Sula announces results from 14-hole drill programme

Sierra Leone-focussed gold exploration company Sula announced the results from Batch 1 of its recently completed 3,783 metre, 14 hole drill programme across Sanama Hill, the Eastern Target, TZ4 and the Kuwait artisanal anomaly on its Ferensola Gold Project.

The AIM-traded firm said Batch 1 comprised 1,265 samples from five drillholes - FDD014 from Sanama Hill, from where we drilled 10 holes in December 2015, and FDD011, FDD012, FDD013 It said FDD014 at Sanama Hill was designed to test the down dip / plunge extension to the previously identified high grade mineralisation.

The TZ2 drillholes were designed to test for potential mineralisation indicated by a highly chargeable IP anomaly.

High grade assay results from Batch 1 included 15.9g/t over 4.8m, including 37g/t Au over 0.75m, from within a mineralised shear zone interval of 32.6m with a length weighted grade of 3.65g/t Au intersected between 122.85m and 155.45m in drillhole FDD014 at Sanama Hill.

Additionally, 6.8 g/t Au was also intersected between 185m and 186.2m in FDD014 along with an oxide zone assay of 2.31 g/t Au between 48m and 49.5m.

FDD014 demonstrated continuity of gold mineralisation 45m from the previous high grade intersections recorded in FDD002 and FDD004 from drilling carried out in December 2015, the board said.

Logging and structural data collected at FDD014 highlighted a “complex zone” of thickening associated with a significant shear zone within the Sanama Hill target, it explained, and drilling at the Eastern Target confirmed a major sulphide system associated with numerous shear zones.

Sula said samples from the remaining nine drillholes were due to leave the company’s Dalakuru exploration camp on Friday, bound for the ALS assay testing laboratory in Ireland.

“I am delighted by these results and the progress we are making at Sanama Hill in finding high grade gold,” said CEO Roger Murphy.

“We believe there is much more to be found, as we now understand the structural controls on mineralisation better.

“The results from FDD014 returned the thickest width, containing the highest grade that Sula has drilled to date.”

Murphy said it was “extremely encouraging” that the oxide and high grade sulphide gold mineralisation the company was finding at Sanama Hill was shallow, and thus potentially open-pittable.

“Similarly, the high-grade zones should be amenable to underground mining.”

The first results from the TZ2 Eastern Target clearly demonstrated that there was a mineralised system, Murphy explained, with results from three more holes to come.

“The improved geological understanding gained has led us to drill other areas, including ‘Kuwait’, a nearby area of intense artisanal mining, which is part of the TZ2 anomaly.

“Also, the structural controls we are beginning to understand at Sanama Hill will help us to target exploration at TZ2 and elsewhere.”