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AFRICA

West Africa

blossoming for juniors

by Dominic Piper

enewed confidence in West African gold exploration stories is a @ 4.6 g/t from 191m (including 3m @ 10.2 g/t and 1m @ 17.7 g/t), 2m
R bonus but Golden Rim Resources Ltd has been making a pretty @ 14.4 g/t and 1m @ 28.1 g/t.
good fist of attracting market attention off its own bat. McKay recognises the potential for such high-grade shoots to quickly
West African-focused explorers have often struggled to gain alter the dynamics of a project.
attention amid a general market scepticism about geopolitical risk in “The M1 South discovery was a game-changer for West African
the region but given the recent success of West African Resources Resources, and this could be a game-changer for us,” he said.
Ltd and Perseus Mining Ltd on the production front and Predictive
While Kouri remains a key focus, Golden Rim has also spread its
Discovery Ltd and Tietto Minerals Ltd in the exploration stakes, the
footprint to another West African jurisdiction, Guinea, through the
mood brightened towards the back end of 2020.
acquisition of 75% of the Kada project.
Golden Rim made its own contribution to the wider sentiment,
A former Newmont asset, Kada lies 36km south of AngloGold
posting a 43% increase to the resource at its Kouri gold project in
Ashanti Ltd’s 10 moz Siguiri gold mine.
Burkina Faso and securing a former Newmont Mining Corp asset in
McKay said the project had already surprised the company on the
Guinea over the course of the year.
upside.
The advances have Golden Rim managing director Craig McKay
“It has been exceeding our expectations and we were very pleased
confident the company can press ahead this year.
with the due diligence work we did,” he said.
“It was one of the busiest years we’ve ever had,” long-serving
In November, Golden Rim produced hits of 18m @ 2 g/t gold from
company managing director McKay told GMJ. “We slowed down
1m, 78m @ 1.4 g/t from 71m, 7m @ 4.3 g/t from surface and 43m @
in the first few months because of the pandemic but were fortunate
1.7 g/t from 109m in due diligence drilling.
that Burkina Faso was not as affected as other countries so after a
couple of months we were back going again, particularly as we have The project now secured, the company is intent on following up
an in-country team so we’re not relying on expats.” those confirmatory results.
The company took advantage of the opportunity, kickstarting its “Newmont drilled 300 holes and built up a non-JORC resource so
exploration season with the discovery of the high-grade Diabatou we see potential for a near-term resource at Kada,” McKay said.
shoot at Kouri in June. “There is great oxide mineralisation. Our deepest due diligence
holes were 150m and they were still in oxides so that is extensive. It
Four months later, the company released an updated resource for
is also incredibly soft material – we didn’t even use the core saw we
Kouri, lifting inferred-indicated resource to 50mt @ 1.3 g/t for 2 moz
rented – so there is great potential for free digging, cheap mining.”
gold. The update included a 41% increase in indicated ounces to
310,000oz @ 1.4 g/t. Outside of the historical oxide resource, Golden Rim sees
widespread potential.
“We were really pleased because these resources are not easy to
put together,” McKay said. “That was two years in the making with a “Newmont only explored 2% of the 200sq km,” McKay said. “Outside
couple of hundred drill holes included in the update.” that there is untapped exploration potential. There are records of soil
sampling returning 22 g/t gold that were never followed up.”
Hitting the 2 moz gold mark was a milestone for the company, giving
it confidence to press ahead with economic assessment of Kouri. Guinea has largely missed out on previous West African gold
exploration booms, but McKay believes things could be different this
“We think we have enough gold to go to the next step of a scoping
time around.
study and pushing the project forward,” McKay said.
“It has incredible prospectivity but only 6% of West African gold
The first step will be further infill drilling to increase the proportion
production,” he said. “There is a real effort by the Government in the
of indicated resource. McKay said there would also be a focus on
last few years to encourage foreign companies to come and work
thicker, high-grade portions of the known resource.
there. The cadastre system is online and open. We applied for a
“We think there is some real upside with that strategy,” he said.
new licence and got it within a month, that is the quickest ever in my
In conjunction, the company will further test the limits of the Diabatou career.”
discovery which lies 7km from the main Kouri resource.
Golden Rim’s presence in Guinea is solidified by its new chairman,
“We want to see how extensive Diabatou is,” McKay said. “We drilled Adonis Pouroulis, who controls a private bauxite operation in the
it to 180m and have got about 48,000oz in resources but the bottom country.
of the pit shell ends in 10 g/t. So, the plan is to see what the extent
“That company has been running for 15 years which gives the
of it is.”
company a lot of comfort moving forward,” McKay said.
In the September quarter, RC drilling at Diabatou returned hits of 7m

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