Kouri Gold Project: updated Mineral Resource Estimate of 1 million oz of gold

RPM estimates an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 20.8 million t at 1.5 g/t gold for 1 million oz of contained gold at a 0.5 g/t gold lower cut-off grade. The contained gold in the Mineral Resource is around double the size of the previous Exploration Target. According to Golden Rim Resources, approximately 15.3% of the Mineral Resource is classified as Indicated and the remainder is classified as Inferred.

RPM provided the Mineral Resource estimate based on the results of 271 reverse circulation (RC) holes (37 832 m) and 12 diamond holes (1513 m) drilled by Golden Rim between April 2013 and March 2018 over a strike length of 3.2 km. The Mineral Resource has been reported above an elevation of 180 m (approximately 90 m below surface) for which the material is considered to have reasonable prospects for economic extraction.

The depth was selected by running a preliminary pit optimisation to determine the likely depth of open cut mining based on mineralisation defined by drilling to date and using the parameters as outlined in the notes beneath the Mineral Resource tables. RPM is of the opinion that there are reasonable expectations that additional drilling will eventually define extensions to the lodes that will allow extraction of all mineralisation to this depth by open cut methods.

Further drilling and a pit optimisation study are required before the gold mineralisation deeper than 90 m can potentially be added to the Mineral Resource. At this stage, the mineralisation is likely to extend from surface to beyond approximately 130 m below surface on average, which is the deepest extent of the current drilling.

While a detailed schedule and option analysis has not been completed to confirm the optimal mining method, given the steeply dipping continuous style of mineralisation within sheet-like shears and its occurrence near surface within the currently defined resource areas, open pit mining is likely to be appropriate, pending the option analysis. Additional mining design and more detailed and accurate cost estimate mining studies and test work are required to confirm viability of extraction.

Commenting on the results, Golden Rim’s Managing Director, Craig Mackay, said: “The release of the maiden Mineral Resource for Kouri is a major milestone for Golden Rim. We have now advanced our grassroots gold discovery to a significant Mineral Resource of 1 million oz, which has exceeded our expectation and is approximately double the Exploration Target.”

“The sizable, and potentially open pittable, Mineral Resource and the excellent results of our initial metallurgical test work on the gold mineralisation which achieved gold recoveries in excess of 95.5% across all material types have provided the project with a solid foundation on which to move forward.”

“The next step at Kouri is to continue our drilling to further extend the Mineral Resource. The Mineral Resource has only been estimated to approximately 90 m below surface and it remains open at depth. In addition, we have just discovered a new high-grade gold lode (intercepts including 6 m at 25.2 g/t gold) which sits outside the maiden Mineral Resource and this lode will be the focus for our drill holes in the next few weeks.”

“We now plan to continue our drilling over the next 12 months to test additional targets in the immediate Mineral Resource area and then the highly prospective shear zone that extends 12.5 km to the southwest.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/finance-business/03052018/updated-mineral-resource-estimate-at-kouri-gold-project-of-1-million-oz-of-gold/