Activity heats up in Burkina Faso — Juniors busy exploring, Poura mine gets new lease on life

Exploration results from several work programs are confirming the gold potential of Burkina Faso and, at the same time, adding impetus to efforts to revive the dormant Poura gold mine in the West African nation.

High River Gold Mines (HRG-T) is continuing to test its Taparko property, where, to date, 10 zones have been defined on the Taparko gold structure.

Channel Resources (CHU-T) and partner Solomon Resources (SRB-V) are carrying out a second phase of drilling at their Bombore permit, some 80 km east of the capital city of Ouagadougou. The program is aimed at defining several large, open-pit oxide gold deposits.

Meanwhile, Sahelian Goldfields (SHGI-C) has launched a program to revive the dormant Poura mine, which ceased operations last year after producing more than 600,000 oz. gold from both open-pit and underground deposits. All the gold was extracted from a single, steeply dipping quartz vein which, at depth, averages about 2.5 metres.

The Toronto-based junior recently secured an option to acquire a 90% interest in the mine and surrounding exploration lands by producing a feasibility study. The remaining interest will be held by the government.

Sahelian is required to issue 3 million shares and 2 million warrants to the vendor, Ashanti Goldfields (AHD.U-T), which will then own 30% of the diluted capital of Sahelian.

“There were other bidders, but we weren’t interested in getting into a bidding war,” says Guy Charette, Sahelian’s chief executive officer. “We took a different approach.”

Charette explains that its offer to purchase allows Ashanti to remain involved in the project, as the African major will have representation on Sahelian’s board.

The junior also convinced Ashanti that the geology of the project was similar to that of northwestern Quebec, where management had considerable previous experience. “Plus, we showed that we are motivated; this project is a cornerstone for us,” Charette adds.

Work at Poura began in April. The 15-Month underground development and rehabilitation program is being financed by a US$14.6-Million non-refundable grant from SYSMIN, a European development agency.

The grant will cover the costs of surface facilities rehabilitation, plus 3,400 metres of ramping and drifting, as well as 10,000 metres of underground diamond drilling to confirm that the reserve base is sufficient for the mine to be reopened. Management has set a target of about 600,000 tonnes at grades similar to those of material previously mined (12.8 grams).

The property includes a mill which operators plan to refurbish into a carbon-in-leach/carbon-in-pulp treatment plant with a yearly capacity of 500,000 tonnes.

Meanwhile, Sahelian will finance an extensive surface exploration program to test other targets on the 500-sq.-km concession that surrounds Poura. The land package is underlain by rocks of the Birimian Formation and situated in the heart of the Boromo-Goren greenstone belt.

Elsewhere in the country, High River recently completed 123 holes totalling 15,123 metres to test the 10 zones thus far identified at Taparko. The deepest holes targeted a depth of 100 metres.

The program included three holes on Zone 5, two of which returned anomalous values. One intersected the Main zone and returned 11.7 metres of 11.9 grams.

A total of 17 holes tested Zone 3, six of which returned impressive results.

Hole 152 hit 14.2 metres of 3.4 grams, including 8.1 metres of 5.6 grams, whereas hole 155 returned 22.8 metres of 4.4 grams, including 2.2 metres of 28.6 grams. Other results from this zone are: 13.1 metres of 3.6 grams, 25.1 metres of 3.2 grams, 13.6 metres of 1.6 grams and 17.8 metres of 2.4 grams.

High River is preparing a drill-indicated resource estimate for the most promising zones at the property, including Zones 3, 5 and GT. All are believed to be amenable to open-pit mining. Exploration work elsewhere on the property is continuing.

A second-phase of drilling by Channel and Solomon is aimed at extending known zones defined during the first phase of work at the Bombore permit.

Channel has a 90% interest in the permit and is operator, while Solomon can earn 45% by funding $2.5 million on exploration.

Channel has one of the largest land positions in Burkina Faso. The junior’s 10 permits total 9,092 sq. km in various parts of the country. The gold prospects on Channel’s permits occur in Birimian volcanic, intrusive and sedimentary rocks.

President Jean-Marc Lulin says the company began work in early 1994 and, as a result, has already accomplished much of the early-stage work, including geophysical and geochemical programs. The company has adopted a methodical, systematic approach to exploration, which Lulin believes will pay dividends over time.

“Our immediate target is open-pittable oxide deposits,” Lulin says. “We believe we have several of these, particularly at Bombore.”

While a resource calculation is not yet available for Bombore, Channel has reported resources totalling 12.4 million tonnes grading 1.3 grams for the F12, Welcome Stranger and Bissinga deposits at the Bouroum project. This permit is situated 180 km northeast of Ougadougou.

Channel’s exploration program this year will include an initiative to test properties believed to be on trend with, and in similar rocks as, the Samira gold deposit in neighboring Niger.