MALI – African mining royalty generator Altus Strategies has discovered high-grade gold deposits in the Tabakorole gold project llpcayed in southern Mali, about 280 km south of the capital Bamako.

The discovery is expected to boost the Malian economy especially at a time when there has been a rally in gold prices against a backdrop of increased uncertainties in global economies due to COVID-19

A report by Mining Weekly indicated that the Altus Strategies-led drilling programme discovered gold intersections of 4.7 g/t over 14 m and 1.2 g/t over 31 m.

The discovery further indicates a potential 600-m-long north-west extension confirmed with 1.2 g/t of gold over 12 m with the project remaining open along strike and down dip to the south-east and representing a high priority target for follow-up drill testing.

The Tabakorole gold project sits on the Massagui Belt, which hosts Barrick Gold’s Morila gold mine, located about 100 km to the north.

The eight-hole, 1 544 m diamond drilling programme was commissioned by Graphex Mining under a joint venture with Altus, through which it is earning an initial 33% interest in the project.

Altus CEO Steven Poulton says the intersection of 4.7 g/t gold over 14 m, within a wider envelope of 38 m, averaging 2.1 g/t gold, is excellent.

“The results have also extended a high-grade plunge that was not previously modelled in the 2007 historical mineral resource estimate,” he added.

The Tabakorole project was discovered by a regional soil sampling programme completed on a 500 m by 100 m grid by BHP in the early 1990s.

Since 2003, a total of 28 912 m of diamond drilling, 31 943 m of reverse circulation drilling, 6 577 m of auger drilling and 62 718 m of air core drilling has been completed, in addition to 1 400-line kilometres of airborne geophysics.

Mali is Africa’s third largest producer of gold and has one of the world’s most gold-dependent economies.

Gold exports contribute to more than half of Mali’s export revenue and it’s the third largest earner of foreign exchange in the country behind development aid or in remittances from Malians abroad.

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