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AFRICA

Oklo gets resource ready

by Mark Andrews

ust-watch West African gold explorer Oklo Resources “There’s been interest from the corporates, obviously there
MLtd is confident its maiden resource from the Seko are some pretty big corporates around us, and we believe
prospect will hit the mark in 2020. we are onto the right style there for a [potential] Tier 1
First assay results from a 10,000m resource definition deposit,” Taylor said.
drilling programme at Seko, within Oklo’s Dandoko project “Certainly, we have similar alteration in the core that we see
in Mali, has revealed potential for a new high-grade shoot at in the big mines around us.”
the “lightly tested” northern end of SK1. Former Papillon Resources general manager Andrew Boyd
Results from the first five holes available at the time of print heads Oklo’s exploration at Dandoko, while Mark Connelly
included 47m @ 10.97 g/t gold from 48m, including 7m @ is the company’s non-executive chairman.
60.57 g/t from 54m, while other significant intersections Connelly and Boyd were key players in Papillon’s successful
included 20m @ 1.98 g/t from 60m and 8m @ 2.11 g/t from delivery of Fekola and the subsequent $615 million merger
142m, with the hole ending in mineralisation. with B2 Gold in 2014.
Aircore drilling had been completed in late November, with Oklo’s success at Dandoko, where there is a number of
RC and diamond drilling ready to start as Oklo was on track prospective targets in the pipeline so far, has not escaped
to have the resource finished in early Q2. attention.
Juniors have recently been marked hard for maiden BlackRock Group (13.64%), Resolute Mining Ltd (9.12%),
resources, but it is a situation Oklo managing director Simon 1832 Asset Management (7.56%), Hawkestone Group
Taylor is unconcerned by. (6.58%) and Ruffer LLP (5.75%) are among the top 20
“We are in a geological belt that is world class, our drilling shareholders which comprise 71% of Oklo’s share registry.
is less than 100m deep and what we will be doing with the Top-end support for the company also demonstrates how
resource is going for quality,” Taylor told GMJ. comfortable investors are with Dandoko’s location given the
“We’re keen to show the market what we have been drilling security concerns in parts of West Africa.
is comparable to the mines around us.” Parts of Burkina Faso have been targeted by terrorist groups
Taylor’s confidence in the Dandoko project is understandable in recent times and parts of Mali have also come under
given the star-studded West Mali neighbourhood it is in. attack.
With IAMGold Corp’s Diakha (1.6 moz gold) and Boto (2.6 However, Taylor said it was important for people to recognise
moz) to the south-west, B2 Gold Corp’s Fekola (7.1 moz) to exactly where the trouble was occurring.
the west and Barrick Gold Corp’s Gounkoto (5.4 moz) to the “Obviously there are issues in Burkina Faso, [but] we are a
north-west, Dandoko is not only surrounded by well-endowed long way from that. That is right over on the eastern side of
gold mines but also good infrastructure complementing the Burkina and we are a long way away on the western side of
operations. Mali,” Taylor said.

The shallow aircore component of resource definition drilling at Seko has been completed,
with deeper RC and diamond drilling ongoing in late 2019

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