Dalaroo Metals has lifted the profile of its Bondoukou gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, after unearthing a massive 4.3km gold anomaly at its Gold Ridge prospect, with a peak soil result of 2188 parts per billion (ppb) gold from phase one geochemical sampling.
The anomaly sits within a broader 9km geophysical corridor and lines up with artisanal workings, quartz veining, favourable alteration, key rock contacts and a mapped fold-limb structure, strengthening the company’s geological model.
The hotspot also runs along the contact between metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, directly overlying a major corridor picked up from airborne geophysical data.
Recent mapping has also identified a prominent fold-limb structure that matches the strongest soil responses and artisanal mining, pointing to mineralisation being controlled by broader structural architecture rather than isolated rock units.
Adding to the prospect’s credentials are the extensive artisanal workings, mapped quartz vein systems, shear-related deformation, strong hydrothermal alteration and historical rock-chip assays up to 17.95 grams per tonne (g/t) gold. The combined indicators are consistent with the sort of structurally controlled Birimian gold systems seen elsewhere in West Africa.
A total of 454 soil samples from the recent survey returned better than 20ppb gold, including 27 above 200ppb gold, helping outline a mineralised corridor that remains open along strike.
The company is now about to roll out a 5000-metre auger drilling program ahead of maiden reverse circulation drilling to test whether the soil anomaly is sourced from weathered material or deeper bedrock mineralisation.
Dalaroo Metals exploration manager – West Africa, Frank Twum-Berima Bosompem said: "These results provide strong validation of the geological and structural model developed by our exploration team. The anomaly sits exactly where we anticipated mineralisation would occur - along the fold limb and lithological contact within the broader geophysical corridor.”
The latest result follows Dalaroo’s update last month, when the company said it had completed a district-scale soil program across an interpreted 9km-long corridor and sent more than 4300 samples for analysis.
Bondoukou sits 35km northwest of Endeavour Mining’s Tanda-Iguela gold system, which hosts an indicated resource of 4.5 million ounces grading 1.97g/t gold, in a part of Côte d’Ivoire known for large structurally controlled gold deposits.
With priority two assays still pending across an additional 4.7km of strike, Dalaroo still has room to add scale. If auger drilling confirms a bedrock source, Gold Ridge could quickly move into a stronger drill-ready play.
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By Doug Bright
