SearchGold pulls high-grade gold in Gabon

Vancouver — A long, strong gold intercept from its Bakoudou-Magnima project in Gabon, Africa, had SearchGold Resources (RSG-V) stock inching upwards on high volume recently.

Bakoudou-Magnima is a joint venture between SearchGold and Managem, an African-based subsidiary of Morrocan ONA Holdings. Exploration efforts are focused on the eastern extension of the main Bakoudou zone, called Zone A. Soil geochemistry had been directing drills northeast, but a new hole to the southeast returned the longest high-grade intercept to date.

Hole 36 intersected 49.5 metres grading 16.39 grams gold per tonne from 133 metres depth, including 1 metre of 176.1 grams gold. The hole was collared to test the extension of Zone A south of an east-northeast-trending fault that offsets the mineralized body. Confirmation that mineralization continues south of the fault will alter future drilling plans.

Two other holes drilled to test extension past the fault also hit mineralization; assays for those holes are pending. All three holes were drilled with a southeast azimuth in order to intersect the east-northeast-trending fault at 90. Mineralized structures were intersected at a high angle, but intercepts do not represent true widths.

SearchGold traded as much as 11 higher on the news, but the stock closed up just 0.5 at 26.5 on trading volume of 16.8 million. The company has 124.5 million shares issued and outstanding, and a 52-week trading range of 10.5-43.

Bakoudou-Magnima is in southeastern Gabon, roughly 55 km southwest of the country’s second-largest city, Franceville. A main road runs into the project. The deposit at Bakoudou is classic vein-type mineralization hosted in the Achaean Chaillu massif. At Magnima, a greenstone belt composed primarily of mafic and felsic gneisses, quartzites, and iron formations runs through the permit area.

The area has been explored since the early 1980s, primarily by Comilog, BRGM, and Golden Gram Gabon. Searchgold began a scoping study of Zone A when it reactivated the project in 2003 using existing geological and metallurgical data. The study identified an oxide resource of 2.1 million tonnes grading 2.45 grams gold per tonne and a sulphide resource of 570,000 tonnes at 6.11 grams gold in the measured and indicated categories.

Recent work in the Bakoudou zone has focused on the northeast extension of Zone A, with diamond drilling returning some strong results. Hole 1 assayed 8.77 grams gold over 16 metres from 79 metres down-hole, near the centre of the zone; 50 metres northeast, hole 2 hit 9.5 metres grading 4.98 grams gold at 32 metres depth. Nearby, hole 4 returned 12.1 metres of 7.65 grams gold from 93 metres, and hole 6 intersected 1.6 metres of 36.94 grams gold from 69 metres.

Overall, results from Bakoudou indicate Zone A thickens at depth and also stretches east. SearchGold says the oxide portion of Zone A would be the starting point of a mining operation, with mine life extended by moving into fresh rock mineralization.

Searchgold signed a joint-venture agreement with Managem in 2005. Managem has since earned a 54% interest in Bakoudou-Magnima, and will acquire a further 9% once the bankable feasibility study is finalized. The remaining 10% is held by Sogecor, an agency of the Gabonese government.