Resolute Mining has increased the measured and indicated resource estimate for its Tabakoroni gold deposit in Mali by 40%.
The asset which is part of its Syama project, now has 9.2 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 4.4 grams gold per tonne for 1.3 million oz. of contained gold. A recent estimate had outlined measured and indicated resources of 6.9 million tonnes averaging 4.3 grams gold per tonne for 960,000 ounces.
According to the company, the deposit remains open along strike and down dip. The Western Australia-based miner, which last year sold its Bibiani gold mine in Ghana to Asante Gold (TSXV: ASE), said the updated estimate confirmed the potential for a new open pit or an underground gold mine.
Tabakoroni goldfields
“The Tabakoroni deposit is only drilled to shallow depths, to date, and has significant potential to grow at depth and along strike to the north and south,” the company said in a press release.
Africa’s third-largest gold producer, Mali is home to industrial mines operated by companies including Barrick Gold, B2Gold, Resolute Mining, AngloGold Ashanti and Hummingbird Resources. Tabakoroni goldfields in southern Mali occur along a north-northeast trending mineralised litho-structural corridor that trends for approximately 40 km.
The deposits are interpreted to have formed during a craton-wide metallogenic event during the Eburnean orogeny. Gold mineralisation is hosted in quartz veins in tertiary splay shears of the Syama-Bananso Shear Zone. The Tabakoroni orebody is associated with quartz, carbonate and graphite (stylolite) veins, with pyrite and lesser amounts of arsenopyrite.
