Precious metals miner Altus Strategies has extended the diamond drilling programme at its Tabakorole gold project, in southern Mali, by 150 m.
The project hosts a mineral deposit for which a mineral resource estimate (MRE) has been generated comprising 16.6-million tonnes at 1.2 g/t gold for 620 000 oz in the inferred category, and 7.3-million tonnes at 1.2 g/t gold for 290 000 oz in the indicated category.
Altus holds a 49% equity interest and a 2.5% net smelter return royalty on the project.
Exploration activities at Tabakorole are being funded by ASX-listed Marvel Gold under a joint venture (JV) with Altus.
CEO Steven Poulton says the latest drilling results increase the strike length of the deposit to at least 3.2 km.
He adds that Marvel Gold is now “aggressively advancing” the project, with further drilling already under way targeting near-surface, high-grade intercepts that fall outside of the previously modelled mineralisation.
These drilling programmes are expected to contribute to an updated MRE in the third quarter of this year. In the meantime, a 5 100 m air core drilling programme is also under way, testing the potential for further strike extensions to the south.
Separately, two new contiguous licences totalling 87 km2 have been awarded and added to the Tabakorole JV.
Marvel Gold has already started exploration across these two licences, with soil surveys and ground magnetics under way to discover potential satellite deposits.