Drilling Underway in Western Mali
Altus Strategies Plc (AIM:ALS, TSX-V:ALTS) has commenced a 10,000m Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling programme at its 100% owned Diba gold project in western Mali.
Chief Executive, Steven Poulton, said the programme is aimed at testing resource expansion potential as well as five further priority prospects
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:
“We are pleased to announce the commencement of a significant drilling programme at our 100% owned Diba gold project in western Mali,” Mr Poulton said.
“Approximately 10,000m of RC drilling is planned, with the programme designed to test the potential for additional resources along strike and down dip of the current mineral resource, as well as the potential of five priority targets, each located within 3km of the current resource.
“The results from this programme are expected to be available in the coming weeks and will be used to update the existing MRE and PEA studies.
“We look forward to updating shareholders on progress from this programme in due course.”
The planned drilling programme will be undertaken by Capital Drilling Limited and comprise 120 holes for approximately 10,000m. A multipurpose drill rig, capable of both RC and Diamond Drilling (DD) methods will be employed.
Approximately 3,600m will be drilled into and around the Diba Deposit, testing the resource potential down dip and along strike, as well as infilling areas to increase the resource confidence.
In addition approximately 6,400 metres will be drilled to test five priority prospects located within 3km of the Diba Deposit. These targets comprise:
Target 1: Diba Southwest
The Diba Southwest prospect is located 1.2km southwest and along strike of the Diba Deposit. The prospect is defined by a northeast striking 1.2km long discontinuous gold in soil anomaly with a series of discretely anomalous termite mound samples above 20ppb Au. The anomaly occurs along the flank of a ferricrete ridge, which extends for a further 1.5km to the southwest and is coincident with a geophysical VTEM anomaly.
Target 2: Diba Northwest
The Diba Northwest prospect extends for 1.85km northwest from the Diba Deposit. The prospect is defined by a northwest striking 2.6 sq. km gold in soil anomaly coincident with a VTEM low anomaly. Historic AC drilling over the prospect tested the anomaly to an average vertical depth of 12.7m, with a number of holes terminating in gold mineralisation (>0.5 g/t Au) within the oxide zone.
Target 3: Diba East
The Diba East prospect is located immediately east of the Diba Deposit. The prospect is defined by a 2 sq. km area northeast striking VTEM low anomaly which is sub-parallel to the strike of the Diba Deposit and Diba Southwest prospect. Historic air core and reverse circulation drilling intersected anomalous gold in the oxide zone, including 0.5 g/t Au over 12.0m from 28.50m (down the hole).
Target 4: Diba West-Northwest
The Diba West-Northwest prospect is located 2km northwest of the Diba Deposit. The prospect is defined by a 650m x 440m east-west striking zone of anomalous termite mound samples up to 37ppb Au. The strike length of Diba West-Northwest is comparable in size to that of the Diba Deposit.
Target 5: Plateau Target
The plateau target is located 2.5km northwest of the Diba Deposit and covers an area of 1.07km2. The target possesses linear flanks indicating the potential for a structural control and is defined by gold in soil anomalies from historic soil sampling grids that occur on the margins of the plateau, indicating the potential for mineralisation being masked by a ferricrete carapace.
The Diba project hosts an MRE of 217,000 ounces at 1.39 g/t Au (Indicated) and 187,000 ounces at 1.06 g/t Au (Inferred) in both oxide and fresh domains.
The Diba Deposit remains open downdip and along strike.
