Toubani Resources Inc (ASX:TRE, OTC:AGGFF) has made a new shallow gold discovery at a never-before drilled target right next door to Kobada Main deposit within the 3.1-million-ounce Kobada Project in southern Mali.
The first-ever drill holes at Kobada West have delineated continuous, near-surface oxide gold mineralisation with consistent grades and thicknesses on every section drilled to date.
Kobada West, which is less than 1 kilometre northwest from Kobada Main and outside the current mineral resource, is interpreted to lie on a parallel structure.
Strong results
Results include:
- 9 metres at 1.72 g/t gold from 63 metres including 2 metres at 6.26 g/t;
- 1-metre at 11.3 g/t from 129 metres and 5 metres at 1.26 g/t from 116 metres;
- 5 metres at 1.24 g/t from 78 metres and 3 metres at 0.93 g/t from 106 metres; and
- 11 metres at 0.55 g/t from 16 metres, 2 metres at 2.66 g/t from 58 metres and 3 metres at 1.12 g/t from 63 metres.
Toubani's chief executive officer Phil Russo said: “The consistency and continuity of mineralisation at Kobada West is very pleasing to see and is validation that the more we drill at Kobada, the more mineralisation is uncovered.
"Further, to discover this extensive mineralisation right next door to the main Kobada resource is a fantastic result.”
Plan showing location of Kobada West within the Kobada Gold Project.
Success at five targets
Kobada West target area was identified by the presence of artisanal workings as well as historical surface sampling.
The number of holes drilled at this target was increased during the drill program due to recent artisanal activity observed by Toubani’s geologists as well as logging of the initial drill holes.
Results from Kobada West confirm that gold mineralisation has been intersected at all five planned extensional targets defined by Toubani in 2023.
They extend the overall strike extent of mineralisation defined by drilling at the project by 6 kilometres to 11 kilometres.
"For a project of scale and maturity like Kobada to still be able to make new discoveries is such a rare combination and with our 2023 drill program now intersecting new mineralisation across all planned targets, we have had an exceptional success rate,” Russo added.
"Toubani’s vision of defining a long-life, oxide-dominant project of scale is supported by our drilling success to date and we look forward to demonstrating this potential as our optimisation efforts advance in the coming months.”
What comes next?
The company’s 13,750-metre drill program has recently been completed with results due in the coming weeks from Kobada North, Kobada Junction and Foroko.
At Kobada West, Toubani is planning step-out drilling along strike to the north and south to test for extensions to this new gold discovery as well as infill RC drilling to reduce the section spacing to 100 metres for resource modelling.
Optimisation workstreams continue to advance with an update due later in the June quarter. The company is investigating the potential of an oxide-dominant project of scale at various throughput scenarios.