Volta hits surface gold in Burkina Faso

Vancouver – Volta Resources‘ (VTR-T) recent drill program at its Kampti III gold property in Burkina Faso has returned the best hole to date from the project.

The 20-hole reverse circulation (RC) program was spread between the three zones Volta has identified at Kampti III, known as zones A, B, and C. The best hit came in zone B where a north-northwest trending structure hosts numerous artisanal gold workings. Hole 66 returned 41 metres from surface grading 3.23 grams gold per tonne, including 9 metres averaging 9.46 grams gold.

In fact, four of the five holes drilled at zone B returned significant grades. Hole 68 cut 2 metres at surface grading 1.44 grams gold, then at 43 metres downhole the drill hit 5 metres of 6.84 grams gold followed by 6 metres of 4.28 grams gold. Similarly, hole 67 intercepted 2 metres at surface grading 3.93 grams gold and then hit 12 metres averaging 1.04 grams gold at 63 metres depth.

To date, the mineralized structure at B has been traced over 300 metres strike and remains open. Earlier results include 12 metres of 6.72 grams gold from 102 metres depth and 8 metres of 11.8 grams gold from 59 metres depth.

The majority of the drill program tested zone A, a parallel structure 750 metres west of zone B, and returned promising results. Hole 79 cut two intercepts: 4 metres grading 6.12 grams gold from 18 metres downhole and 19 metres of 1 gram gold from 80 metres depth. Hole 80 returned 37 metres averaging 0.66 gram gold from surface and hole 83 cut 8 metres of 4.15 grams gold from 11 metres downhole.

The north-northwest structure at A has been defined over several kilometres by coincident chargeable and resistive zones in an induced polarization survey. In its central 700 metres of strike the zone widens and is crosscut by a northeast-trending shear zone. Mineralization is associated with narrow quartz vein arrays, sulphides, silicification, and local kaolinization. Volta’s drilling efforts have traced 300 metres of strike, still open. Earlier results include 28 metres of 3.64 grams gold from 101 metres depth, 2 metres of 35 grams gold at 130 metres depth, and 3 metres of 8.4 grams gold from 73 metres downhole.

And Volta punched one hole into zone C in order to test another north-northeast structure lying northeast of zone A that earlier returned 8 metres grading 12.3 grams gold from 102 metres depth. The single follow-up hole in the recent program, hole 85, returned 3 metres grading 0.4 gram gold. More drilling is planned for zone C.

Kampti III is part of the Hounde Belt of southern Burkina Faso. Volta is the child of an early 2008 merger of Birim Goldfields and Goldcrest Resources; Goldcrest acquired the 245-sq.-km project in late 2004.

The company’s other main project, the Gaoua copper-gold property, sits just 70 km east of Kampti. Comprised of three permits totalling 690 sq. km, Gaoua covers 35 km of strike along a porphyry trend identifiable through geophysics. And on that trend Volta has defined two deposits, Dienemera and Gongondy, that sit 7 km apart. Both are characterized by the presence of copper-gold mineralization hosted by hydrothermal breccias.

In February Volta defined an initial inferred resource at Gaoua of 82.6 million inferred tonnes grading 0.4% copper and 0.4 gram gold. Volta sees considerable room for expansion.

First, both Gongondy and Dienemera are open in several directions: Dienemera remains open along strike in both directions and down dip while Gongondy is open to the north and down dip. Second, Volta’s modeling and geophysical work indicate the potential for a postmineral gabbro intrusive to the west of Gongondy that could add more than 800 metres of additional strike to the 1.8 km of strike defined to date.

Third, the 7-km gap between Dienemera and Gongondy exhibits chargeability anomalies similar to those at each deposit, even though the area did not elicit a geochemical response. The lack of anomalous soils could well be due to regolith masking. Volta plans to drill-test the gap soon. And, finally, there is a third zone known as Mont Biri 2 km north of Dienemera that is known to host porphyry style copper-gold mineralization that has to date seen only limited exploration. Drill results from an earlier operator include 13 metres of 1.53% copper and 1.07 grams gold.

To test all of these expansion possibilities Volta has planned an 85-hole auger-drilling program at Gongondy. The plan is to drill a hole every 50 metres along five traverses spaced 400 to 500 metres apart and 300 to 900 metres long. The auger holes will only reach some 7 metres depth, sufficient to penetrate the regolith cover and test the rock underneath. Similarly, Volta plans to punch 233 auger holes into the gap between Gongonday and Dienemera along seven traverses.

At the end of March Volta had $4.9 million in cash and equivalents as well as marketable securities then worth $2.9 million. On news of the Kampti III drill results the company’s share price gained 3¢ to close at 22¢. Volta has a 52-week trading range of 5¢ to 67¢ and has 53 million shares outstanding.