Cora Gold determines exploration target of 30-50m tonnes

West African-focused exploration company Cora Gold told investors on Monday that it had determined an initial exploration target of 30-50m tonnes of gold at its Sanankoro project in southern Mali.

The AIM-listed explorer revealed that a report put together by external consultant SRK had confirmed the company's internal expectation that Sanankoro had the potential to delineate 1-2m ounces of gold to a depth of 100 metres, indicating the potential for "significant further upside at depth".

Cora chief executive Dr Jonathan Forster, said: "It is very pleasing to have our opinion on the gold potential of the Sanankoro project confirmed by this independent review by SRK."

Forster said he was "pleased" that Cora's strategy of first defining the project's scale potential before reverting to more focused drilling had been "vindicated".

Samples at a grade of 1-1.3 grams of gold per tonne were uncovered during SRK's study, with less well-drilled structures identified by surface exploration elsewhere on the property found to contain mineralisation of a similar grade and thickness to the drilled structures.

As of 1200 BST, Cora shares had shot up 7.84% to 9.98p.