Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU, TSX:PRU, OTC:PMNXF) has rounded out a resource definition drill program at the Nkosuo prospect, just 7 kilometres down the road from its Edikan Gold Mine in Ghana.
During the campaign, the company uncovered:
- 2.5 metres at 87.3 g/t gold from 250.5 metres;
- 30.2 metres at 1.68 g/t from 102.34 metres and 12.2 metres at 8.03 g/t from 136.5 metres; and
- 9 metres at 13.93 g/t from 15 metres.
The precious metals explorer completed resource drilling over the deposit’s northern section, paving the way for a mineral resource estimate (MRE) at the property.
Perseus hopes to finalise the MRE by the end of the June quarter, and says the assays to date confirm that Nkosuo hosts near-surface, granite-hosted gold mineralisation similar to that mined in Edikan’s Fobinso and Abnabna (AG) pits.
There’s more to explore, with mineralisation and granite host remaining open to the south, while Perseus believes the Nkosuo discovery has potential to extend Edikan’s mine life beyond its forecast end in FY26 or FY27.
Similar to nearby deposits
Perseus managing director and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said: “As Perseus works towards consolidating our position as a reliable 500,000-ounce-per-year gold producer, our near-mine exploration drilling programs are consistently delivering results that are aligned with this aim.
“The drilling program at Nkosuo has returned impressive results that demonstrate that the deposit has the potential to materially add to Edikan’s mine life.
“We are particularly encouraged by similarities between the Nkosuo deposit and the Fobinso and Abnabna deposits that we’ve already successfully developed, mined and processed at Edikan.”
The results are in
Some of the best intersections from Perseus’ resource drilling campaign include:
- 22 metres at 3.92 g/t from 8 metres;
- 16 metres at 4.17 g/t from 24 metres;
- 10 metres at 3.65 g/t from 36 metres;
- 7 metres at 6.05 g/t from 33 metres and 14 metres at 7.72 g/t from 44 metres;
- 6 metres at 6.71 g/t from 16 metres and 22 metres at 1.48 g/t from 28 metres;
- 43 metres at 2.55 g/t from 7 metres and 39 metres at 2.97 g/t from 56 metres;
- 5 metres at 24.74 g/t from 131 metres;
- 14 metres at 9.14 g/t from 2 metres, 30 metres at 1.14 g/t from 20 metres and 48 metres at 1.06 g/t from 66 metres; and
- 10 metres at 7.49 g/t from 26 metres.
So far, Perseus has drilled 36,895 metres across 97 reverse circulation (RC), 19 diamond and 103 RC precollared diamond holes.
Work was initially conducted on a nominal 80-metre by 80-metre grid to scope out the extent and overall geometry of Nkosuo’s host granite and contained mineralisation.
Drilling was subsequently infilled to 40 metres by 20 metres over the main mineralised zones to provide the basis for the MRE.
Perseus says mineralisation at Nkosuo is hosted by an elongated north-northeast-trending granitic plug extending at least 1.2 kilometres in strike, with widths ranging from around 120 metres in the northern part to up to 160 metres in the southern part.
What’s to come?
Perseus is working on the following activities:
- A mineral resource for Nkosuo, slated to complete in the June quarter;
- Metallurgical testwork to support studies into the deposit’s ore reserve potential, expected to be completed early in the September quarter;
- Baseline studies to meet the requirements of the environmental and social impact assessment;
- Planning future drilling to define the southern extent of the granite and its contained mineralisation; and
- Exploration at Edikan to investigate highorder prospects on the adjacent Agyakusu DML and Domenase permits, where soil geochemical sampling has identified strong gold-in-soil anomalies associated with mineralised granites.
Quartermaine concluded: “While we are working towards completing a maiden mineral resource estimate for Nkosuo in the current quarter, we note that Nkosuo is just the first of several interesting targets located on the Agyakusu exploration licence.
“Perseus intends to continue exploring on each of the Agyakusu, Agyakusu-DML and Domenase exploration licence areas, all of which are under option to Perseus and all of which are located within comfortable trucking distance of our Edikan mill.”