Focused Drilling Leads To 54% Increase At Mali Mine
Marvel Gold Limited (ASX: MVL) has confirmed its successful transition to a Mali-focused gold explorer with the release of the JORC Mineral Resource Estimate of 910,000oz grading 1.2 g/t gold for the Tabakorole Gold Project.
The upgraded Mineral Resource represents a 54% increase in ounces and a 20% increase in grade from the 2007 resource estimate with a total combined Mineral Resource of 23.9 million tonnes at 1.2 g/t for 910,000 ounces, 32% of which is classified as Indicated.
Critically 43% of the Mineral Resource (390koz) sits within 100m of surface, increasing confidence for an open-pittable production scenario.
Managing Director, Phil Hoskins, said that since acquiring the project interest, Marvel has completed 1,544m of diamond drilling which, in combination with the 2010-2014 drilling, has been included in the current Resource estimate.
“This is a significant improvement in the Mineral Resource for Tabakorole,” Mr Hoskins said.
A 54% increase in ounces combined with a 20% improvement in grade is an excellent outcome that has exceeded our own expectations. From the outset, we firmly believed that a revised approach to resource modelling, together with the incorporation of results of both our recent drilling and historic drilling, presented an opportunity to grow the Tabakorole Mineral Resource. To have delivered the maiden JORC resource of almost one million ounces of gold is an exceptional result that has validated our approach and confirmed the opportunity at Tabakorole.
“We have known mineralised strike extensions to follow up whilst the deposit remains open at depth. Combined with recent transactions that have increased our landholding at Tabakorole to 375km2 and the demonstrated regional prospectivity, we are confident that further resource growth can be achieved. We look forward to starting Stage Two drilling in the December Quarter.”
The Tabakorole MRE is defined over a 2.9km strike length with 43% of the resource (390koz) within approximately 100m of surface. The deposit demonstrates consistently thick zones which indicate the potential for a relatively low mining strip ratio. Figure 1 shows the Tabakorole MRE in long section by estimated grades.
