Historical Results - Zaranou, Gold Cote d'Ivoire

RNS Number : 8291R

IronRidge Resources Limited

02 July 2020

 

2 July 2020

Historical Data Defines Drill Ready Target at Yakassé

Current Drill Programme Expanded at Ehuasso and Ebilassokro Targets

Zaranou Gold Project

Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa

IronRidge Resources Limited (AIM: IRR, 'IronRidge' or the 'Company'), the African focussed minerals exploration company, is pleased to report the definition of a drill ready target at Yakassé within the Zaranou gold license ("Zaranou") in Côte d'Ivoire from recently secured historical data. Additionally, the Company is pleased to report that the second phase drilling programme currently underway has been enlarged over the Phase 1 drill area, now named the Ehuasso target ("Ehuasso"), as well as a new soil anomaly to the north-east, called the Ebilassokro target ("Ebilassokro"); both within the Zaranou license area. The license borders with Ghana and is along strike from significant operating gold mines including Chirano (5Moz), Bibiani (5.5Moz) and Ahafo (17Moz).

Any Figures or Tables referred to in this release can be viewed in the PDF version available via this link:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8291R_1-2020-7-2.pdf  

HIGHLIGHTS:

Ø Historical unverified data, including drilling data, secured from previous explorers AngloGold Ashanti ("AGA") and Etruscan Resources ("EET") over the Zaranou license area; confirms Yakassé as a significant soil anomaly target for follow-up drilling in the extreme south-west of the license area.

Ø A total of 279 Rotary Air Blast ("RAB") holes for 8,025m to a maximum depth of 50m thought to be completed by AGA and 186 Reverse Circulation ("RC") holes for 9,759m to a maximum depth of 80m thought to be completed by EET; both over the Yakassé target.

Ø Multiple high-grade RC drill intersections reported in unverified EET data, including highlights of (reported at a 0.2g/t gold cut-off and maximum 2m of internal dilution):

o  ALLRC099:  13m @ 5.91 g/t Au from 3m incl. 3m @ 21.22 g/t Au from 8m

o  ALLRC140:  9m @ 8.22 g/t Au from 11m

o  ALLRC141:  9m @ 5.04 g/t Au from 42m incl. 1m @ 38.93 g/t Au from 43m

o  ALLRC024:  14m @ 2.33 g/t Au from 32m incl. 12m @ 2.60 g/t Au from 34m

Ø Multiple high-grade RAB drill intersections reported in unverified AGA data including highlights of (reported at a 0.2g/t gold cut-off and maximum 2m of internal dilution):

o  ARB052:  25m @ 1.94 g/t Au from 0m, incl. 6m @ 5.00 g/t Au from 12m

o  ARB011:  28m @ 1.28 g/t Au from 4m

o  ARB040:  11m @ 2 g/t Au from 16m, incl. 6m @ 3.18 g/t Au from 16m

o  ARB041:  8m @ 1.77 g/t Au from 0m

Ø Yakassé target remains open at depth, along strike and below untested soil anomalies; drill ready targets defined at Yakassé below historic drilling, in addition to new soil anomalies defined along strike, which remain untested.

Ø Drill planning underway over the Yakassé target; to commence either on completion of the current drill programme or post wet season, weather and logistics dependent.

Ø Current drilling programme over the Ehuasso target, part of the broader Zaranou Project, has been enlarged along the 160m traverse spaced grid pattern from a planned 9,000m of Air-Core ("AC") and RC drilling to 15,000m of combined AC & RC drilling.

Ø An additional 6,000m of reconnaissance AC drilling in two traverses has been planned is and currently underway over the Ebilassokro target, approximately 10km to the north-east of Ehuasso; to test a large and coherent gold in soil anomaly and enhance the exploration pipeline along the 47km striking Zaranou shear structure.

Commenting on the Company's latest progress, Len Kolff, Chief Operating Officer of IronRidge, said:

"We are pleased to announce that the historical data we have secured has confirmed Yakassé as a significant target for follow-up drilling with multiple high-grade intervals reported .

"The historical third-party results correlate with surveyed collar positions from the field, where discovered and reported intercepts do coincide with internally defined soil anomalies independent of the historical data, providing a sufficient level of confidence in the data reported herewith."

"Historical drill intercepts have defined five mineralised zones over a 6km strike and up to 400m width, which remain open to the north and south. These zones are further enhanced by strong soil anomalies, which have not been drill tested historically, along strike and adjacent to drilling.

"A preliminary programme to test the Yakassé target and highest tenor historical drill intersections is being planned and will be scheduled to commence on completion of the current drilling programme, weather conditions permitting.

