Castle chases Ghanaian gold with 20-hole drill program
The company is on a mission to define a resource of one million ounces of gold and believes there are sufficient prospects at its Kpali and Kandia projects to provide a springboard towards its goal.
Drilling was primarily designed to test for depth and along strike extensions to high-grade mineralisation and targeted three separate prospects - Kpali, Bundi and Artisanal. Drill core samples were transported in stages to the Intertek lab, 300 kilometres south.
The company should receive assays for Kpali's 12 holes in early June, Artisanal's three holes in mid-June and Bundi's five holes by the end of that month.
Castle recently identified a promising area comprising artisanal mine workings about 1.5km south of Kpali. The workings are associated with the same interpreted structural zone controlling mineralisation at Kpali and Bundi. An initial three holes were plunged into the prospect. It will be interesting to see what they produce.
Five holes drilled at Bundi follow up several noteworthy intervals intercepted in 2013 and 2014, in addition to solid results revealed in February this year.
Shallow gold results from 2013-2014 of 3m at 3.19 grams per tonne (g/t) from 25m, 4m going 2.38g/t from 30m and a 6m run at 3.32g/t from 37m, demonstrated the company might be onto something.
Deeper gold hits consisting of a 2m slice grading 9.09g/t from 68m, a stellar 1m hit at 51.03g/t from 168m and 5m for a return of 1.4g/t from 209m proved some mineralisation existed at depth.
At the Kpali prospect, February's results are from its fifth round of drilling, of an eight-hole, 1106m reverse circulation program, which returned several solid results.
Assays included 12m at 8.29g/t gold from 25m with a 1m peak of 20.43g/t from 36m, in addition to 11m going 2.24g/t gold from 50m and 9m at 4.81g/t from 107m.
A compelling feature within the Kpali project is the convergence of two major Birimian-age greenstone belts, the Bole-Bolgatanga and the Wa-Lawra/Boromo belts, along with three regional-scale structures. Management believes the geology supports its view that Kpali contains sufficient prospects to become a major new mining camp.
It says Kpali's geological setting is typical of a structurally controlled, orogenic-style mineralisation, similar to that hosting several world-class gold operations in Ghana and West Africa.
There appears to be an extensive interpreted north-south trending corridor that links the Bundi, Kpali and Artisanal prospects.
Kpali has now been subjected to five drill programs involving widely spaced holes, which have confirmed near-surface, shallow plunging high-grade lode-style mineralisation to a depth of 100m. Multiple sub-parallel lodes have been identified across a 650m strike length.
The project includes additional prospective areas, Kpali East, Wa South East and Wa South West, which are currently considered to be in an early stage.
Castle plans for the drill rig to now move to Kandia, 110km northeast, to further interrogate its 4000 and 8000 discovery zones. A 12-hole, 1590m program will test several compelling targets.
Best results at Kandia include 24m at 1.78g/t gold from 139m, including 7m going 3.36g/t from 149m, in addition to 11m at 2.36g/t from 79m.
Extensive artisanal mining has occurred at both discovery zones across a considerable width along the northeast trend, highlighting its prospectivity for modern exploration.
West Africa is now regarded as one of the world's premier gold regions, with 15 discoveries of more than 2M ounces since 2012. A significant portion of these discoveries have been found in Birimian-age greenstone rocks, the same type of rocks that host mineralisation at Kpali and Kandia.
Castle will eagerly await the recent drilling results at Kpali and assays from Kandia, as the company gears up its trajectory towards its million-ounce golden goal.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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