Arrow Minerals Limited (ASX: AMD) has announced an encouraging update from the maiden drilling programme at the Divole West exploration permit in western Burkina Faso in West Africa.
The company reported that the assay results from the first drilling campaign at the Divole West exploration permit have confirmed the new Dassa near-surface gold discovery in western Burkina Faso
Some of the significant gold intersections continuous between holes and sections include 3m @ 15.1g/t Au from 53m, inc. 1m @ 44.7g/t Au; 17m @ 3.3g/t Au from 2m, inc. 13m @ 3.8g/t Au; 13m @ 2.4g/t Au from 31m, inc. 5m @ 3.2g/t Au; and 33m @ 1.9g/t Au from 21m, inc. 9m @ 4.3g/t Au.
Divole West
Arrow holds a 100% interest in 12 exploration licences and two exploration licence applications, totalling 2,013km2, across six gold projects in Burkina Faso. The most advanced project is Divole.
The Divole West Project comprises a single exploration permit. Arrow Minerals is 100% holder of this permit. Divole West was granted on 2017/05/18 arrete 17/047/MMC/SG/DGCM and transferred on 2017/12/29 arrete 17/250/MMC/SG/DGCM.
Drilling at Divole West
AMD reported that the initial drill programme at Divole West has been completed. 43 reverse circulation (RC) holes, totalling 4,214m (average depth 98m) were drilled, with results from the first 11 holes announced in December 2019.
The drilling targeted an unexplored part of the Birimian Shield of Burkina Faso.
Dassa gold discovery
The company announced that the drilling has confirmed the Dassa gold discovery, comprising two potentially connected mineralised zones.
AMD said that the mineralised zones are hosted predominantly by siliciclastic sediments, with localised quartz veining.
The company said that the mineralisation is at very shallow depth, mainly within the oxidised zone, and is underlain by granitic intrusive rocks that are also altered and contain sporadic elevated gold concentrations.
The company reported that the discovery remains open laterally and at depth.
Gold grades up to 45g/t Au
Arrow announced that over 60% of the drill holes intersected mineralisation of at least 1g/t Au.
Some of the most significant intersections include 33m @ 1.9g/t from 21m including 9m @ 4.3g/t (DW-RC-19-001); 17m @ 3.3g/t from 2m including 13m @ 3.8g/t (DW-RC-19-002); 8m @ 2.0g/t from 10m 3m @ 4.9g/t (DW-RC-19-003); 23m @ 1.0g/t from 22m including 3m @ 3.2g/t (DW-RC-19-006); 4m @ 3.2g/t from 2m including 1m @ 7.5g/t (DW-RC-19-007).
Other hits include 8m @ 1.7g/t from 68m including 2m @ 4.3g/t (DW-RC-19-025); 5m @ 2.9g/t from 79m including 3m @ 4.1g/t (DW-RC-19-030); 3m @ 15.1g/t from 53m including 1m @ 44.7g/t (DW-RC-19-032); 13m @ 2.4g/t from 31m including 5m @ 3.2g/t (DW-RC-19-034); and 8m @ 2.4g/t from 47m including 5m @ 3.1g/t (DW-RC-19-035).
Northern section of Dassa
The company reported that the northern section of the Dassa discovery shows continuous gold mineralisation (+1g/t Au) over a strike length of over 500m.
AMD said that the higher-grade gold occurs at the northern end coincident with thickening of the shallow-dipping sediment sequence. Surrounding granitoid rocks are mineralised as well, but typically with lower gold grades.
Next steps
The company said that the next phase of drilling in the northern sector is planned to test the extent of the open-ended mineralised zone, primarily in the sediments.
Southern section of Dassa
The company reported that the southern Dassa zone is similar to the north in that the primary higher-grade gold is mainly confined to sedimentary rocks, with some mineralisation also hosted in the underlying intrusion. AMD said that the gold mineralisation (+1g/t Au) is continuous over a strike length of over 300m.
Next steps
The company said that the next round of drilling in Q1 2020 will test for the extension of gold mineralisation to the east, north, and south in sediments and determine whether the northern and southern zones are connected along a strike length of over 3 km.
Future plans
The company reported that the positive results confirm a new gold discovery at Dassa on the Divole West permit and set the stage for more exploration at Dassa to rapidly define the extent of mineralisation.
Arrow said that it will also advance other targets that have been defined using the same methodology. AMD reported that a further RC drilling programme is planned for Q1 2020 at Dassa to define extensions of the gold mineralisation laterally and at depth.
The company said that the Divole West permit extends well away from the known mineralisation but has not been completely covered by auger drilling.
AMD said that in the first half of 2020, further auger sampling is planned to explore for additional gold prospects within the permit.
The company said that an application has also been lodged to extend the Divole West permit to the east to increase access to the favourable Dassa geology.
Management comments
Arrow’s Chief Executive Officer, Howard Golden, said: “The Dassa gold discovery clearly validates Arrow’s exploration strategy. The first drilling on the Divole West permit yielded significant gold mineralisation with clear expansion potential through further drilling to be completed this quarter.
Two continuous zones of shallow gold mineralisation with grades to 45g/t Au were confirmed, with both zones open in multiple directions and at depth.
The Arrow teams in Australia and Burkina Faso have systematically planned and executed a successful early exploration programme. We will very shortly be following up these very positive results with further drilling as well as aggressively pursuing our other exploration projects.”