"The second phase drilling programme, which is currently underway, is progressing well and has been significantly enhanced from the original planned 9,000m programme to 15,000m over the Ehuasso target, with approximately 10,000m of AC drilling completed of the second phase programme to date.

"Additionally, the Company has further expanded the second phase drill programme to include approximately 6,000m of exploration drilling over the Ebilassokro soil anomaly, with two reconnaissance AC drill traverses planned to test the target whilst growing the exploration pipeline over the 47km strike Zaranou shear zone.

"The significant increase in meterage to the second phase programme from 9,000m to 21,000m of predominantly AC drilling is justified given the multiple, large scale targets defined along the Zaranou shear zone with coincident artisanal workings, soil anomalies and deep weathering profile, making grid AC drilling ideal to efficiently test the targets ahead of potential RC drilling."

Historical Drilling Data

The Company has secured unverified historical data of previous explorers active on the Zaranou license, including AngloGold Ashanti ("AGA") and Etruscan Resources ("EET").  The data has been reviewed in detail and where possible confirmed with field collar position surveys, providing a sufficient level of confidence in the unverified data.

A total of 279 RAB holes for 8,025m to a maximum depth of 50m and minimum depth of 2m was reportedly completed by AGA and a total of 186 RC holes for 9,759m to a maximum depth of 80m and minimum depth of 40m was reportedly completed by EET; both over the Yakassé target. Yakassé represents a high priority soil anomaly target outside of the area of current drilling, located in the extreme south-west of the license area where the Zaranou shear zone intersects the eastern margin of the Yakassé granite contact (refer RNS of 1 June 2020 ).

Multiple high-grade and broad low-grade intersections are reported within the RAB and RC data, with highlight intersections at greater than 3-gram meters listed in Table 1 below and all intersections at a 0.2g/t Au cut-off with maximum 2m of internal dilution listed in Appendix 1 .

When plotted up, all anomalous drill intersections define five mineralised zones over a 6km strike and up to 400m width. Mineralised zones coincide with previously reported soil anomalies (refer RNS of 1 June 2020 ) but in some cases do not appear to have drill tested the strongest part of the soil anomaly which remains open, especially in the south (refer Figure 1 ).

Drilling Programme

The second phase drilling programme is progressing well with over 10,000m of AC drilling from the planned second phase programme completed to date over the Ehuasso target. The original second phase programme has increased from 9,000m of combined AC and RC drilling to 15,000m over the Ehuasso target (refer Figure 2).

The increased meterage has been planned to close out the 160m spaced AC drill traverse grid along the Ehuasso target over a 3km strike by 400m to 900m wide zone, with deeper RC holes to bridge gaps below artisanal pits. Given the scale of the target and extensive artisanal workings, the extended 160m spaced grid was considered prudent as a definitive test of the target ahead of infill drilling for potential resource estimation.

In addition to the expanded Ehuasso grid AC-RC programme, the Company has planned approximately 6,000m of AC drilling over the Ebilassokro target which occurs 10km along strike to the north-east of the Ehuasso target (refer Figure 3). Two reconnaissance drill traverses utilising existing tracks have been planned to traverse the Ebilassokro soil anomaly (refer RNS of 1 June 2020) to expand the exploration target pipeline along the 47km strike Zaranou shear.

The Company will plan a drill programme to test the Yakasse target on the basis of the historical results reported herewith and the extended soil anomalies not yet tested by the historic drilling (refer Figure 1, Figure 3 and the RNS of 1 June 2020). Drilling is planned to commence either after completion of the current Ehuasso and Ebilassokro drilling, or after the wet season during fourth quarter 2020.

In light of global macro-economic uncertainty, the Company reports that it remains in a strong financial with in excess of USD6m cash in bank and in hand.

The Board remains delighted with the progress that the Company has made in 2020 to date and looks forward to reporting through a busy upcoming period.

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

For any further information please contact:

IronRidge Resources Limited Vincent Mascolo (Chief Executive Officer) Karl Schlobohm (Company Secretary) www.ironridgeresources.com.au	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser Jeff Keating Charlie Bouverat	Tel: [phone]
SI Capital Limited Company Broker Nick Emerson Jon Levinson	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]
Yellow Jersey PR Limited Henry Wilkinson Dominic Barretto Matthew McHale	Tel: [phone]

Competent Person Statement

Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Lennard Kolff (MEcon. Geol., BSc. Hons ARSM), Chief Geologist of the Company. Mr Kolff is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists who has in excess of 20 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Kolff consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Notes to Editors

IronRidge Resources is an AIM-listed, Africa focussed minerals exploration company with a lithium pegmatite discovery in Ghana, extensive grassroots gold portfolio in Cote d'Ivoire and a potential new gold province discovery in Chad. The Company holds legacy iron ore assets in Gabon and a bauxite resource in Australia. IronRidge's strategy is to create and sustain shareholder value through the discovery and development of significant and globally demanded commodities.

