Delta drills high-grade gold in Mali (February 04, 2008)

Vancouver — Drilling by Delta Exploration (DEV-V, DEVDF-O) has turned up some new discoveries on its Manalo gold project, in southwestern Mali.

The first two reverse-circulation (RC) drill holes on the junior’s Dialafara prospect, drilled under the main artisanal workings on the project area, cut near-surface high-grade gold. Hole 1 returned 9 metres (from 71 metres downhole depth) grading 9.6 grams gold per tonne, including a 3-metre interval of 24.7 grams gold.

Delta’s second hole sampled 6 metres (from 87 metres) of 29.1 grams gold.

At Dialafara, the company is testing areas of strong gold-insoil anomalies and coincident electromagnetic (EM) conductors associated with artisanal mining activity. Seven of 13 holes drilled returned significant gold values associated with quartz veins in the clay-altered Birimian metasediments (siltstones and fine-grained sandstones).

Delta notes the artisanal site at Dialafara is located in the central portion of its permit and is about 107 by 70 metres. The workings are on the south end of a significant north-trending, anomalous goldin-soil trend.

The company also recently tested several targets on its Mansaya prospect with a halfdozen RC drill holes. Hole MS-07-03 returned 5 metres of 2 grams gold, while hole MS-07-04 cut 31 metres averaging 0.7 gram gold, including 12 metres of 1 gram gold.

In 2006, 20 RC holes at the company’s Manalo Nord Est prospect intersected 11 metres of 18.5 grams gold in a quartz-filled shear structure. Its latest program returned intercepts of up to 6 metres of 12.1 grams gold in hole MN-07-12, including a 2-metre interval of 35.6 grams gold. The prospect was the focus of Delta’s early exploration at Manalo.

The company is tightening up the spacing of geochemical soil sampling — to refine some of its targets at Manalo — and has started an induced-polarization survey. It intends to use both RC and core rigs in its next phase of drilling.

Delta is also exploring uranium projects in Mali, Niger and Guinea.

Delta’s stock perked up on the results, closing up 4 at 46 apiece on almost 1.1 million shares traded. The stock posts a 52-week trading range of 28-$3.29.