a statement.