AMN - BURKINA FASO: Kollo project study looks at open pit mining

Vital Metals advises that a scoping study has started to assess the viability of an open-pit mining and processing operation to exploit gold mineralisation at its 100%-owned Kollo gold project in Burkina Faso.

The Kollo gold deposit is ideally suited to development as a low CAPEX open pit project with potential for low operating costs and strong margins with exploration drill intercepts that include:

-          44 metres @ 6.39 grams/tonne gold from 8 metres (including 4 metres @ 58.03 grams/tonne gold)

-          5 metres @ 60.36 grams/tonne gold from 75 metres

-          Vital intends to accelerate advancing the project.

The scoping study will initially comprise a program of infill and step out exploration drilling and resource modelling, followed by an evaluation of mining and processing methods, infrastructure, waste handling and environmental requirements. Previous exploration drilling at Kollo has been very encouraging, with broad intercepts of shallow high-grade gold mineralisation that appears suitable for mining by open pit methods. Preliminary metallurgical test work has demonstrated that the gold is free and fully liberated, with better than 95% recoveries achieved from conventional cyanide leaching.

The study will build on these foundations and, subject to completion of the infill-drilling program; the company is aiming for completion of the study by the end of August.

It intends to complete the study with a sufficient level of detail to allow it to proceed directly to a Definitive Feasibility Study on the back of the expected strong results. As a near surface gold deposit, Vital believes that Kollo has the right characteristics to be developed as an open pit mining operation with low capital expenditure, low operating costs and high projected margins.

Kollo is located on a fertile gold belt, in an area that is attracting increasing attention due to recent exploration success and corporate consolidation activity. It lies some 50 km east of the producing Youga mine that was purchased in February 2016 for $25 million by MNG Gold. MNG Gold also recently completed the purchase of the high-grade Balogo project, located to the east of Kollo.

To the north, on the Markoye fault corridor, West African Resources’Tanlouka gold project has been returning outstanding grades, including 32 metres at 5.02 grams/tonne gold from 2 metres and 8 metres at 31.78 grams/tonne gold from 58 metres. Immediately to the south of Kollo is Cardinal Resources’ Bolgatanga project and Namdini project in Ghana. Bolgatanga has returned broad mineralised intercepts similar to those seen at Kollo, such as 43 metres @ 1.55 grams/tonne gold and 51 metres @ 1.02 grams/tonne gold.

Gold at Kollo occurs as fine-grained native gold within quartz veins, micro shears and vein pyrite. The mineralisation is associated with intensive shearing and quartz veining within sheared felsic volcaniclastics. The high-grade nature of gold mineralisation at Kollo is seen in exploration drilling results.

Step out drilling is planned for untested areas between Kollo South and Kollo Central and it is anticipated that the area of known gold mineralisation will be extended between these two prospects.

Preliminary metallurgical testwork has confirmed that the gold mineralisation at Kollo is amenable to either heap leaching or conventional CIL processing.

www.vitalmetals.com.au

News courtesy of International Mining