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ReGIonAL RounDuP

Predictable rise to a

greenfields discovery

n direct contrast to the name of his com- with the reassurance it needed to continue to have previously run its ruler over the
Ipany, Predictive Discovery Ltd managing looking for high-grade gold in underex- Koundian project. Predictive was sched-
director Paul Roberts was not anticipating plored regions. uled to begin initial regolith mapping and
such an overwhelming market response to “Up until this point, the compliment peo- geochemical programmes last month, with
spectacular drilling results from his compa- ple would give me is ‘well, you’ve been very pilot ground geophysical and aeromag-
ny’s Kaninko gold project in Guinea. persistent’ and I think that this is evidence netic surveys are to be completed over the
Predictive’s shares soared 733% on April that persistence pays,” Roberts said. course of this year.
15 – the biggest single-day rise on the ASX “I’ve always believed that we could cre- Roberts had nothing but praise for Guin-
in the past three years – after reporting an ate wealth for shareholders through green- ean authorities’ reception for his company
intersection of 46m @ 6.58 g/t gold (includ- fields discovery. Obviously I didn’t expect it since first enquiring about available pro-
ing 10m @ 26.52 g/t) along with several to take a decade to get to this point. jects in the country.
other encouraging drill hits at the North- “It’s a tough road, but if you’re persistent “What we found after our first exploratory
East Bankan prospect. and you’ve got the right strategy and you trip was the Mines Department was actu-
“When we got these results – and we keep your costs under control – and I think ally very welcoming; they also had a very
knew they were very good – we didn’t we’ve demonstrated we can do all of those transparent mining registry system, so what
expect to see this quite extraordinary re- – then success will come.” we saw on the map was what was actually
sponse, given that we ac- available,” he said.
tually didn’t get much of a “We work very closely
response from the [earlier] with the local directors of
power auger results,” Rob- mines in the field and that’s
erts told Paydirt. obviously helped us pick up
“I think it’s fair because more ground. It’s kind of like
this is a new discovery and a virtuous feedback loop
new discoveries don’t come and it follows our modus
along very often. However, operandi to pick up ground,
we didn’t expect the market pick up these cheap per-
would be as kind to us as mits, evaluate them at low
that.” cost, identify the best ones,
Other key intersections convert them into explora-
reported last month were tion permits and accelerate
42m @ 2.92 g/t gold from our exploration…their at-
8m, 50m @ 1.53 g/t from titude is really aligned with
surface (including 20m @ what we’re trying to do.”
2.51 g/t from 30m) and 42m With no COVID-19 re-
@ 1.56 g/t from surface strictions in place in Guinea
(including 30m @ 2.07 g/t Paul Roberts at the time of print, Predic-
from 12m). tive was planning another
Each of the 24 aircore holes drilled into Predictive ventured into Guinea after round of power auger drilling at North-East
North-East Bankan were down to a maxi- taking on board feedback from Austral- Bankan to expand the company’s coverage
mum depth of 50m. The discovery hole ian investors that it should have some of the area. An aircore programme will likely
which had market tongues wagging fin- 100%-owned projects in its portfolio, which follow, pending rig availability.
ished in mineralisation. at the time was comprised mostly of JV Predictive is also awaiting the results of
Predictive is confident the broad anoma- assets. The company had also previously recent drilling at the nearby Bankan Creek
lous zone which has given rise to the pros- badged itself as prospect generator, but prospect, with further exploration there also
pect is at least 300m wide, 450m long and that business approach failed to gain the on the company’s agenda.
open at depth. Mineralisation stops abruptly major traction it wanted in the market. Meanwhile, COVID-19 restrictions are
to both the north and the south due to the Predictive added the 300sq km Koundian currently preventing Predictive and JV
limitations of the power auger coverage. project to its growing presence in Guinea’s partner Resolute Mining Ltd from follow-
This breakthrough greenfields discovery Siguiri Basin in early April. This ground is ing up on a series of recent promising drill-
has been more than a decade in the mak- along strike from the 2 moz Tri-K gold mine ing results at Ouarigue South, part of the
ing for a company which entered Guinea being developed by Managem Group and Ferkessedougou North project, in Cote
in September 2018, having spent sev- is just 7km north of the 1.2 moz Koulekoun d’Ivoire.
eral years prior exploring for gold in Cote deposit. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd’s 10 moz Best drill hits from the nine-hole diamond
d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Siguiri operation is also 75km to the south- programme reported last month were 51m
Roberts said the drilling success at east. @ 1.27 g/t gold from 169m, 14m @ 10.74
North-East Bankan and the subsequent Former ASX-listed explorer Drake Re- g/t from 33m and 33m @ 1.62 g/t from 28m.
market reaction had provided Predictive sources is the only company believed
– Michael Washbourne

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