Golden Rim Resources Ltd (ASX:GMR, OTC:GMRMF) has updated its mineral resource estimate (MRE) to 30.3 million tonnes at 0.95 g/t for 923,000 ounces of contained gold across the Massan and Bereko prospects at the company’s Kada Gold Project in Guinea.
The updated MRE for Kada contains a maiden resource for the Bereko prospect and an update for the Massan prospect.
After the resource upgrade, a significant portion of Massan is now classified as indicated, which includes more than 40% of oxide material and 24% of Massan resources.
The project covers 150 square kilometres in the centre of the highly prospective Sigiuri Basin in eastern Guinea – an underexplored and emerging gold region.
Kada Project updated mineral resource estimate
“Exciting deposit”
Encouraged by the potential of the project, Golden Rim managing director Tim Strong said: “The updated mineral resource estimate at Kada confirms the potential of this exciting deposit.
“A comprehensive structural study using an orientated diamond core at Massan allowed us to refine our modelling and has resulted in a significant portion of the mineral resource being classified as Indicated, including over 40% of the oxide material.
“For the new MRE, we have deliberately chosen to use a higher cut-off and a more conservative pit shell to increase confidence in the potential for Kada to be a high-profit operation.
“Applying the same cut-off parameters as our maiden MRE (0.33 g/t gold cut-off for oxide/transitional material and 0.41 g/t for fresh material), we have added almost 200,000 ounces (20%) to the gold inventory."
Massan mineral resource 3D perspective view, looking northeast
MRE highlights
- Significant portion of Massan now classified as indicated: including >40% of oxide material and 24% of Massan resources.
- Majority of MRE comprises shallow oxide-transitional gold: totals 58% of the MRE ounces (17.4 million tonnes at 1.0 g/t gold for 536,000 ounces).
- Positive mining characteristics: broad zones of soft oxide-transitional gold mineralisation from surface to ~100 metres depth; clear potential for free-digging, low-strip, low-cost development.
- Favourable metallurgical recoveries: test-work indicates the gold mineralisation is amenable to simple cyanide leach processing, with recoveries up to 97% in oxide.
- Exceptional mineral resource growth potential: MRE open at depth, with intersections up to 12 metres at 2.5 g/t gold below the conservative US$1,800 pit-shell
- Analogies with the +10 million-ounce gold Siguiri Mine Complex: gold-bearing quartz-sulphide-tourmaline stockwork mineralisation, with a deep >100-metre oxide zone, very similar to the mineralisation at AngloGold Ashanti (ASX:AGG)’s Siguiri Mine, 35 kilometres north along the same mineralisation trend.
- Under-explored and emerging gold region: the Siguiri Basin in Guinea remains highly under-explored; highlighted by recent 5.4-million-ounce gold discovery at Bankan by Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI).
Converting Massan to indicated
Upon completion of the maiden inferred MRE in March 2022, Golden Rim focused on converting the central Massan area to indicated via strategic diamond and RC drilling and structural studies, as well as exploring some prospects along the 15-kilometre-long gold corridor, notably Bereko.
This has allowed Golden Rim to expand the footprint of the MREs and convert a significant portion to the indicated category, a necessary step in project advancement.
The updated Massan MRE includes >24% of indicated material, with a total of >40% of the oxide gold now classified as such.
The indicated oxide material represents the highest-grade area of the Massan deposit.
$GMR Golden Rim Resources' maiden Kada MRE is worth its weight in gold https://t.co/z4zZTiF1fO @goldenrimres #GMR #ASX #ASXNews— Proactive Australia (@proactive_au) March 4, 2022
Room to grow
Within the MRE area at Massan, most zones of mineralisation are open at depth and extend far beneath the constraining pit shell.
There is also an unexplored area at a depth between 1,224,280 metres and 1,224,400 metres Northing.
There is potential to flatten out the pit floor and add significant ounces with very minimal drilling in this area.
Strong added: “Our next steps will be to target further oxide growth at several prospective targets, including Sounkou 13 kilometres southwest of Massan, Bereko South and Sadan.
“We also have the option to add resources at Massan with a small amount of drilling around the margins, as mineralisation extends well beyond the limits of the current MRE.”
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