Golden Rim Resources Ltd (ASX: GMR) announced that it has received commitments for a Placement to raise $2.7m to fund the next phase of exploration at the Kouri Gold Project in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
The company said that the placement positions Golden Rim with a strong cash balance as it strives to build on the existing 1.4Moz gold Mineral Resource at Kouri.
GMR said that a 2,500m RC drilling program has commenced with the first holes targeting extensions to the high-grade Diabatou Gold Shoot at Kouri which remains open along strike and at depth.
Golden Rim said that the discovery of the Diabatou Gold Shoot is significant as elsewhere in Burkina Faso, steeply plunging, high-grade gold shoots discovered in granite contact areas can extend vertically for more than 1km and host more than 1Moz of gold.
GMR announced that a new rock chip sample result of 42.9g/t gold was obtained from ore being extracted from an artisanal mine shaft that is located 40m along strike from Golden Rim’s last drilling on the Diabatou Gold Shoot.
Kouri project
The Kouri Project is located 230km NE of Ouagadougou, on the Samira Greenstone Belt in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The project covers an area of 325km2.
Golden Rim had acquired two exploration permits, Goueli permit and Margou permit which lie directly adjacent to the eastern boundary of the Kouri permit.
Kouri has an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 32 million tonnes at 1.4g/t gold (at a cut-off grade of 0.3g/t gold) for 1.4 million ounces of contained gold.
The company had recently uncovered new gold discoveries at Red Hill, Maré, and Diabatou. The Kogodou Prospect extends for 3.8km to the east of the current 1.4Moz Mineral Resource.
$2.7m addition to cash reserves
The company announced that it has received commitments from qualified, institutional, sophisticated and professional investors to raise $2.7m (before costs) through the issue of 442,622,951 fully paid ordinary shares in the Company at an issue price of $0.0061 per share with one attaching option for every two shares subscribed for.
The company said that the attaching option has an exercise price of $0.01 and an expiry date that is 2 years from the date of issue.
GMR said that the funds raised from the Placement will be used for drilling at the Kouri Gold Project in Burkina Faso, new business development opportunities, and working capital.
LHC Mine Finance Ltd acted as Lead Manager to the Placement.
Placement in two Tranches
The company reported that the Placement will take place in 2 Tranches.
Tranche 1
GMR said that the securities to be issued under the first tranche will be issued under the Company’s Listing Rule 7.1 (41,666,667 Shares and 83,333,333 Attaching Options) and Listing Rule 7.1A (125,000,000 Shares) placement capacity and are therefore not subject to shareholder approval.
The securities under Tranche 1 are expected to be issued around 26 June 2020.
Tranche 2
The company said that the securities to be issued under the second tranche (Tranche 2) (275,956,284 Shares and 137,978,142 Attaching Options) are subject to the approval of shareholders at the Company’s next general meeting.
Tranche 2 also includes participation by directors of the Company, who subscribed for a total of 27,600,000 Shares and 13,800,000 Attaching Options, which is subject to the approval of shareholders at the Company’s next general meeting.
Drilling at Kouri
The company announced that a 2,500m Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program has commenced at Kouri. GMR said that the first 10 holes target extensions to the high-grade Diabatou Gold Shoot.
The company said that the new drill holes will vary between 120m and 200m in length and will be drilled along strike to the east, to the west, and at depth beneath the existing drill holes that have all intersected high-grade gold mineralisation.
Diabatou Gold Shoot
GMR said that the discovery of the Diabatou Gold Shoot is significant as elsewhere in Burkina Faso, steeply plunging, high-grade gold shoots discovered in granite contact areas can extend vertically for more than 1km and host more than 1Moz of gold.
Assays received from Diabatou Gold Shoot
The company announced that assay results have been received from two new rock chip samples collected from the Diabatou Gold Shoot.
GMR said that during the Company’s suspension of exploration activities at Kouri due to the COVID-19 pandemic, artisanal miners sank a new shaft located 40m along strike from the most eastern previous drill hole (MRC026) which returned 6m at 9.5g/t gold from 63m. The shaft is approximately 20m deep.
First rock chip sample
The company announced that a rock chip sample of the ore being extracted from the bottom of the shaft returned 42.9g/t gold.
GMR said that the ore comprises highly sheared iron-rich granite and mafic volcanics has very low quartz vein content.
The company said that the first drill hole in the new RC drilling program is being completed beneath the shaft. With the re-commencement of exploration activities, artisanal mining on the Diabatou Gold Shoot has now ceased.
Second rock chip sample
GMR said that a second rock chip sample was collected from a mullock dump from an abandoned artisanal working located 60m east of the shaft. The sample comprised altered granite and mafic volcanics with no quartz veins.
The company said that the sample returned an assay of 2.3g/t gold.
Next steps
The company said that promising results will be followed up (where practicable) with trenching, RC drilling, or DD drilling.
GMR said that exploration and infill drilling will continue to target projected lateral and depth extensions of the mineralisation and to increase the confidence in the Mineral Resource.
Management comments
Golden Rim’s Managing director, Craig Mackay, said: “We are pleased with the strong support for our fully subscribed fund raising. We are pleased to welcome a number of new shareholders and we thank our existing shareholders for their continued support.
With the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions we are excited to be drilling again at Kouri.
We eagerly await the outcome of our next drilling, which has already commenced, and is targeting extensions to the newly discovered high-grade Diabatou Gold Shoot.”