G2 Goldfields shares gain on high-grade find at Oko project in Guyana

G2 Goldfields (TSXV: GTWO; US-OTC: GUYGF) says it’s discovered the high-grade Ghanie South zone at its Oko project in Guyana as it seeks interest from large miners.

Drill hole GDD-68A cut 11 metres grading 37.9grams gold per tonne from 148 metres downhole, the Toronto-based company said in a news release on Tuesday. The result follows drill hole GDD-06 reported in April that returned 3 metres at 17 gramsfrom 58 metres depth.

“These results demonstrate the presence of multiple high-grade zones along trend and the potential for more discoveries throughout the Oko district,” Boaz Wade, vice president of exploration, said in the release. “We are leveraging our understanding of the Ghanie Central zone to target high grade on other sections of the 1.2-kilometre-long Ghanie trend.”

Shares in G2 Goldfields gained nearly 8% in Toronto on Tuesday morning to 85¢ apiece, valuing the company at $139.6 million. The stock has traded within a 52-week window of 51¢ to 96¢.

G2 Goldfields CEO Dan Noone was part of the team that developed the Aurora Gold mine into the country’s largest before it was bought by China’s Zijin Mining in 2020 for US$238 million. Probing the Ghanie trend, just north of and along strike of Reunion Gold’s (TSXV: RGD) Oko West deposit next door, is part of a bid to expand Oko into a takeover target. Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) has been exploring in Guyana and Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) operates the Merian mine in neighbouring Suriname.

Cuyuni district

Ghanie South is about 300 metres south of Ghanie Main at Oko. It lies in the South American country’s Cuyuni mining district, 60 km west of Bartica, which itself is 60 km south from the Atlantic coast on the Essequibo River. The river’s mouth is some 30 km west of the capital, Georgetown. Aris Mining‘s (TSX: ARIS) Toroparu project is also in Cuyuni.

At the 78-sq.-km Oko, G2 continues to target near surface anomalous zones beside the Oko Main zone and Ghanie trends with shallow drilling. It’s exploring for new targets along the Oko-to-Aremu trend.

G2 discovered Oko Main in late 2019. It holds 793,000 indicated tonnes grading 8.63 grams for 220,000 contained oz. and 3.3 million inferred tonnes grading 9.25 grams gold for 974,000 oz., according to an initial resource reported in April 2022. The resource lies within 350 metres of surface and remains open down plunge, the company said.

In September, G2 reported drill hole OKD-178 at Oko Main cut 6.7 metres grading 32 grams from 477 metres downhole. The hole was 40 metres north of OKD-121 which returned 3.7 metres at 58 grams reported a year earlier and 40 metres south of OKD-126a that cut 3 metres at 27.8 grams, according to a report last November.

The Oko Main has high-grade veins in carbonaceous sediments while the Ghanie zone hosts a magnetite replacement style of mineralization similar to Reunion’s Oko West, according to Noone.

“Guyana’s very much a place that the majors want to be,” Noone said during a site visit by The Northern Miner almost a year ago. “I think it’ll be a lot easier when it comes to exiting or trying to transact with another company on the project.”