Cora Gold releases final set of drill results from Sanankoro

West Africa-focussed Cora Gold announced the 14th and final set of drill results from its largest ever 40,000 metre drill campaign at the Sanankoro Gold Project in Southern Mali on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm said the results had continued to be “extremely encouraging” throughout the campaign, with high-grade results in generally shallow oxide ore.

It said an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) was expected in the coming weeks.

The board highlighted 17 metres at 17.13 grams of gold per tonne from 89 metres in hole SC0561, 19 metres at 6.14 grams per tonne from 59 metres in hole SC0565, and 22 metres at 3.28 grams per tonne from 88 metres in hole SC0559.

It also highlighted 28 metres at 2.26 grams of gold per tonne from 71 metres in hole SC0560, 73 metres at 0.71 grams per tonne from 95 metres in hole SC0557, 54 metres at 0.83 grams per tonne from 120 metres in hole SC0558, and 32 metres at 1.36 grams per tonne from 16 metres in hole SC0563.

Oxide mineralisation had been defined continuously to 190 metres vertically in recent metallurgical core drilling and density determinations.

Cora said the zone B1 resource remained open in all directions.

“This drill campaign has delivered consistently positive results and this last set of samples means that we finish on a high note, reporting some of our best drill hole results to date,” said chief executive officer Bert Monro.

“17 metres at 17.13 grams per tonne and 19 metres at 6.14 grams per tonne are not only two further excellent drill holes in isolation, but in the context of our full campaign we have had 15 holes of 100 grams per metre, which is a fantastic achievement for the exploration team on the ground.

“Additionally, the additional depth of oxidation, to greater than 190m, has potentially positive implications as we look towards mining in the future.”

Monro said there had been “a lot of hard work” gone into the drill campaign.

“The next steps for the company is the delivery of an updated MRE over the coming weeks.

“There have also been a number of definitive feasibility study site visits over the last month with numerous concurrent work streams ongoing and I look forward to sharing more on our DFS and development plans in due course.”

At 0932 BST, shares in Cora Gold were down 2.59% at 13.15p.