Awale Resources drills 14.7 g/t gold over 59 metres at Odienne, Ivory Coast
Awale Resources Ltd. [TSXV: ARIC] released the results of the final four holes from the Charger target at the Odienne project, Ivory Coast, including 14.7 g/t gold over 59 metres in drill hole OEDD-100. Today’s results mark the culmination of a successful drilling campaign, highlighted by the previously reported intercept of 26 g/t gold over 57 metres in hole OEDD-83 and 20 g/t gold over 29 mteres in hole OEDD-88.
“We have now established the breccia’s true width at over 30 metres, within a 200-metre strike length of breccia mineralization, and the very-high-grade gold is concentrated in fold hinges within this corridor. Importantly, our understanding of Charger’s structure has evolved, allowing us to test our new fold model within the current corridor and step-out to explore potential parallel zones. With this refined structural model, we’re confident in continuing our success at Charger.
“We are very pleased with the latest results and the successful outcome of this drill campaign, which delivered multiple high-grade hits at Charger and drilling through 100 m of the target breccia body at depth. These holes established both grade and geological continuity of the breccia mineralization. The 14 g/t gold over 59 metres in hole OEDD-100 has exhibited the same grade consistency across the reported interval as the previous high-grade hits. We have also ramped up our new field season last week, commencing a 4,000 metres diamond drill program at BBM and Charger,” commented Andrew Chubb, CEO.
Highlights: 14.7 g/t Au over 59 m, or 868 gram-metres gold, from 96 m downhole, including 22.4 g/t Au over 21 m from 143 m downhole in hole OEDD-100.
OEDD-100 is a scissor hole collared 200 m southwest of hole OEDD-83, which previously returned 26 g/t Au over 57 m; 25 m east of OEDD-88, which previously returned 20 g/t Au over 29 m.
Awale has reported three of the highest-grade intercepts in West Africa over the past 12 months. Uniform mineralization across reported intersection, with no nugget effect.
Results confirm a very-high-grade gold zone with strong continuity and significant resource potential, with a 200-metre-long corridor identified.
As with drill holes OEDD-83 and OEDD-88, OEDD-100 delivered consistently high-grade gold mineralization throughout the reported interval.
The high-grade breccias are now understood to be controlled by folding within the Charger intrusive, with very high-gold grades developing in the fold hinge(s). The company has now separated gold results pertaining to interpreted hinge and limb zones, with interpreted fold hinges displaying significantly higher gold results than the limb zones with average gold grade in the hinge zone at 735 gram-metres versus 38 gram-metres in the limbs. The company will be drill testing the fold model within the current corridor, as well as step-out, and test for other parallel zones starting in late Q4 (fourth quarter) 2024 into Q1 (first quarter) 2025.
The Charger zone is one of four grassroots discoveries Awale has made on its Odienne project. Charger is a discovery that has delivered multiple high-grade results from drilling, including the following high-grade intercepts in a breccia to the south of that intercepted in OEDD-83 and now OEDD-100.
OEDD-83: 57 m at 26 g/t Au from 164 m downhole, including 32 m at 45.7 g/t Au from 165 m downhole. OEDD-88: 29 m at 20 g/t Au from 149 m downhole, including eight m at 39.5 g/t Au from 149 m downhole.
OEDD-84: 70 m at 1.2 g/t Au from 143 m downhole. OEDD-100: 59 m at 14.7 g/t Au from 140 m downhole. OEDD-85: 21 m at 1.7 g/t Au from 177 m and 10 m at 7.8 g/t Au from 202 m downhole.
OERC-132: 32 m at 3.0 g/t Au from 74 m downhole, including four m at 12.4 g/t Au from 78 m downhole.
OEDD-45 (step back from OERC 132) contains three high-grade intervals within a 65 m wide zone of mineralization, which included 12 m at 4.9 g/t Au from 89 m downhole; 13 m at 1.3 g/t Au from 114 m downhole and 21 m at 1.3 g/t Au from 133 m downhole.
Hole OEDD-53 (50 m step back from OEDD-45): 32 m at 1.5 g/t Au from 215 m downhole, including three m at 5.2g/t Au from 77 m downhole.
The company has also determined the true width of the breccia between holes OEDD-83 and OEDD-100 to be over 30 metres, and the intercept in OEDD-88 being a farther 25 metres away from OEDD-100. This drilling has established a 200-metre corridor of breccia mineralization where high-grade mineralization is thought to be controlled by folding and hosted in the hinge zone of these folds.
Moreover, the company has gained a clearer understanding of the unique and complex characteristics of the Charger target, presenting an opportunity to test the fold model within the current corridor, as well as step-out, and test for other parallel zones.
Exploration activities are currently under way in the underexplored regions of Ivory Coast, where the company is focused on the Odienne copper-gold project, covering 2,489 km2 across seven permits. This includes 796 km2 in two permits held under the Awale-Newmont joint venture (OJV). Awale manages all exploration activities over the OJV, with financing provided by Newmont Joint Ventures Ltd.
Awale has discovered four gold, gold-copper and gold-copper-silver-molybdenum discoveries within the OJV and has recently commenced exploration on its 100%-owned properties following an $11.5-million capital raise in April, 2024.
The Odienne project is underexplored and has multiple pipeline prospects with similar geochemical signatures to iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) and intrusive-related mineral systems with substantial upside potential.