Oklo Resources (ASX: OKU, Share Price: $0.145, Market Cap: $32m) has enjoyed immediate success with respect to its gold exploration activities in western and southern Mali. The company has assembled a portfolio of seven strategically-located projects that encompass a total of 1,389 sq km. Results from initial air-core, RC and diamond drilling programs have returned spectacularly high-grade mineralisation.
Oklo has advised that the first diamond drill-hole at its Disse prospect has intersected significant gold mineralisation within intensely-altered sediments including an intercept of 13 metres at 4.69g/t gold from 163 metres depth. Disse is located 6km to the southwest of the high-grade gold discovery at Diabarou.
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Market Significance
Oklo’s share price surged from a recent low of $0.05 in January to a recent 12-month high of $0.25 in July, before retracing in line with a broader sector-wide consolidation in the gold space. The key driver of market interest however remains the high-grade gold mineralization at the Dandoko Project. The recent phase of drilling prior to the wet season was designed to assess the Diabarou prospect’s open-pit resource potential, with the ultimate aim of an initial JORC-compliant resource. All of the evidence so far is highly encouraging and we keenly anticipate the resumption of drilling work during late October.
Announcement Detail – Dandoko Project Update
Oklo has advised that final results have been received from all drilling programs completed at the Disse and Diabarou prospects within its Dandoko Project, prior to the wet season.
Disse Prospect
Of most interest at present is the completion of the first diamond drill-hole (DDDK16-004) at the Disse prospect, which intersected significant gold mineralisation within intensely-altered sediments including:
13 metres at 4.69g/t gold from 163 metres including:
- 6 metres at 7.30g/t gold from 163 metres; includes
- 3 metres at 11.40g/t gold from 163 metres
- 2 metres at 7.84g/t gold from 173 metres
The Disse prospect is located 6km to the southwest of Oklo’s high-grade gold discovery at Diabarou.
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Figure 1: Drill core from DDDK16-004 showing visible gold (circled) at 164.9m depth.
Technical Significance
Artisanal workings at Disse extend for more than 880 metres and coincide with a gold-in-soil anomaly and dump samples of up to 16.25g/t gold. Previous drilling by Oklo from one three-hole traverse of RC drilling during 2013 returned significant results, including 16 metres at 2.30g/t gold from 158 metres depth.
A follow-up program of air-core drilling successfully tested for strike extensions to the gold mineralisation intersected in the earlier RC program and also below the artisanal workings, returning significant gold intersections including 21 metres at 5.67g/t gold and 3 metres at 12.80g/t gold.
Based on the previous encouraging results, the company elected to test the Disse prospect with a single diamond drill-hole, which twinned an existing RC drill-hole in order to verify the previously reported gold intersection, along with providing geological and structural information to assist in the design of the next phase of RC drilling. Diamond hole DDDK16-004 was successfully completed to a depth of 200.5 metres.
Diabarou Prospect
The second point of market interest relates to the Diabarou prospect, where final bottle-roll cyanide leach assays from diamond drill-hole DDDK016-03 (previously reported as 19 metres at 3.22g/t gold by fire assay in July 2016) has increased the reported gold grade to:
19 metres at 3.49g/t gold from 89 metres including:
- 3 metres at 12.19g/t gold from 91 metres
- 2 metres at 8.62 g/t gold from 100 metres
Technical Significance
The re-analysed mineralised intervals returned a positive correlation for gold when compared with the previously reported fire assay results. The significant intersection previously reported for DDDK016-003 by fire assay was 19 metres at 3.22g/t gold from 89 metres. The corresponding interval when analysed using the bottle roll cyanide leach method was 19 metres at 3.49g/t gold, which is an overall increase in grade of 8.4%.
Summary
We initiated coverage of Oklo Resources around $0.08 during November 2015 – representing a current gain of 81%.
The latest results from Diabarou will provide the focus for planning of the next drilling campaign, which is scheduled to commence during late October following the conclusion of the current wet season. This work will include RC drilling aimed at extending the strike length of the high-grade gold mineralisation outlined to date along the main zone, along with close-spaced air-core drilling along the new gold-mineralised trend outlined to the immediate south.
Oklo is currently finalising plans for an aggressive drilling program to commence immediately upon the completion of the current wet season, expected in mid to late October. The company is well funded with current cash reserves of $9.8 million.
