Predictive Discovery Ltd (ASX:PDI) and its joint venture partner, unlisted UK company Toro Gold Limited, have effectively doubled their area of ground within the Toro JV in Cote D’Ivoire, to 3,137 square kilometres from 1,537 square kilometres.
Toro can earn a 51% interest in Predictive Discovery's Cote D’Ivoire SARL, which holds Predictive’s interest in the four permits, by spending US$1 million on exploration and option payments.
The addition of four more permits enhances the prospects of the joint venture to make a major gold discovery, given promising early exploration results to date.
Adding to the promise, the permits are located in a region of major gold discoveries; the joint venture now holds a strategic 800 square kilometre contiguous block in the very well mineralised greenstone belt which hosts Newcrest Minerals' (ASX:NCM) operating Bonikro mine and Endeavour's Agbaou gold mine.
Diamond drilling is underway on the Beriaboukro permit, adjacent to the Kokoumbo permit, following discovery of gold mineralisation in 2015.
Beriaboukro lies directly to the south of the Kokoumbo permit, where earlier chip-channel samples collected in November 2015 provided significant promise including these:
- 44 metres at 3.8g/t gold, including 2 metres at 25.7g/t gold; and 26 metres at 2.9g/t gold.
Therefore, news flow will gain a big boost with the high impact 1,500 metres diamond drilling program underway at Kokoumbo and a 2,000 metre reverse circulation program at Boundiali, due to commence in April.
Paul Roberts, managing director for Predictive, commented, "We are very pleased with the excellent progress in our joint venture with Toro in Cote D’Ivoire.
"Geochemical results obtained to date on 3 of the 4 original permits have been highly encouraging and drilling is now under way.
"The addition of 4 more permits announced today increases the probability of making a major discovery on the joint venture ground and adds to the optionality of Predictive as a whole."
New tenements
The Toro JV operates through Predictive Cote D’Ivoire SARL and entered into a joint venture with a local Ivoirian company, Gold Ivoire Minerals SARL (GIV) over 1,600 square kilometres of ground, consisting of two permits and two permit applications.
Of these, the two granted permits, Beriaboukro (also known as Toumodi) and Ferkessedougou North, are of most exploration interest, and are both located on known gold-mineralised greenstone belts and returned the promising results.
Kokoumbo permit
The Kokoumbo permit is located some 40-50 kilometres from Newcrest Mining’s (ASX:NCM) Bonikro gold mine and Endeavour’s Agbaou gold mine within the Oume-Fetekro greenstone belt.
Recent large scale artisanal mining has exposed large areas of bedrock. Discussions by the joint venture partners with artisanal miners suggest that much of it is auriferous.
Further, conversations with some of them suggest that a significant proportion of the material they have removed is gold-bearing.
Large areas of exposure generated by artisanal miners in the past year can suggest that a substantial mineralised system could be present.
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