Akora Resources Ltd (ASX:AKO) has begun direct shipping iron ore infill drilling at Bekisopa Northern and Central zones of the Bekisopa Iron Ore Project in Madagascar.
The company has prepared 65 drill pads on a 50-by-50-metre grid in the Northern and Central zones.
Bekisopa is a high-grade iron ore project with a ~6-kilometre strike length and an inferred resource of 194.7 million tonnes. It has outcropping and weathered zone DSO iron ore and the potential to produce a premium grade +68% iron concentrate suitable for Direct Reduced Iron pellets for the Green Steel future.
“Bekisopa 2023 direct shipping iron ore infill drilling is well advanced potentially adding more quality high-grade DSO iron ore tonnes to the 5.5 million tonnes already announced in July 2023 from just the Southern Zone,” Akora managing director and CEO Paul Bibby said.
“Community consultation has commenced and early feedback is supportive and encouraging. The consultation project and weather station are important steps for progressing onto the pre-feasibility study once the WAI Scoping Study report is delivered.
“I am visiting Bekisopa with our new director, Matt Gill, in the coming weeks. Commencing at the port of Toliara, we will then drive to Bekisopa for community meetings, then a site visit. On returning to Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, we will have meetings with the Mining Ministry, engineering firms and associates.”
Bekisopa infill drill locations in the Northern and Central zones at Bekisopa.
The campaign in detail
The 2023 North and Central Bekisopa drilling campaign follows the successful 2022 DSO infill drilling campaign and iron ore mineral resource estimate update in the Bekisopa Southern Zone.
Read: Akora Resources lifts Bekisopa’s Southern Zone iron ore MRE by 34% to 5.54 million tonnes
Akora is drilling in the Northern Zone and will then move to the Central Zone and has planned for 65 shallow drill holes for a total of 850 drilled metres over the combined areas.
Since drilling started on July 20, it has completed 13 Northern Zone drill holes for a total of 247 metres. Average drill depth is 19 metres.
At surface drill core from the Northern Zone drill hole BEKD149, showing potential DSO lump and fines iron ore in the weathered zone.
Consulting local community
As drilling continues, Akora’s board expects to start the Bekisopa Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS).
This will be done once the scoping study being prepared by Wardell Armstrong International, is complete. This study is due in October 2023.
In preparation for the PFS, Akora has begun a Community Consultation and Environmental Impact Assessment Review process, with initial meetings conducted at the Tanamarina and Bekisopa villages.
Akora will also undertake an environmental survey across the Bekisopa tenement area to establish a reference point for future studies. A weather monitoring station has been installed to continuously capture temperature, wind and rainfall data over the next 12 or more months which will be incorporated into the PFS.
What’s next?
Once the standard infield geological logging evaluations have been done, Akora will turn its attention to drill core samples which will be prepared at the OMNIS laboratory in Antananarivo.
Assay pulps will be sent to the ALS Iron Ore Technical Centre in Perth, Australia, for chemical assaying.
Samples will be taken from this drilling campaign, and from the 2022 drill core, for laboratory density measurements. These accurate density results will be used in determining the updated mineral resource estimate tonnage.
Once the DSO infill drilling is done, several deeper monitoring drill holes will be completed to obtain geophysical and water table measurements to be incorporated into the PFS.