Dalaroo Metals has delivered another significant gold intersection at its Bondoukou Gold Ridge project in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, hitting a 13-metre-thick zone of mineralisation grading 2.67 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 87m depth. The interval, at its fresh Wilfred prospect, also included a higher-grade six-metre core running at 4.19g/t gold from 87m and is just 1.25 kilometres along strike from its recent high-grade Fournier discovery.
Other intercepts in the same hole include 7m going 0.84g/t gold from 63m, 6m assaying 0.78g/t gold from 78m and a deep single-metre interval grading 16.2g/t from 187m.
The latest headline hit at the Wilfred prospect confirms that the company’s spectacular maiden discovery hole at Fournier last month was no flash in the pan. The Fournier discovery comprises results from two opposing holes drilled to more than 200m depth as part of Dalaroo's maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling orientation program at the project. The scissored holes were the first drilling undertaken across the seven-kilometre-long Gold Ridge target corridor.
One of those two holes returned a headline hit of 18m at 7.31g/t gold from 63m and a second, deeper zone of 16m at 1.46g/t gold from 113m. The opposing hole, collared 43m northeast of the headline hole, also gave up a healthy 23-metre intercept assaying 2.14g/t gold from surface.
Now, with a similar style of mineralisation appearing 1.25km away on the northernmost Wilfred section - directly along strike from Fournier - Dalaroo believes it could be on the cusp of defining a potentially significant mineralised corridor.
For explorers, geological consistency is a major tick in the box when working to prove up a large-scale, economic deposit. It suggests a predictable and potentially extensive system.
Dalaroo says that while its results so far show meaningful gold grades and widths at the two widely separated locations, mineralisation continuity between sections has not yet been established. However, Dalaroo says the similarity of alteration, quartz-sulphide veining and prospective host rocks at the two locations supports its working model of a possibly uniform and major structurally controlled gold system.
Dalaroo Metals managing director John Morgan said: "The intersection of a new zone of significant gold mineralisation at the Wilfred Prospect, 1.25km from the Fournier discovery hole, is an excellent result and strongly supports our view that a large mineralised system is present at Bondoukou. We are very encouraged by the fact that the results from the first two prospects drilled at the Bondoukou Gold Ridge have both delivered significant gold intercepts from our maiden drilling program."
Encouraged by the latest results and with growing promise of potentially bigger things ahead, the company says it's moving immediately to crank up an expanded 1750-metre diamond drilling program, alongside preparations for a major induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey.
The Wilfred and Fournier prospects are both situated on the 40-kilometre-long Bondoukou Gold Ridge, a major regional structure which has seen little modern exploration. Dalaroo’s early maiden drilling successes suggest the entire ridge could be highly prospective for further gold discoveries.
With its apparently persistent, open-ended mineralisation along strike and at depth, the Wilfred area offers an abundance of immediate follow-up drill targets. That 1.25-kilometre-long stretch of untested ground between Fournier and Wilfred now looms as a high-priority target zone for Dalaroo. Any success in connecting the two prospects could quickly elevate the scale of the company’s find.
Dalaroo’s maiden drilling program at Bondoukou represents the first ever drilling put into the ground and it has already thrown up two significant gold discoveries at two separate but potentially structurally-linked prospects, returning significant gold intercepts in eight of the twelve holes reported to date.
The company appears well-funded to accelerate its exploration plans, reporting a cash position of $3.1 million at the end of the recent October quarter.
After the initial excitement of the high-grade Fournier discovery, the company's recent follow-up successes at Wilfred add real substance to the company's West African campaign. The focus now will be on just how far this gold system extends.
With assays still outstanding for several other holes drilled at the Wilfred prospect, and an upcoming diamond drilling program being prepared, Dalaroo could have plenty more to shout about as its emerging West African gold story gathers momentum.
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