Ghana

The Company entered into earn-in arrangements with Obotan Minerals Limited, Merlink Resources Limited, Barari Developments Limited and Joy Transporters Limited of Ghana, West Africa, securing the first access rights to acquire the historical Egyasimanku Hill spodumene rich lithium deposit, estimated to be in the order of 1.48Mt at 1.67% Li2O and surrounding tenements. The portfolio covers some 684km² with the newly discovered Ewoyaa project including drill intersections of 128m @ 1.21% Li2O from 3m and 111m @ 1.35% Li2O from 37m, and a further identified 20km strike of pegmatite vein swarms. The Cape Coast lithium portfolio in Ghana is an emerging lithium province with a 14.5Mt at 1.31% Li₂O maiden Mineral Resource estimate (reported in accordance with the JORC Code) in Indicated and Inferred status at the Ewoyaa and Abonko deposits.   The tenure package is also highly prospective for tin, tantalum, niobium, caesium and gold, which occur as accessory minerals within the pegmatites and host formations.

Chad

The Company entered into an agreement with Tekton Minerals Pte Ltd of Singapore concerning its portfolio covering 900km² of highly prospective gold and other mineral projects in Chad, Central Africa. IronRidge acquired 100% of Tekton including its projects and team to advance the Dorothe, Echbara, Am Ouchar, Nabagay and Kalaka licenses, which host multiple, large scale gold projects. Trenching results at Dorothe, including 84m @ 1.66g/t Au (including 6m @ 5.49g/t & 8m @ 6.23g/t), 4m @ 18.77g/t Au (including 2m @ 36.2g/t), 32m @ 2.02g/t Au (including 18m @ 3.22g/t), 24m @ 2.53g/t Au (including 6m @ 4.1g/t (including 2m @ 6.2g/t) and 2m @ 6.14g/t), 14.12g/t Au over 4m, 34.1g/t over 2m and 63.2g/t over 1m, have defined significant gold mineralised quartz veining zones over a 3km by 1km area including the steep dipping 'Main Vein' and shallow dipping 'Sheeted Vein' zones.

Côte d'Ivoire

The Company entered into conditional earn-in arrangements in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa; securing access rights to highly prospective gold mineralised structures and pegmatite occurrences covering a combined 3,584km² and 1,172km² area respectively. The projects are well located within access of an extensive bitumen road network and along strike from multi-million-ounce gold projects and mines.

Australia

Monogorilby is prospective for province scale titanium and bauxite, with an initial maiden resource of 54.9MT of premium DSO bauxite. Monogorilby is located in central Queensland, within a short trucking distance of the rail system leading north to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

May Queen is located in Central Queensland within IRR's wholly owned Monogorilby license package and is highly prospective for gold. Historic drilling completed during the 1980s intersected multiple high-grade gold intervals, including 2m @ 73.4 g/t Au (including 1m at 145g/t), 4m @ 38.8g/t Au (at end of hole) and 3m @ 18.9g/t Au, over an approximate 100m strike hosting numerous parallel vein systems, open to the north-west and south-east.

Gabon

Tchibanga is located in south-western Gabon, in the Nyanga Province, within 10-60km of the Atlantic coastline.  This project comprises two exploration licenses, Tchibanga and Tchibanga Nord, which cover a combined area of 3,396km² and include over 90km of prospective lithologies and the historic Mont Pele iron occurrence.

Belinga Sud is Located in the north east of Gabon in the Ogooue-Ivindo Province, approximately 400km east of the capital city of Libreville. IRR's licence lies between the main Belinga Iron Ore Deposit, believed to be one of the world's largest untapped reserves of iron ore with an estimated 1bt of iron ore at a grade >60% Fe, and the route of the Trans Gabonese railway, which currently carries manganese ore and timber from Franceville to the Port of Owendo in Libreville.

Corporate

IronRidge made its AIM debut in February 2015, successfully securing strategic alliances with three international companies: Assore Limited of South Africa, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and DGR Global Limited of Australia. Assore is a high-grade iron, chrome and manganese mining specialist. Sumitomo Corporation is a global resources, mining marketing and trading conglomerate. DGR Global is a project generation and exploration specialist.

 

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