Predictive Discovery Ltd (ASX:PDI) has announced a swathe of impressive new high-grade gold intercepts at its flagship Bankan project in Guinea, extending the NE Bankan deposit at depth.
Step-out diamond drilling at NE Bankan testing the depth extent of the central high-grade zone produced broad, high-grade results, including:
- 26 metres at 7.0 g/t gold from 407 metres, including 11 metres at 13.6 g/t gold from 407 metres;
- 16.6 metres at 5.9 g/t from 393 metres, including 6 metres at 12.2 g/t from 400 metres; and
- 38 metres at 3.6 g/t from 380 metres, including 15 metres at 6.4 g/t from 395 metres.
Future growth potential
Predictive managing director Paul Roberts said the latest results demonstrated that NE Bankan was shaping up as a large gold deposit containing a deepening high-grade core zone with excellent geometry to support a large-scale open pit mine.
“These exciting new results confirm that the NE Bankan central high-grade gold zone is persisting to 400 metres vertical depth over a strike length of more than 100 metres and has obvious potential to grow further both to the south and at depth,” he said.
“The new geological model that has emerged from reinterpretation of the earlier diamond drill holes stands up well as a predictor of high-grade gold and will now be used for targeting the ongoing deep drilling program.
“Diamond drilling with two multi-purpose drill rigs continues to target high-grade gold mineralisation below the current limits of the MRE dataset, highlighting the future growth potential of the deposit.”
Shares have been as much as 18.6% higher on the news to 16 cents, up from 11 cents at the market close on September 6.
Geological signs boost outlook
Reinterpretation of earlier holes and ongoing drilling into the newly recognised high-grade gold zone has shown that the higher gold grades are strongest directly below a major shear zone, where it coincides with the contact between mafic volcanics (above) and gold mineralised felsic intrusive rocks (below).
Recognition of the shear, mafic and felsic contact control is now being used to target depth and along strike extensions to the high-grade zone, as well as infilling at shallower depths to gain a better understanding of the gold grade distribution at NE Bankan.
NE Bankan Longitudinal Projection showing new drill results (red labels) and holes for which assays are pending.
Next steps
Predictive is marching towards a mineral resource estimate (MRE) for NE Bankan and Bankan Creek, with the report expected by the end of this month.
Results are awaited from two more drill holes testing the same depth range at NE Bankan, with potential to extend the strike length of the high-grade zone further.
Diamond drilling is ongoing with two multipurpose drill rigs in operation. Both rigs are drilling infill holes at shallower levels within the high-grade zone to test for consistency of gold grades and distribution.
The rigs will then return to drilling holes at greater depths, between 400 and 450 metres below surface, to explore for deeper extensions to the high-grade gold zone, while aircore and power auger drilling is ongoing.
- Daniel Paproth