Altus Strategies plc said it had encouraging initial results from its 10,000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme at its 100% owned Diba gold project in western Mali.
The Africa-focused company also reported discovering two new zones at the Diba NW prospect, 800m northwest of the main deposit.
Diba, located in a gold belt hosting numerous open pit mines, holds a shallow-dipping near-surface gold deposit and several other prospect areas. Intersections from the deposit include:
3.34 g/t Au over 60m from 17m (including 13.60 g/t Au over 9m)
4.48 g/t Au over 15m from 22m (including 7.18 g/t Au over 9m)
22.11 g/t Au over 6m from 89m
2.51 g/t Au over 12m from 3m (including 3.32 g/t Au over 7m)
A mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Diba comprises 4,834,000 tonnes at 1.39 g/t Au for 217,000 ounces in the indicated category, and 5,479,000 tonnes at 1.06 g/t Au for 187,000 ounces in the inferred category.
Altus said it expected further assay results from the balance of the drilling programme and it planned follow-up drilling during the second quarter of 2021 to include undrilled prospects.
Chief executive Steven Poulton described the results as excellent and added that the company was highly encouraged by intercepts outside the margins of the current MRE envelope. This indicated along strike and down-dip continuation, including 4.48 g/t Au over 15m from 22m on its western side and 22.11 g/t Au over 6m from 89m on its eastern side.
“The current drilling programme is also testing satellite prospects to the main Diba deposit. Initial results received from the Diba NW prospect indicate the discovery of two potentially significant, shallow-dipping and consistent zones of mineralisation totalling approximately 750m in strike length with intersections including 0.87 g/t Au over 21m from 79m.
“A number of priority prospects have not been tested in the current programme and we anticipate that these will be drilled in a follow-up programme, once physical access to the drill rig is complete.”
The RC drilling programme will comprise approximately 110 holes totalling 10,000m. Around 4,800m (over 52 holes) is being drilled in and around the part of the Diba deposit subject to the MRE, testing the potential down dip and along strike extensions, as well as infilling areas to increase the resource confidence. Approximately 5,200m is being drilled to test up to five priority prospects each located within 3km of the Diba Deposit.
Altus is also testing potential extension of the Diba MRE and drilling was undertaken along strike (to the north and south), down-dip (to the east) as well as targeting the potential for lenses to the west. The company added that to date, some 4,345m of drilling has been completed in 23 holes and assay results have been returned for 14 holes (covering approximately 1396m of drilling). Altus added that the results received to date confirmed potential on strike and down dip extensions. Three holes remain to be drilled.
Altus is a “project and royalty generator” in the mining sector making simultaneous mineral discoveries across multiple licences.
The company has a diverse portfolio across countries and commodities that generate royalties from sustainable long-term income projects. Its interests lie in Cameroon, Liberia, Ethiopia, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, West and South Mali and it focuses on gold, copper, iron ore, bauxite, zinc, silver and nickel.