After recent drilling doubled the length of Riverstone Resources’ (RVS-V, RVREF-O) Kao gold deposit to 600 metres, the Burkina Faso-focused company is gearing up to find out just how large the deposit is.
And as it starts a 5,000-metre drill program at the end of January on its newly named Karma project — which includes the Kao, Rambo and Goulagou targets — Riverstone will anxiously await the summer rainy season, when an updated resource estimate will be calculated.
“Our goal at the end of the year is to have a resource in excess of one million ounces gold,” says Michael McInnis, Riverstone’s president and CEO.
The company isn’t starting from scratch. Riverstone has been working in Burkina Faso for about four years now, and is confident its goal is attainable, based on the drilling done so far. That includes 3,000 metres on Rambo and more than 5,000 metres on Kao.
The latest assay results from the Kao deposit, released in early January, included a 28-metre intersection grading 1.42 grams gold per tonne in hole 92, including 10 metres of 2.78 grams gold.
An 18-metre intersection in hole 94 returned 1.15 grams gold and 10 metres averaging 1.62 grams.
When the company optioned the Goulagou property from Golden Star Resources (GSC-T, GSS-X) last October, the deposit already had an indicated resource of 280,000 oz. gold with an average grade of 1.79 grams gold, and an inferred resource of 270,000 oz. with an average grade of 1.49 grams gold.
McInnis says he hopes to see 650,000 oz. gold at Goulagou, 400,000 oz. at Kao, and 200,000 oz. at Rambo.
“We’ve done our in-house calculations and we think it’s doable,” McInnis says.
Rambo, Kao and Goulagou are all about 6 to 7 km apart and easily accessible by road from the capital of Ougadougou.
“It’s quite flat in the area,” McInnis says. “So even if there isn’t a road, you can just drive across the terrain.”
The company has 3,000 metres of drilling planned for Kao, which is still open. McInnis says he hopes to define the boundaries of the deposit.
In March, the company plans to drill another 2,000 metres at Goulagou.
“By then, we’ll have the Kao results and if we need to bring the rig back, we will,” McInnis says.
The company has committed itself to drill the first 5,000 metres, but has an option to do more drilling. It has about $1 million in the bank, which will cover the current program.
McInnis says he will see what the markets do over the next few months and wait for the results from the current drill program. Riverstone will likely do another financing in the next four to five months.
The company has four other early stage projects, including Yaramoko, which is about 300 km from Karma, and just south of Semafo’s (SMF-T, SEMFF-O) Mana gold project. Mana has proven and probable reserves of 9.2 million tonnes grading 3.06 grams gold per tonne for 903,000 oz. gold, while measured and indicated resources total nearly 302,000 oz. gold and inferred resources stand at 444,000 oz. gold.
In mid-January, Riverstone released some high-grade assays from the first drill program on Yaramoko. Of those, hole 22 returned a 14-metre intersection grading 2.04 grams gold, while hole 15 returned 6 metres grading 11.88 grams gold.
McInnis calls it a “real estate claim.”
“We said, ‘Let’s get a property near Mana and see what we can do.'”
Riverstone didn’t do anything at Yaramoko for a year, but after mapping and rock sampling returned grades of 1 to 12 grams gold per tonne, the company was able to trace a quartz vein system for 7 km.
McInnis says the 22 holes drilled in the fall reflected the values on surface, as well as the widths and grades at Mana.
He says he would like to take the drill over to Yaramoko after finishing up the drill program at Karma.
“We’re trying to find another drill, but it’s hard to find one,” McInnis says.
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