Firefinch Limited (ASX: FFX) has announced significant intercepts from the infill and extensional drilling at the Morila Pit 5 and Koting satellite deposits within the Morila Gold Project in the Sikasso Region of Mali.
Standout intersections from Morila Pit 5 included 19 metres at 4.14g/t gold from 40 metres; 19 metres at 4.37g/t gold from 64 metres (incl. 7m at 7.53g/t gold); and 8 metres at 5.22g/t gold from 5 metres (incl. 2m at 18.2g/t gold).
Significant intercepts from infill drilling at Koting included 5 metres at 11.2g/t gold from 95 metres; 8 metres at 4.58g/t gold from 30 metres; and 7 metres at 4.33g/t gold from 29 metres.
The company said that the geological interpretation and estimation of maiden Mineral Resources for Pit 5 and Koting is nearing completion, allowing finalisation of Morila Life of Mine Plan.
Drilling at satellite deposits within Morila
The company had recently commenced infill and extensional drilling at the Morila Pit 5 and Koting satellite deposits within the Morila Gold Project.
The Pit 5 deposit is located on the western margin of the Morila Super Pit, less than 1 kilometre from the Morila plant. The Koting deposit, owned by Birimian Gold Mali SARL, a 100% subsidiary of Firefinch, is located some 20 kilometres from the Morila plant and is 2 kilometres from the existing haul road.
In the Pit 5 deposit, during March 2021, Firefinch had drilled 25 holes for 1,443 metres to both infill and extend certain mineralisation identified in previous Firefinch drilling. Nearly 7,909 metres of RC drilling in 68 holes were completed at Koting in 2021.
Important results from the first phase of drilling at Koting included 8 metres at 8.25 g/t gold from 28 metres in KOTRC020 incl. 3 metres at 17.30 g/t gold, 8 metres at 1.97 g/t gold from 101 metres in KOTRC023, and 8 metres at 2.90 g/t gold from 26 metres in KOTRC030.
The company has now reported further high-grade infill and extensional drilling results from the Morila Pit 5 and Koting satellite deposits.
High-grade drill results
FFX has reported excellent intercepts from recent RC drilling at Morila Pit 5 and infill drilling at Koting.
Morila Pit 5
The company said that at Pit 5, drilling has confirmed high-grade mineralisation in the centre of the Pit 5 deposit, which forms the core of the planned open pit mine. FFX said that the drilling also identified high-grade mineralisation at the northern extent of the pit.
Important results included 19 metres at 4.14g/t gold from 40 metres in SE77; 19 metres at 4.37g/t gold from 64 metres in SE74 (incl. 7m at 7.53g/t gold); 14 metres at 4.23g/t gold from 30 metres in SE54 (incl. 2m at 19.7g/t gold); 8 metres at 5.22g/t gold from 5 metres in SE51 (incl. 2m at 18.2g/t gold); 8 metres at 4.62g/t gold from 20 metres in SE51 (incl. 6m at 6.00g/t gold); 13 metres at 2.96g/t gold from 24 metres in SE69; 17 metres at 2.08g/t gold from 21 metres in SE60; and 10 metres at 2.21g/t from 15 metres in SE80.
The company said that these results confirm that further drilling may identify additional high-grade shoots at Pit 5 and demonstrate the potential for high-grade mineralisation to be discovered elsewhere at the Morila deposit.
Koting deposit
The company reported further high-grade results from the 2021 RC drilling program at Koting.
Standout results included 5 metres at 11.2g/t gold from 95 metres in KOTRC067; 8 metres at 4.58g/t gold from 30 metres in KOTRC065; 7 metres at 4.33g/t gold from 29 metres in KOTRC058; and 15 metres at 1.96g/t gold from 77 metres in KOTRC063.
Next steps
Firefinch said that the Pit 5 drilling will be integrated with the broader Morila mineralisation model as developed during the estimation of the Mineral Resource to ascertain the significance of these high-grade results at the deposit scale.
The company said that a separate Mineral Resource is being prepared to enable the Pit 5 deposit to be evaluated as a stand-alone project, independent of the main Morila resource.
The company said that an updated geological interpretation has been completed which will enable a maiden Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve to be estimated for Koting. This, in turn, will allow a mine plan incorporating Koting to be completed. FFX said that the permitting of the Koting deposit is also in progress.
FFX said that the finalisation of Morila Life of Mine Plan (LOMP) would be done once the geological interpretation and estimation of maiden Mineral Resources for Pit 5 and Koting is completed.
Management comments
Firefinch’s Managing Director Michael Anderson said: “The results from Pit 5 are impressive and especially exciting given their location on the edge of the Morila Super Pit, right next to our plant.
When you consider that Pit 5 is just one of multiple areas within our 685km2 of tenure that has not been previously mined, it gives you a sense for the scale of the opportunity that we have ahead at Morila.
We are working hard to complete the Mineral Resources for these prospects for input into the forthcoming Life of Mine Plan.”