Kodal makes solid progress at Bougouni and on gold assets

The AIM-traded firm said that at Bougouni, it had been informed that the feasibility study accompanying the mining licence application was accepted by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.

It said the ministry had confirmed that no further COMINE technical and financial meetings would be required prior to Mining Licence approval.

The Directorate Nationale de la Géologie et des Mines (DNGM) had agreed to the new mining licence area and the new permit boundary, encompassing all resources and the proposed mining and associated infrastructure area.

Kodal added that it was still awaiting the formal issue of final mining licence documents, noting that the Covid-19 restrictions had impacted on the Mali government's process, meaning the timing could not be confirmed.

Looking at its gold exploration, Kodal said the assets in Mali and Cote d'Ivoire had attracted interest from investors and other exploration and development companies.

The portfolio of gold assets had been maintained “in good standing”, the board said, and the tenure had been refreshed where possible.

It said the projects had been reviewed by its geological team, and a strategy for further exploration developed for the Nangalasso project in Mali and the Dabakala project in Cote d'Ivoire.

The Nangalasso project review highlighted a 5,500 metre gold anomalous trend, with intersections including 21 metres at 1.25 grams of gold per tonne, including three metres at 7.85 grams of gold per tonne.

It added that Dabakala project had an “extensive” surface geochemical anomaly extending for eight kilometres in strike length, in a new region with classical Birimian gold geological setting and structures.

“The acceptance of the feasibility study, submitted in support of the mining licence application, by the Mali government is a reflection of the level of detail supplied and incorporated into the study, and supports our belief in the economic potential of the project,” said chief executive officer Bernard Aylward.

“The Mali government continues to be very supportive of the development of a lithium mining industry in Mali, and the progress of our permitting reflects the governmental support Kodal has received.

“Although an exact timeline cannot be given for the final approval of the mining licence application, our communication with the Government will continue regularly and we will keep shareholders updated with our progress.”

Aylward added that Kodal's gold projects had continued to attract interest in light of the ongoing strength in the gold price, and recognition of a “high quality land position” in the “world class” Birimian sequence of West Africa.

“We have maintained our landholding in Mali where our priority Nangalasso project is located adjacent to the Syama Gold mine, and just 30 kilometres to the north of the Sissingue Gold mine.

“Preliminary exploration has been undertaken at Nangalasso, returning very encouraging intersections over an extensive strike length and follow-up exploration is being developed.

“In Cote d'Ivoire we have recently renewed licences and at our Dabakala project we expect to undertake infill geochemical sampling to define new drill targets.”

At 1235 BST, shares in Kodal Minerals were up 8.57% at 0.038p.