Brought to you by Bulls N’ Bears
Rowena Duckworth
Serious prospectors know that if you want to find the next big gold deposit, West Africa’s rich Birimian greenstone belt is one of the first places to look and Dalaroo Metals is quietly building its position in this hotspot.
Completion of the company’s high-priority soil geochemistry program at the Gold Ridge prospect, part of its Bondoku Gold Project, represents an important step toward putting a drill bit in the ground.
Approximately 2250 core soil samples and 120 quality control samples have been collected in the southeast target block, covering an impressive 4.5 km of the 9.5 km structural corridor. More than 2,000 of these samples are now with the Intertech Laboratory for gold analysis.
The company’s 80%-owned Bondoukou project sits within the Birimian Greenstone Belt developing in eastern Côte d’Ivoire, which hosts several multi-million ounce gold deposits, including the 4.6-million-ounce Tanda Gold Deposit operated by Endeavor Mining, just 35km to the south.
‘Soil sampling is an important milestone in unlocking Bondoukou’s scale potential.’
John Morgan, chief executive officer of Dalaro Metals
Importantly, however, this is the first time that a large-scale systematic geochemical survey has been carried out on this part of the project. It is designed to generate high-priority targets for first-time drilling to define and extend gold anomalies associated with artefacts and known structural controls.
Prior to historic rock sampling in the area, serious grades of 17.95 grams per tonne (g/t) gold have been achieved, a number that commands attention in any goldfield. The goal of the soil program is to understand where those surface signals originate and how far they propagate.
The geology of the area is compelling. Gold mineralization in the Bermen is often structurally controlled, with large shear zones and lithological contacts, exactly the same type of features identified at Bondoku.
Extensive iron and manganese oxide alteration, quartz fragments and evidence of seasonal hydrothermal systems are all present. In tropical gold regions, geologists know these as classic fingerprints of gold mineralization below the surface.
said John Morgan, chief executive officer of Dalaro Metals: “This program targets strike expansion in our previously defined gold corridor and further strengthens our confidence in an already extensive mineralization system. Côte d’Ivoire continues to be a key development focus for Dalaro, and Bondoukou is emerging as a highly anticipated gold opportunity within the world-class Birimian gold belt.”
Additionally, extensive artefacts at Bondoukou show strong evidence of surface gold mineralization along volcanic-granitoid contacts. Geologic architecture is often associated with orogenic-style gold deposits.
Parallel work to the work of Dingbi artisans, where local miners are extracting gold by hand, has added an important layer of data. Twenty-eight channel samples and four grab samples were collected from the site, along with structural measurements to help guide future drilling.
Artifacts at Beerman are often the most reliable surface indicators of a meaningful gold system below and Dingby is now one of the priority targets involved in the drill planning process.
With priority one survey now complete, Delaro’s field crews have moved on to priority two tasks in the company’s northwest block, where line cutting and soil sampling are already underway.
When the full program is completed, Dalaro will have systematic geochemical coverage over the 9.5 km long corridor. This data set, combined with structural and geological observations already made, will be used to define first-pass drill targets for the trench, auger and first RC drilling. Assay results from Priority One are expected in the coming weeks and will be closely scrutinized when available.
For punters, it’s a textbook story of early-stage West African gold exploration unfolding in the right place – a proven geological address, systematic work done, and the drill bit that knows the truth is yet to come.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
