Kodal partner withdraws from joint venture in Ivory Coast

The Dabakala licence will now be 100%-owned by Kodal, with Newcrest leaving after having completed updated interpretations of both geological and geophysical data at the project.

Meanwhile, Kodal has reported the discovery of a new anomaly on the Nielle licence, Kodal’s single joint-venture with Resolute Mining, where a 7,000m reconnaissance aircore drilling program has been completed.

Bernard Aylward, chief executive of Kodal Minerals, said: "The gold mineralised intersections reported by Resolute at the joint venture project over the Nielle licence in Côte d'Ivoire are very encouraging for this reconnaissance phase of exploration."

A total of 542 holes were drilled, showing results including 16 metres at 1.1 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, 12 metres at 2.4 g/t gold, four metres at 3.4 g/t gold, and four metres at 3.9 g/t gold.

"Further results are pending from the reconnaissance programme, however Resolute has confirmed that the initial results from the drilling combined with the geochemical sampling indicate a programme of reverse circulation drilling is required to test this new gold mineralised zone," said Aylward.

Kodal Minerals holds a suite of gold assets in West Africa but the company’s primary focus is on the exploration and definition of the lithium mineralization at the Bougouni project in Mali, according to its website.

As of 1527 GMT, Kodal Minerals’ shares were down 2.59% at 0.18p.