Drilling to Start at Madina Foulbé in East Senegal

Cora Gold Limited

08 April 2024

 

Cora Gold Limited / EPIC: CORA.L / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

8 April 2024

Cora Gold Limited

('Cora' or 'the Company')

Exploration Drill Programme to Commence at Madina Foulbé in East Senegal

Potential for a large scale, in-situ gold mineralisation

Cora Gold Limited, the West African focused gold company, is pleased to announce that an exploration drill programme is due to start shortly at its Madina Foulbé gold permit within the Kenieba Project Area ('the Project') in east Senegal. The permit is in close proximity to several Tier 1 gold deposits located within the Mako Geological Belt of the Kédougou-Kéniéba Inlier.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

·    2,000m Reverse Circulation ('RC') drilling programme to evaluate the most prospective gold anomalies not previously drill tested.

·    Drill contract signed and site preparation commenced ahead of drilling due to start week 15 April 2024 and complete in May 2024.

·    Previous soil geochemistry work defined a large 3km long by 1.6km wide gold anomaly (>20ppb) at the Tambor anomaly.

·    The region is serviced by excellent infrastructure within a mining friendly jurisdiction.

Bert Monro, Chief Executive Officer of Cora, commented, "We are delighted to restart work at Madina Foulbé, where previous exploration works only scratched the surface in terms of evaluating the potential size and scale of the in-situ gold mineralisation of the Tambor target. The geological team is excited about the Project's geological potential given its proximity to several operating mines, while Senegal's favourable mining jurisdiction and successful project development history further enhance its prospects."

DETAILS

Background

The Madina Foulbé permit in Senegal is approximately 27km directly west of the Sadiola Gold Mine and close to several other Tier 1 deposits (Loulo, Gounkoto, Fekola) in the gold belt known as Kédougou-Kéniéba Inlier ('KKI'). Notably, two operators within the KKI have recently been acquired including Chesser Resources Limited purchased by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. in May 2023 for US$60m, 860koz @ 1.77 g/t Au; and Oklo Resources Limited purchased by B2Gold Corp. in May 2022 for US$66m, 668koz @ 1.83 g/t Au. Previous work at the Madina Foulbé permit, which is cut by two major N-S structures with a centrally located circular granitic intrusion, defined a large elongate North/East orientated 3km long by 1.6km wide gold anomaly (>20ppb) at Tambor.

Cora commenced preliminary exploration field activities at Madina Foulbé in 2018; this work combined with previous historical data was used to design a reconnaissance drill programme at the Tambor anomaly. Drilling commenced in April 2020 but after completing 1½ fences (nine holes for 642m) of the five planned fences, the programme was stopped in June 2020 due to Covid. Results (see announcement dated 6 May 2020) included:

·    47m @ 0.63 g/t Au from 27m, in hole MFC007, including 1m @ 16.4 g/t Au;

·    36m @ 0.53 g/t Au from 6m, in hole MFC001, including 3m @ 3.78 g/t Au; and

·    27m @ 0.47 g/t Au from 45m, in hole MFC002.

At Tambor, recent field visits confirmed multiple intrusive lithologies over the entire anomaly and that mineralisation is hosted by well-developed sheeted and stockwork quartz vein sets within. Pegmatite veins are commonly observed with gold mineralisation occurring also at their contacts. Weathering of the intrusive rocks is weakly developed with the fresh rock commonly found within a few metres from surface; with no laterite formation formed, the gold in soil anomaly is considered indicative of the underlying gold mineralisation within the host intrusive rocks. Previously, rotary air blast ('RAB') drilling by Toro Gold Ltd (responsible for the discovery of the 1.5Mozs Mako deposit and bought by Resolute Mining Ltd in 2019 for US$274m) intersected some well mineralised zones: TNB026; 6m @ 21.02 g/t Au (from 15m), TNB091; 15m @ 1.79 g/t Au from surface, TNB039; 9m @ 1.85 g/t Au from surface; and many shorter RAB holes ending in mineralisation on encountering fresh rock.

Rock chip and grab samples of the many quartz veins have confirmed the widespread nature of the in-situ gold mineralisation with a maximum grade of 95.3 g/t Au sampled, however, most values are within 0.3-2 g/t Au. Geophysical data sets show a large circular feature coinciding with the Tambor gold in soil anomaly, which in addition the regional (+200km in length) scale north-south trending fault system cutting directly through the centre of the soils anomaly confirms the geological prospectivity of the Tambor anomaly.

2024 Drilling Programme    

A 2,000m reconnaissance RC drilling programme has been approved to test for gold mineralisation under the best gold in soil and termite mound anomalies. Drilling will test specific and highly prospective targets, some of which have never been drill tested previously. Drill samples will be analysed by ICP-MS (4 acid) in addition to fire assay for gold, which will give multi-element data in conjunction with gold assays to better understand this large gold system. The intent of the drill programme is not to define mineral resources but test conceptual targets, which if successful would require additional drill programmes to define the size and grade of the mineralisation and allow for mineral resources to be reported in the future. The Company anticipates starting this programme the week 15 April 2024 and finishing it in May 2024.

Competent Person's Statement

The technical information in this release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Murray Paterson in his capacity as a Competent Person, in accordance with the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM Companies, which outlines standards of disclosure for mineral projects. Mr. Paterson is Cora's Head of Geology and is a member of good standing with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM). Mr. Paterson has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity which he is undertaking, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr. Paterson consents to the inclusion in this release of the Exploration Results in the form and context in which it appears.

Market Abuse Regulation ('MAR') Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ('MAR'), which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit http://www.coragold.com or contact:

Bert Monro Craig Banfield	Cora Gold Limited	[e-mail]
Derrick Lee Pearl Kellie	Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (Nomad & Broker)	[phone]
Susie Geliher Isabelle Morris Isabel de Salis	St Brides Partners (Financial PR)	[e-mail]

Notes

Cora is a West African gold developer with de-risked project areas within two known gold belts in Mali and Senegal. Led by a team with a proven track-record in making multi-million-ounce gold discoveries that have been developed into operating mines, its primary focus is on developing the Sanankoro Gold Project in the Yanfolila Gold Belt, south Mali, into an open pit oxide mine. Based on a gold price of US$1,750/oz and a Maiden Probable Oxide Reserve of 422koz at 1.3 g/t Au, the Project has strong economic fundamentals, including 52% IRR, US$234 million Free Cash Flow over life of mine and all-in sustaining costs of US$997/oz.

 

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