Oklo Resources – (ASX: OKU, Share Price: $0.35, Market Cap: $110m, coverage initiated @ $0.08 in Nov 2015 – current gain of 337%).
Key Catalyst
Highly encouraging first results received from 2018 field season drilling program in Mali.
An encouraging progress report has been released with respect to the 2018 Phase 1 drilling program at OKU’s Seko prospect, located within its Dandoko Project in Mali.
A total of 80 air-core holes for 6,121m and five RC holes for 699m have so far been completed over Seko anomalies 1, 2 & 3, with significant intersections from the first 68 air-core holes – comprising infill and step-out holes testing for extensions and higher-grade zones to previously reported shallow, oxide gold mineralisation.
Some of the best intercepts comprise 42m at 6.14g/t gold from surface to end-of-hole – including 7m at 15.10g/t gold from 27m, and 30m at 4.47g/t gold from surface – including 7m at 6.49g/t gold from 3m.
Drilling is continuing with deeper RC holes to ~180-200m vertical depth, targeting extensions to the known oxide gold mineralisation down into fresh rock.
Technical Significance
The air-core and RC drilling programs underway at Seko comprises predominantly 80m-spaced step-out and 40m-spaced infill traverses along three Seko anomalies, where previous reconnaissance air-core drilling intersected significant widths of shallow, oxide gold mineralisation from five of the anomalies tested.
Assay results received from the first 68 air-core holes have confirmed the presence of further significant zones of oxide gold mineralisation over strike lengths in excess of 500m.
Figure 1: Location of completed diamond and air-core infill drill traverses over Seko Anomalies SK1-3.
At anomaly SK2, exceptional grades and widths of gold mineralisation have been returned from surface, including 42m at 6.14g/t gold from surface to the end of hole – with gold mineralisation remaining open at depth and along strike. Deeper RC holes are now testing beneath a small area of artisanal mining which has restricted access of the air-core rig. Significantly, the best intersections so far trend into this zone, which remains open and untested to the south-west.
At anomaly SK3, air-core drilling has successfully extended the known mineralisation a further 80m to the north, also remaining open along strike. The northernmost line returned 34m at 1.57g/t gold from 63m and included 15m at 2.26g/t gold from 72m. The SK3 trend currently extends over 1.2km, with wide low-grade intersections encountered in the southern sector that require further testing. At the northern end of the trend, a higher grade zone extends over 400m metres and remains open along strike.
Next Steps
Once the RC drilling is complete, the rig will be converted back to air-core to test the northern extension of SK1 while the RC assays are awaited. The shallow air-core drilling to date has not defined the structural controls and plunge to the gold mineralisation, but this will be the focus of the ongoing RC and diamond components of the Phase 1 program.
Overview
During late 2016, OKU initiated a reconnaissance auger geochemistry program over the Dandoko and Moussala projects to explore for new targets concealed under the extensive tracts of lateritic cover. The program delivered early success with the delineation of the 12km long Dandoko gold corridor – including the Seko discovery. Seko is the only target that has had any follow-up drilling, with numerous targets yet to be drill-tested.
The latest drilling program has been designed to test for both strike and depth extensions to the significant shallow oxide gold mineralisation previously encountered at Seko, through air-core drilling to a vertical depth of around 80m and deeper RC and diamond drilling to vertical depths of between 180-200m. The Phase 1 program is estimated to be completed by the end of January 2018 at a cost of around $3.5m.
Summary
Drilling at Dandoko has highlighted potential for extensive gold mineralised alteration systems, most notably at the Seko area, which hosts robust gold mineralization at relatively shallow depths. Importantly, the mineralisation is similar in style to many other large deposits found nearby in western Mali, which augurs well for its attempts to outline a large, open-pittable gold deposit – measuring in the millions of ounces.
