Asante Gold Corp. reported results from its continuing exploration drilling program at the Aboduabo prospect, located on the company’s Bibiani-Chirano mine corridor on the Sefwi greenstone belt in Ghana.
The Sefwi greenstone belt is host to historically significant gold mining operations including the company’s Bibiani and Chirano mines which have produced +8Moz to date from shear faults and veins. Asante controls a 53km long by up to 5km wide corridor which is transected by both the Bibiani and Chirano shear zones. Bibiani and Chirano together have current mineral reserves of ~2.8Moz and Measured and Indicated mineral resources over 4.5Moz. Asante is exploring the corridor for new discoveries, to grow our mine and near mine resources, and to increase the Life of Mine at both operations.
At the Aboduabo prospect, Asante announced initial exploration results on January 17, 2023. To date, 19 holes totaling 4,300 metres have been completed. The drilling program has been accelerated and new intercepts confirm near surface, high grade mineralization, with increased widths. The gold mineralization remains open along strike and to depth.
The Aboduabo prospect is located approximately 5km north of the Chirano Process Plant and 10km south of the Bibiani Process Plant. It lies within the Bibiani mineralized trend and is hosted in Birimian sedimentary rock sequences. The Chirano gold deposits are primarily hosted in Birimian volcanic and granitoid sequences along the sub parallel Chirano trend.
Highlights: New drill intercepts include CHDD3347, which intersected 43.10 metres grading 3.07g/t gold, including 9.95 metres grading 6.85 g/t gold.
All holes intersected gold mineralization, which remains open in all directions.
Footprint of gold mineralization tested and confirmed over 1km strike length and remains open along strike and depth. Several mineralized intercepts indicate grade and width that are amenable to open pit mining. Additional drilling is currently underway to follow up on these drill results.
Selected intercepts include drill hole CHDD3347 that returned 43.10 metres of 3.07 g/t gold from 169.5 to 212.6 metres, including 9.95 metres of 6.85 g/t gold from 196.0 metres to 205.95 metres.
CHRC3359 returned 26.0 metres of 3.12 g/t gold from 121.0 metres to 147.0 metres, including 18.0 metres of 4.19 g/t gold from 123.0 metres to 141.0 metres. CHRC3350 returned 15.0 metres of 2.65 g/t gold from 85.0 metres to 100.0 metres, including 7.0 metres of 4.44 g/t gold from 85.0 metres to 92.0 metres.
CHRC3357 returned 17.0 metres of 1.74 g/t gold from 44.0 metres to 61.0 metres, including 5.0 metres of 4.22 g/t gold from 55.0 metres to 60.0 metres. CHRC3348D returned 13.2 metres of 1.59 g/t gold from 199.3 metres to 212.5 metres.
Dave Anthony, President, and CEO stated, “We are pleased to report these additional assay results from our exploration drilling program at Aboduabo. These results highlight the potential of this deposit, which is close to surface and mineralized over an area up to 130m wide x 1km long. The drill program to advance the target to resource definition has been accelerated. These results demonstrate the significant exploration potential that remains along the Bibiani – Chirano Corridor.”
Asante is currently operating the Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines with combined forecast production of approximately 400,000 ounces of gold for 2023. The company continues with detailed technical studies at its Kubi Gold Project for early production. All mines and projects are located on the prolific Bibiani-Sefwi and Ashanti Gold Belts.
Bibiani is an operating open pit gold mining operation situated in the Western North Region of Ghana, with previous gold production of more than 4 million ounces. It is fully permitted with available mining and processing infrastructure on-site, consisting of a newly refurbished 3 million tonne/annum process plant and existing mining infrastructure. Mining re-commenced in late February 2022 with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022. Commercial production was announced November 10, 2022.
Chirano is an operating open-pit and underground mining operation located in Western Region of Ghana, immediately south of the Bibiani Gold Mine. Chirano was developed as a large scale mine by RedBack Mining from 1996 and began production in October 2005. The mine comprises the Akwaaba, Suraw, Akoti South, Akoti North, Akoti Extended, Paboase, Tano, Obra South, Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao open pits and the Akwaaba and Paboase underground mines. Gold Equivalent Production in 2021 was 154,668 oz on a 100% basis (source Kinross Gold Corp.).
