Natural resource development company Red Rock Resources and its partner, Hong Kong-headquartered company Riverstone Resources, will set out to implement a test programme at the Bilbale gold project, in Burkina Faso, to process alluvial material from different parts of the licence, on a scale sufficient to establish gold grades, including high-grade zones.
A team of Red Rock employees, including geologists and engineers, will travel to the Bilbale site in March to undertake initial work, including locating and setting up areas for initial trials, some trenching and benching and the drilling of two boreholes, besides other activities.
In parallel, Riverstone will deliver the machinery and equipment needed for exploration.
Red Rock states that Riverstone has much of the required equipment and machinery in stock, adding that these will be imported by air and sea over a period of six to eight weeks.
"This equipment should arrive at a prepared site ready to start alluvial exploration operations with the minimum of delay," Red Rock says.
Red Rock will initially operate on a trial basis, but expects to undertake permitting for bulk production and processing at a later stage.
"Our expectation is that, when we leave site, there will remain behind a core team that will work together in order to move the project through the steps towards production," comments Red Rock chairperson Andrew Bell.
"We and Riverstone believe [Bilbale] has potential to scale rapidly, and will be looking to prove that in the current phase of exploration. The experience of [Riverstone's] personnel in working with alluvial deposits will, we expect, complement our capabilities.
"We are now working with a group that is deeply committed to our success, whose advice and help on other matters we have found invaluable," he adds.