Kobo Resources drilling Kossou gold project, Ivory Coast

Kobo Resources Inc. [KRI-TSXV] has begun its first-phase drill program at the 100%-owned Kossou gold project in Ivory Coast, one of West Africa’s most prolific gold districts.

A total of 8,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling is planned this year, which will be conducted in two phases. The drilling will initially target three priority zones – the Jagger zone, the Road Cut zone and the Contact zone – based on the previously reported high-grade gold mineralization intersected in rock and trench samples.

The first phase program will consist of 45 inclined boreholes ranging between 50 and 230 metres depth, totalling 4,250 metres. A total of 23 holes will be completed at Jagger (2,650 m), 10 holes at the Road Cut zone (1,000 m) and 12 holes (600 m) in the Contact zone.

The second phase RC drilling, totalling 3,750 metres, will be completed after a short pause in drilling in order to evaluate the results from phase 1 and to plan the construction of additional drill platforms at the Jagger South zone, and at other targets generated by the company.

Edward Gosselin, CEO and Director of Kobo commented: “With the completion of the road access and drill platforms, we are pleased to have started our maiden drill program at the Kossou Gold Project with the immediate objective of defining the strike and down-dip extensions of the gold mineralization identified on surface. The recently reported high-grade intersection averaging 29 metres at 6.42 g/t gold in trench KTR028 at Jagger Zone represents our primary target, and we look forward to delineating a significant gold bearing shear structure in this area.”

He continued: “The Road Cut Zone and Contact Zone remain highly prospective targets at Kossou with significant potential for additional gold bearing structures to be discovered. As part of our ongoing exploration program, we are currently completing regional and detailed geological mapping and geochemical sampling programs across several new target areas.”

The Jagger Zone is represented by a major, well-defined north-south trending shear zone which is defined by the largest and strongest soil geochemical anomaly discovered at Kossou to date. The company has confirmed the existence of strong gold mineralization through detailed infill soil sampling, geological mapping and trenching. The Jagger Shear Zone is approximately 1.85 km in strike length with peak gold in soil concentrations up to 112 g/t gold.

Recently released sampling results for trench KTR028 intersected several high-grade gold zones. The most westerly zone features 6.42 g/t over 29.0 metres, including sub-intervals of 18.04 g/t gold over 5 metres, 11.44 g/t over 8 metres and 5.53 g/t gold over 17 metres. The total strike length of the Jagger Zone, including untested geochemical anomalies, will be the primary target of the 2023 drill program.

The Road Cut Zone was initially discovered during early exploration work at Kossou and lies within another shear zone hosting strongly altered volcanic rocks heavily crosscut by quartz and quartz-carbonate veins/veinlets. The original exposure returned 4.64 g/t gold over an 18.2 metres in continuous chip samples.

Further rock sampling confirmed grades and expanded the extent of the showing. Gold in soil geochemistry indicates that this target can be traced over a strike length of 1.7 km and remains a prime target for drilling in 2023. Recent trenching has exposed a new mineralization that assayed 11.30 g/t gold over 4.0 metres (KTR003), 8.48 g/t gold over 1.00 metres (KTR001) and 8.50 g/t gold over 3.4 metres (KTR012).

The company considers the Contact Zone as being a target with excellent potential for significant gold mineralization, particularly in the area where the Jagger Shear Zone intersects the contact between meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks. Recent geological mapping and rock chip sampling have identified grades of 7.10 g/t gold in a sheared meta-sediment float sample.

Kobo Resources is a growth-focused gold exploration company with a compelling new gold discovery in Cote d’Ivoire, one of West Africa’s most prolific and developing gold districts, hosting several multi-million-ounce gold mines. The Company’s 100%-owned Kossou Gold Project is located approximately 20 km northwest of the capital city of Yamoussoukro and is directly adjacent to one of the region’s largest gold mines with established processing facilities.

The company is drilling to unlock the potential size and scale of Kossou within 9+ km strike length of highly prospective gold in soil geochemical anomalies with excellent rock and trench sampling results. The  2023 exploration plan calls for over 8,000 metres of reverse circulation drilling with an immediate goal of defining significant near surface zones of gold mineralization.