Sarama resumes exploration activities at South Houndé

13th June 2019 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

West Africa-focused gold explorer and developer Sarama Resources has restarted exploration activities at its South Houndé project in Burkina Faso, with a focus on oxide targets.

This restart follows the recent agreement to terminate the company’s earn-in agreement with Acacia Mining.

This programme marks the restart of active exploration and development activities on the project following a hiatus of about one-and-a-half years.

Moreover, it marks the resumption of works managed and controlled by Sarama on the project, in which the company is set to regain a 100% interest.

The exploration programme has been designed to increase the project’s oxide and free-milling mineral resource base that currently totals about 600 000 oz of gold out of a total 2.1-million-ounce mineral resource.

The programme consists of about 7 000 m of air-core drilling targeting oxide mineralisation in the southern part of the project area along strike from the current mineral resource.

Sarama’s objective is to grow the mineral resource base at its South Houndé and ThreeBee projects to support the advancement of low capital intensity, high return projects, exploiting the oxide and free-milling components of the mineral resources.

Drilling will primarily focus on the southern portion of the main mineralised corridor at the ObI, Kenobi and Djimbake prospects, where historical reconnaissance drilling returned promising intersections in oxide material, which are yet to be followed up on.

Moreover, reconnaissance drilling will be undertaken at the new Ben prospect, located about 500 m to the west of South Houndé’s main MM deposit.

This prospect is a new early-stage target that has been generated by geophysical and geochemical surveys and is yet to be drill tested.

It has the potential to open a new horizon of mineralisation to the west of the main mineralised corridor and presents an exploration opportunity which may deliver further additions to the oxide and free-milling inventory of the project.

“We look forward to resuming our work programmes and moving the South Houndé project forward after such a long hiatus,” says Sarama president and CEO Andrew Dinning.

He says the company remains optimistic that the further part of the mineralised corridor has the potential to add materially to the existing 600 000 oz gold oxide and transitional component of the project’s mineral resource and enhance the company’s plans for development.