JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Multicommodity exploration and development company Sula Iron & Gold has started Phase 3 drilling at the Sanama Hill and Southern Target deposits at its flagship Ferensola gold project, in Sierra Leone.

Following an initial 1 500 m programme carried out in 2015 and the recently completed 3 800 m scout programme, the Phase 3 drilling will focus on areas of known high-grade mineralisation, the company said in an update to shareholders on Tuesday.

This drilling programme, which started on Monday, will aim to extend and infill the areas of known high-grade mineralisation and to improve the confidence in the geological interpretation to support a more accurate determination of the contained gold.

The new 5 000 m drilling contract with Equity Drilling is focusing primarily on the Sanama Hill and Southern Target deposits, using drill rigs that are on site. These rigs were used for the recently completed 3 800 m programme.

Sanama returned values of up to 15.9 g/t over 3.2 m, with 3.65 g/t over 21 m in the most recent drill programme, while the Southern Target showed 5.2 g/t over 1.2 m.

Meanwhile, 17 new target zones for gold mineralisation have been identified through a structural geology review. Independent consultant Tect Geological Consulting completed a detailed structural review of the licence, which identified 19 target zones at Ferensola, including Sanama Hill and the Southern Target.

Further, Sula has received all assay results from the recently completed 3 800 m drill programme, with highlights that include the confirmation of a new mineralised system at the newly identified TZ4 Southern Target, where FDD023 intersected two true thickness intervals of 0.8 m grading 1.59 g/t and 1.79 g/t.

These hits are 135 m distant from the previously reported discovery hole FDD021 (5.2 g/t over 1.22 m) and so provide evidence of potential to establish lateral continuity of mineralisation.

Results include a new zone of mineralisation beneath the Kuwait artisanal area from the underlying fresh material, where FDD024 hit a true thickness interval of 0.8 m at 2.13 g/t between 63 m and 64 m down the hole.

Further evidence of gold mineralisation at Sanama Hill was found where FDD020 hit true thickness intervals of 1.3 m at 0.97 g/t and 1.8 m at 1.48 g/t.

With this result, ten of the 14 drill holes into Sanama Hill have returned mineralisation with an average of 2.05 m at 3.9 g/t.

"This drill programme has continued to prove our confidence in Sanama Hill, demonstrating that there are thick high-grade pay-shoots to be found,” Sula CEO Roger Murphy commented in a statement on Tuesday.

He emphasised that the success at the Southern Target has confirmed the company’s belief in the regional potential of the Ferensola licence.

“The exciting results of the independent structural survey once again demonstrate the validity of our vision for Ferensola and confirm that there are many other areas that merit detailed investigation for gold mineralisation that we will be adding to future programmes,” he said.

Murphy was confident that the drilling programme, together with the results from the previous two drill programmes, would “continue to take this project towards the potential that Sula has always seen”.