Australian exploration company Sarama Resources announced in September that exploration drilling for the company’s 100%-owned Santura project – located in the prolific Houndé Greenstone Belt, in south-west Burkina Faso – has returned further significant intersections in near-surface oxide material outside the current mineral resource.

These intersections, including 34 m at 1.65 g/t gold, are in a sparsely drilled area at the MM & MC Prospects and open up a new trend for future exploration.

The reported drilling totals 700 m, part of an ongoing + 50 000 m programme at the company’s multimillion-ounce project. This programme is designed to increase the oxide component of the project’s large 0.6-million-ounce gold resource, plus 2.3-million gold ounces inferred mineral resource.

“We are pleased with these results and, once again, the current drill programme is delivering new, shallow high-value material. This is building on the new discovery at the Obi Prospect and new high-grade mineralisation within the MM Prospect. We are excited by the 34 m at 1.65 g/t gold intersection, which is significant not only because it is in oxide material but also as it is outside the current mineral resource,” states Sarama Resources president Andrew Dinning.

“The results show potential for another new exploration trend featuring oblique and/or blind mineralisation that has the potential to add significant amounts of high-value material to the current mineral resource.”

Results are being reported for about 700 m of aircore drilling (12 holes) undertaken in June and July earlier this year in the southern part of the MM & MC prospects.

The drilling targeted the near-surface oxide horizon to a depth of about 50 m.

Highlighted downhole intersections include 34 m at 1.65 g/t gold from 18 m in TAA315; 12 m at 1.36 g/t gold from 18 m in TAA417; 4 m at 3.23 g/t gold from 47 m in TAA192 (including 1 m at 10.25 g/t gold); and 12 m at 1.04 g/t gold from 12 m in TAA381 (including 4 m at 2.16 g/t gold).

This comes in addition to 18 m at 0.98 g/t gold from 9 m in TAA416; 5 m at 2.40 g/t gold from 62 m in TAA380; and 5 m at 1.16 g/t gold from 31 m in TAA415.

The recent reconnaissance drilling was targeted using soil geochemistry and geophysical surveys conducted by Sarama and followed up historical reconnaissance drilling in the area.

This includes highlighted intersections of 6 m at 3.31 g/t gold from 42 m in AC914; 6 m at 2.18 g/t gold from 22 m in AC915; and 4 m at 2.88 g/t gold from 18 m in AC906.

Several of the new significant drill intersections occur within the Tankoro deposit corridor in an area that is sparsely drilled and outside the current mineral resource, highlighting the potential for new discoveries in between existing wide-spaced drilling in underexplored areas.

Mineralisation at the Tankoro deposit typically presents as a series of steeply dipping, subparallel lode packages assembled in two distinct tracts which demonstrate kilometre-scale continuity along their north-north-east strike.

Successive exploration campaigns by Sarama have developed the geologic model to include secondary cross-linking mineralised lodes orientated at oblique angles to the lodes within the main mineralised tracts.

This architecture has been observed at the well-drilled areas of the MM and MC prospects, which together host 66% of the project’s mineral resource. The mineralisation in these areas is interpreted to be the result of multi-phase deformation and fluid emplacement events and provides the economic focal points of the Tankoro deposit given the associated increased lode volumes and higher grades.

This occurrence is most notably proximal to the confluence of the cross-linking and main nodes, which have produced strong historical intersections.

This includes: 32 m at 4.82 g/t gold from 14 m in AC988 (MC prospect); 45 m at 3.88 g/t gold from 6 m in AC1891 (MC prospect); 26 m at 6.90 g/t gold from 22 m in FRC845 (MC prospect); 17.9 m at 7.23 g/t gold from 101.3 m in DDH010A (MM prospect); 19 m at 4.64 g/t gold from 65 m in FRC154 (MM prospect); and 11.8 m at 8.06 g/t gold from 35.3 m in DDH041 (MM prospect).

This bodes well for future exploration with potential additions from two areas. Firstly, the immediate area along the 1.1-km-long strike of the inferred oblique lode is proximal to the very encouraging recent intersection of 34 m at 1.65 g/t gold.

Secondly, further repetitions of cross-linking lodes within a north-north-east trending zone of elevated gold-in-soil values covers a footprint of 1.7 km × 650 m, and is largely untested by drilling.

Drilling is currently paused until the end of the wet season in the fourth quarter of this year. The company is currently interpreting results and incorporating these in its planning for further drilling of its highest priority targets around the mineral resource, including at these encouraging new locations, early in the next field season. Several targets will also be tested in the upcoming programmes.