Toubani Resources (ASX:TRE) is planning to begin fresh drilling work this quarter following the latest Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) update for its Kobada Gold Project in southern Mali.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $15.32 million, reports the MRE for the Kobada Project now stands at 87 million tonnes @ 0.86g/t for 2.4 million ounces of gold.
Of this, 60 million tonnes sits in the ‘indicated’ category, with the remaining 27 million tonnes in the lower-confidence ‘inferred’ category.
However, Toubani says there remains ‘significant’ opportunity for growth in the MRE via targeted drilling. As such, a drilling contractor will be engaged shortly, and detailed drill planning is in progress.
This upcoming drilling program will focus on defining additional ounces and increasing the company’s confidence of the near-surface oxide material likely to be mined in the first 5 to 10 years of the project’s life.
‘Significant’ mineralisation targets have been uncovered within and outside of the 2023 Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) pit design. Results of this planned drilling program will be fed directly into a DFS update, with the potential for both programs to add value to the project.
Toubani Resources Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Phil Russo says: “The company’s vision is to reposition Kobada as a reduced technical risk, low-strip, bulk-tonnage, oxide-dominant open-pit development project of scale.
Today’s MRE update confirms we are well on our way in delivering on this goal. We now have a strong baseline of validated indicated oxide and fresh material to underpin the DFS update, targeting a higher-throughput and lower-cost development project.
“We see significant opportunities for drilling to drive continued growth in the confidence and size of our mineral resource base“
We see significant opportunities for drilling to drive continued growth in the confidence and size of our mineral resource base. We will be targeting conversion of a significant amount of shallow inferred free dig oxide resources at Kobada Main and Foroko.
There is also significant exploration potential outside of all the known mineralisation, with approximately 40km of the 50km+ regional-scale shear zones yet to be drill tested — gold developers with this level of district style potential are a rarity in the gold universe.”
Toubani notes with the resource update completed, the DFS update will now begin. The initial focus will be to complete new pit optimisation studies associated with a range of processing throughputs as well as using current costs.
Proposals for the engineering group to lead the DFS update study have been received and evaluated, with the ‘successful’ party to be engaged in the coming weeks.
Toubani Resources is an exploration and development company with a focus on becoming Africa’s next gold producer with its advanced Kobada Gold Project. The company owns a 90% interest in the Kobada Gold Project, with the Government of Mai retaining a 10% carried interest.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan from Mining.com.au
Images: Toubani Resources
