Pan African resumes drill program in Mali

CDN-listed Pan African Resources is returning for another round of drilling to define the extent of a gold zone discovered last year on the Dioulafoundou project in western Mali.

In 1995, the company identified mineralization along a strike length of 275 metres, following an 8-hole, 1,136-metre drill program. The zone is up to 15 metres thick with average grades of 2.5 and 3 grams per tonne. Mineralization is open to the north, east and west, and underlies a wide zone of artisanal workings.

The new program will involve 5,000 metres of reverse-circulation drilling on the Main zone and on four new targets identified by ground geophysics and auger drilling. (Two of the targets are coincident with known artisanal workings.) The most significant result from the auger program was the discovery of a 700-by-1,000-metre zone of mineralization with gold values of up to 1.1 grams per tonne.

“The systematic application of state-of-the-art methods has shown that our property may be more prospective than originally anticipated,” says Pan African President Adrian Fleming.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Ivory Coast, TSE-listed Golden Star Resources (which owns 60% of Pan African) has been granted permits to explore the 2,104-sq.-km Comoe property; these are in addition to the 225-sq.-km Kregbe permit.

The permits relate to an agreement, signed early last year, granting Golden Star the exclusive right to explore a 15,000-sq.-km area.

Golden Star will transfer the permits to Pan African, subject to government approval.

Pan African has conducted considerable airborne geophysics over the permit areas, which lie in the Birimian greenstone belt. Interpretations of the geophysics identified 15 gold targets, as well as eight kimberlite pipe-like bodies which could have potential for diamonds.

The next phase of exploration will involve drilling the gold targets. More work on the pipe-like structures will be required to determine how prospective they are.

Since November 1995, Golden Star has applied for 14 exploration permits and, so far, 10 have been granted.