In Mali, Siribaya’s gold resource looks promising, especially alongside Boto

Posted by Daniel Gleeson on 19th October 2018

IAMGOLD Corp has provided results from its 2018 drilling program at the Diakha deposit on its wholly owned Siribaya project in Western Mali.  In 2018, the Company completed a combined diamond and Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program designed to infill and increase confidence in the current resource as well as target expansions of the Diakha deposit to support an updated resource estimate.  IAMGOLD acquired full ownership of the project from Merrex Gold. Assay results are reported for 100 drill holes totalling 14,634 m.

Infill Drill Holes:

  • SRD18-241: 8.0 m grading 8.31 g/t Au; includes 5.0 m grading 11.93 g/t Au and 6.0 m grading 10.15 g/t Au , which includes 3.0 m grading 19.80 g/t Au
  • SRD18-249: 13.0 m grading 6.05 g/t Au: includes 5.0 m grading 10.04 g/t Au
  • SRC18-753: 8.0 m grading 6.05 g/t Au and 4.0 m grading 6.77 g/t Au
  • SRC18-762: 52.0 m grading 1.61 g/t Au; includes 6.0 m grading 7.16 g/t Au
  • SRC18-783: 22.0 m grading 2.96 g/t Au; includes 8.0 m grading 4.66 g/t Au

Expansion Drill Holes:

  • SRD18-244: 7.0 m grading 12.46 g/t Au; includes 5.0 m grading 17.22 g/t Au
  • SRC18-728: 13.0 m grading 11.60 g/t Au; includes 5.0 m grading 22.37 g/t Au
  • SRC18-756: 17.0 m grading 1.39 g/t Au and 47.0 m grading 1.28 g/t Au; including: 11.0 m grading 2.17 g/t Au

Craig MacDougall, Senior Vice President, Exploration for IAMGOLD, stated, “We continue to be very pleased with the results of our delineation drilling programs,  which confirm not only wide zones of mineralization and locally high grades from infill holes within the existing resource, but also well mineralized intervals beyond the original resource limits.  The deposit now extends for nearly 3 km along strike, which we believe will positively impact an updated resource estimate due for completion by year end.”

The Siribaya project is wholly owned by IAMGOLD and consists of eight contiguous exploration permits which cover a total area of 596.5 km2, located in the Kédougou-Kéniéba inlier of the West African Craton region of western Mali along the borders with Senegal and Guinea.

The project hosts current mineral resources comprising Indicated resources of 2.1 Mt averaging 1.90 g/t Au for 129,000 oz and Inferred resources of 19.8 Mt averaging 1.71 g/t Au for 1.1 Moz.

Gold mineralization is hosted within highly prospective, Birimian-aged metasedimentary, volcanic and intrusive rocks proximal to the Senegal-Mali Shear Zone. At Diakha, the largest deposit discovered to date, gold mineralization occurs within an albitized sandstone unit similar to that hosting IAMGOLD’s Boto gold deposit located in Senegal about 10 km to the north along strike and for which a feasibility study is nearing completion. Boto comprises 236 km2, and has an Indicated resource of 1.6 Moz, with an average grade of 1.8 g/t Au, and a further 125,000 oz in Inferred resources grading 1.3 g/t Au (resources as at December 31, 2015).

The Sirbaya drilling results will be used to refine the deposit model to support an updated resource estimate expected by year end. Upon completion of the resource estimate, further drilling is anticipated in 2019 to continue to better define and expand resources at the Diakha deposit as well as explore other identified priority targets.