Cardinal cranks up exploration drilling on Ghana portfolio

Cardinal Resources Ltd. [CDV-TSX, ASX; CRDNF-OTC] on Wednesday April 4 released an update in relation to Stage 1 appraisal programs over four exploration licenses in Ghana, West Africa.

The first three exploration licenses are titled Bongo, Kungongo, and Ndongo. All three are located within the company’s Bolgatanga Project, which is close to the company’s flagship Namdini Gold Project.

The fourth is titled the Subranum Project and is located in southwest Ghana.

“Cardinal has been working extensively on the development of the Namdini Project through the completion of its Preliminary Economic Analysis, mineral resource upgrade and a Pre-Feasibility Study, which is currently in progress given the positive outcomes of the PEA,” said Cardinal CEO Archie Koimtsidis.

Cardinal recently upgraded the indicated mineral resource on its Namdini Gold Project to 6.5 million ounces. Koimtsidis has described Namdini as a “brand new discovery” and said it ranks as one of the biggest West African gold discoveries in the past decade.

“In conjunction with the development of Namdini, the company has been actively engaged in exploration activities on its extensive land holdings,” he said in a press release Wednesday.

Ranking high among the more politically stable countries on the African continent, Ghana has been rewarding gold explorers, developers and producers for over 120 years.

Most of the historic activity has centred on southern Ghana, which remains one of the world’s most prolific areas for gold exploration and production, producing 4.13 million ounces of gold in 2016, up from 2.8 million ounces the previous year.

On Wednesday, Cardinal said its commitment to regional exploration in Ghana has been stepped up on the strength of early results, with drill rigs testing a range of targets across the extensive tenement package.

Reconnaissance exploration, including airborne magnetics, ground geophysics and auger drilling is considered highly encouraging and defined several coincident, geophysical and geochemical corridors for follow up drilling.

Cardinal now has six drill rigs active across the exploration portfolio.

The company expects to commence drilling in the Bongo area in the second quarter of 2018. Cardinal said 5,000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling is set to commence in the third quarter of 2018 to follow up the widely-spaced first pass results.

Meanwhile, six large-scale targets have been identified in the Ndongo License Area, with an initial focus on targets close to the historic Nangodi Gold Mine. Drilling of three of these target areas is underway with the remainder set to commence during the second quarter of 2018.

On the Subranum License Area, scout drilling has commenced to test an anomalous five-kilometre strike length along the Bibiani shear zone.

On Wednesday, Cardinal shares eased 3.45% or $0.02 to 56cents.