Senegal
Located in south-eastern Senegal, the 472.5 sq km Senala licence is positioned in the centre of the Birimian-age Kédougou-Kenieba gold belt that extends from eastern Senegal into western Mali and has already seen multiple major gold discoveries including Barrick’s Massawa deposit (3.4 million oz Au) and Teranga’s Sabodala deposit (3 million oz Au) in Senegal, and Barrick’s Loulo (12 million oz Au) and Gounkoto projects (5.76 million oz Au) in Mali. IAMGOLD has the option to earn a 70% interest by spending US$8m.
The Company own 85% of Senala (formerly known as Dalafin) through its Senegal-registered joint-venture company Stratex EMC S.A., formed in partnership with private local company Energy & Mining Corporation S.A. (EMC) that holds the remaining 15%.
To date, four main geochemical targets, Faré, Baytilaye, Saroudia, and Madina Bafé, have been confirmed by drilling.
IAMGOLD Option Agreement
In March 2018 the Company signed an option earn-in agreement with a subsidiary of IAMGOLD under which IAMGOLD can earn into 51% of the Senala project by spending US$4m over four years and a further 19% (total 70%) by spending an additional US$4m over a subsequent two years. IAMGOLD’s initial programme will focus on the Madina Bafé prospect, which is located 12 km WSW of its 2.49 Moz Boto gold project, for which it has recently completed a positive Feasibility Study and received a mining permit.
Madina Bafé
Trenching, mapping, and sampling at Madina Bafé has confirmed the presence of a 1.2 km by 30-45 m NE-striking mineralised zone in the south-east of the prospect. Mineralisation is hosted by sheeted tourmaline-quartz veins and quartz-tourmaline breccias with best results including 4.0 m @ 1.40 g/t Au (MBT-005), 6.0 m @ 0.86 g/t Au incl. 1.0 m @ 4.40 g/t Au (MBT-005),1.2 m @ 1.14 g/t Au (MTB-003) and 1.0 m @ 1.77 g/t Au. Mineralisation remains open to the east. RC and diamond drilling between trenches MBT-003 and MBT-004 has previously returned excellent intersections – including 9.6 m @ 16.08 g/t Au (MBDD-002) – that are indicative of depth-continuity of the zone and of elevated gold content.
In 2018, IAMGOLD completed a 2,428 m AC drilling programme. Vertical holes were drilled to intersect the bedrock interface in order to assess the geochemical signature of the bedrock, help depict alteration corridors and mineralisation trends, and define targets for follow-up deeper drilling. Results have outlined a 1.5km broadly WNW-trending gold anomaly (>20ppb) in the south-east of the prospect at the contact between a granite/granodiorite unit and sediments, with best results including 2.48 g/t Au and 0.66 g/t Au. The gold anomalism is coincident with strong bismuth (>0.5ppm) and molybdenum (>3 ppm) anomalism which may reflect intersections with NE trending structures.
A second, 400m N-S anomaly (>20ppb) has been defined c.600m to the NNW of Oriole RC drillhole MRC117, which returned 15m @ 6.10 g/t Au, and correlates well with previous surface sampling. Based on the structural interpretation, this zone appears to mark the intersection of NE- and E-W trending faults. Results from a follow-up 2,260m reverse circulation (RC) and 507m diamond (DD) drilling programme have confirmed that the mineralisation continues at depth, delivering a best intersection of 8 m at 2.56 g/t Au.
As part of its Year 2 earn-in on the Senala licence, IAMGOLD has recently completed a further 4,167m (of a planned 5,000m) AC drilling to extend the 2018 grid to the north. Results for 869 holes have identified multiple new >20 ppb Au anomalies, including a 3.5km long anomaly in the south of the prospect and a 2km long anomaly in the north, apparently related to cross-cutting zones of higher-grade (>50 ppb Au) anomalism. Best results include 235 ppb Au, 157 ppb Au, 138 ppb Au, 104 ppb Au and 99 ppb Au.
Saroudia
As part of the Year 2 earn-in, IAMGOLD has recently completed 3,200 metres of AC drilling at the Saroudia prospect, located c.2km NW of Madina Bafé. Results are awaited.
Faré
Multiple further zones of gold anaomalism identified have been identified within the wider licence, most notably at Faré, located c.50km to the NNW of Madina Bafé.
Best results from a diamond and RC drilling programme at the Faré prospect include 3 m @ 10.47 g/t Au and 96 m @ 1.51 g/t Au (FADD-002), 19.5 m @ 1.08 g/t Au (FADD-021), 7 m @ 86.39 g/t Au (FARC-007), 7 m @ 1.64 g/t Su (FADD-013) and 23.5 m @ 1.41 g/t Au (FADD-023). Additional drilling at Faré South returned best intervals of 4.8 m @ 1.06 g/t Au (FADD-0026), 3 m @ 1.04 g/t Au and 5 m @ 0.78 g/t Au (FARC-0043), 2 m @ 1.26 g/t Au (FARC-0052), 1 m @ 4.39 g/t Au from 42 m (FARC-0053); and 2 m @1.07 g/t from 59 m (FARC-76). Potential for strike extension of the mineralisation to the north remains.
During Q1-2016, 1,136 soil samples were collected across four 250 m x 50 m grids in the vicinity of the Faré South Zone to assess possible SW-trending extensions, as well as the importance of a NNW-trending breccia zone identified during the Phase 2 RC drilling campaign. The most significant results yielded were from Grid 3, which clearly show south-westward extension of the Faré South anomaly (>30 ppb) by at least 750 metres and up to 600 m in width. A possible new gold anomaly (10-60 ppb) has also been identified in Grid 1, extending 1,250 m in a NW-SE direction, and this may correlate with NW-trending structures identified elsewhere in the licence area. Multiple, albeit less distinct, NE- and NW-trends are also evident in Grid 4, with a number of samples yielding 30-60 ppb and >60 ppb.