Diamond Fields Resources Inc. target Moydow Holdings Ltd. has commenced a drilling program on the Labola gold project in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The drill program is intended to improve the definition of the current resource and potentially contribute to an expansion of the National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate announced on Oct. 25, 2021. In addition, Moydow will commence drill testing on several other targets across the expanded licence area.
The Labola project comprises two exploration licence areas, Wuo Land and Wuo Land 2. Moydow completed a 31-hole, 4,739-metre drilling program of twin and infill drilling between May and August, 2021, on the Wuo Land licence. The primary objective of the 2021 drilling program was to validate the historical High River Gold Mines Ltd. and Taurus Gold Ltd. drilling databases to estimate a maiden mineral resource estimate prepared in accordance with the provisions of NI 43-101:
Indicated mineral resource estimate: 5.41 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.52 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) (264,000 ounces (oz));Inferred mineral resource estimate: 6.93 Mt at 1.67 g/t Au (371,000 oz).
- Indicated mineral resource estimate: 5.41 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.52 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) (264,000 ounces (oz));
- Inferred mineral resource estimate: 6.93 Mt at 1.67 g/t Au (371,000 oz).
The 2021 drilling program covered the main area of historical drilling and focused on the Daramandougou and Wuo Ne target areas. As announced on March 11, 2022, the footprint of the Labola project was extended by an additional 243 square kilometres (km) following Moydow’s acquisition of an option over an exploration licence (Wuo Land 2) contiguous to the existing licence area. Importantly, the company now has control of approximately 30 km of strike length along the mineralization corridor.
Labola project exploration
The Labola project lies in the Banfora Birimian greenstone belt, one of the three major mineralized belts in western Burkina Faso. Gold mineralization at the Labola project is spatially associated with sulphides and quartz sericite alteration. Historical geophysics (IP (induced polarization) and EM (electromagnetic)) surveys have helped define a 30-kilometre-long mineralized corridor. Within this corridor, historical and recent mapping and sampling, combined with the widespread activity of artisanal miners, has identified seven structures with mapped extents of 15 km to 25 km. The 2021 drilling program conducted by Moydow concentrated on only a small portion of this belt, toward the northern end of the central western and eastern structures. Drill testing has covered only between 6 per cent and 25 per cent of the mapped strike length of these three structures and rarely to depths of more than 100 metres (m). The current resource, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, was based upon validated historical and recent drilling.
The objective of the next phase of exploration work is to infill and extend the previous drill pattern on areas of known mineralization. Additionally, the program will test the tenor and continuity of some of the other structures that have been identified through its mapping and sampling campaign and are currently being exploited at surface by artisanal gold miners.
Preliminary metallurgical test work conducted by High River and Taurus suggested that the gold present in the licence area is treatable by conventional cyanide leaching. Recoveries were seen to be 90 per cent to 98 per cent in the oxide zone and 82 per cent to 93 per cent in the transitional and sulphide zone. During the exploration work undertaken by Moydow, LeachWell accelerated cyanide bottle roll testing was used alongside fire assay analysis of drill samples and the results have provided further indication that the gold mineralization is essentially free milling in line with historical and regional metallurgical results. A wider metallurgical test program to confirm these results will be implemented as the Labola project advances.
Moydow transaction update
On Aug. 25, 2021, the company announced that it had entered into definitive agreements to acquire privately owned Moydow. The TSX Venture Exchange provided conditional approval to the transaction in April, 2022, subject to shareholder approval and other standard conditions. The company is holding its annual general and special meeting of the shareholders on June 9, 2022, to, among other things, seek approval to the transaction. The management information circular for the meeting, setting out the particulars of the transaction, was mailed to shareholders in mid-May, 2022. A copy of the management information circular is available on the company’s profile on SEDAR. Further information about the transaction, including a corporate presentation, is available on the company’s website.
Subject to shareholder approval, the transaction is anticipated to close before the end of June, 2022. Shareholders are encouraged to review the management information circular and vote their proxies for the upcoming meeting.
David J. Reading, MSc, FIMM, fellow of SEG, a director of Diamond and a qualified person as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects), has prepared or supervised the preparation of, or approved, as applicable, the technical information contained in this press release. Mr. Reading has over 40 years of experience in the mining industry, covering all stages of mine development, including exploration, feasibility, financing, construction and operations. He has an MSc in economic geology and is a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and of the Society of Economic Geologists.
About Diamond Fields Resources Inc
Diamond is a TSX Venture Exchange-listed exploration and mine development company with assets in Madagascar and Namibia. In Madagascar, Diamond is developing the Beravina project, an advanced high-grade hard-rock zircon exploration prospect located in the west of the country, approximately 220 km east of the port of Maintirano and close to a state road. Diamond acquired Beravina from Pala Investments and Austral Resources in 2016. In Namibia, the company owns several offshore diamond mining licences, including the ML 111 concession which has a 10-year mining licence, effective until Dec. 4, 2025. In 2018 and early 2019, mining undertaken by a contractor on the company’s ML 111 licence area produced two parcels of rough diamonds totalling 47,318.41 carats.
