Newcore Gold drilling Enchi Gold Project, Ghana
Newcore Gold Ltd. [TSXV-NCAU; OTCQX-NCAUF] has started a 10,000-metre drill program at the 100%-owned Enchi gold project in Ghana, West Africa. The drill program will focus on infill and resource expansion drilling.
Approximately 10,000 metres of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling is planned, targeting near-surface oxide and shallow sulphide mineralization with a main goal of infill drilling for resource conversion to improve the confidence level of the existing Mineral Resource Estimate. A subset of the drill program will also focus on outlining resource growth on select zones, with all deposit areas and pre-resource targets remaining open along strike and at depth. Additional exploration and development work also continues at Enchi, including metallurgical testwork, trenching of high-priority surface anomalies, and greenfields work on the recently acquired Omanpe Licence.
Highlights: Newcore is funded to complete the 10,000-metre drill program at Enchi. Funding of approximately $3.3 million anticipated as a result of the exercise of in-the-money warrants expiring June 28, 2024 (as of March 31, 2024 there were 16.6 million warrants with an exercise price of $0.20 outstanding).
As of June 25, 2024 approximately 16.2 million of these warrants have been exercised, for proceeds of approximately $3.2 million. The company’s cash balance as of the most recently disclosed quarter (March 31, 2024) was approximately $2.6 million.
Infill drilling focused on resource conversion to improve the confidence level of the existing Mineral Resource Estimate. The majority of the drill program to be allocated towards infill drilling at the two largest deposits at Enchi, currently identified as Sewum and Boin.
Focus of infill drilling is to increase the confidence level of the existing resources at Enchi, a key component of the development work needed to be completed in advance of commissioning a Pre-Feasibility Study for the project.
Drilling will also target further resource expansion at select targets with all existing deposits remaining open along strike and at depth, with potential for resource growth in both shallow oxides and within the sulphide mineralization.
Drilling to be completed on areas where good grade and wide widths of gold mineralization remains open for expansion. District scale potential at Enchi still largely underexplored. The Enchi Gold Project spans 248 km2 along a prolific gold belt in Ghana that hosts several large scale multi-million-ounce gold mines.
Newcore has identified more than 20 pre-resource targets across the property, with less than 10% of the property explored to date. The district scale exploration opportunity at Enchi remains largely underexplored and untested, a key area of opportunity for longer-term future resource growth across the property.
Future drilling will also target early-stage pre-resource targets with a focus on identifying new discoveries across the Project, to continue to prove out the longer-term size and scale potential that exists at Enchi.
Limited deeper drilling has now defined high-grade sulphide mineralization to a vertical depth of 300 metres, with first underground resources defined on the Project in 2023.
Future drilling will also target the opportunity to define the potential for additional high-grade underground mineralization in the sulphide mineralization at Enchi.
Luke Alexander, President and CEO, stated, “We are excited to continue to advance the development of the Enchi Gold Project while defining the multi-million-ounce potential of the Project through the drill bit. This next phase of drilling will focus on advancing the confidence level of the existing resources at Enchi, an important next step of development work in advance of commissioning a Pre-Feasibility Study for the Project.
“At the same time, we will continue to focus on a multi-pronged exploration approach to continue to define the broader potential for Enchi to host a long-life gold camp, with drilling targeting resource expansion at existing deposits. Future drill programs will also focus on earlier stage targets to define additional discoveries across the district scale property as well as additional drilling of deeper sulphide mineralization to continue to define the higher-grade potential at depth.”
“We would also like to thank our shareholders, management and Board of Directors for their continued support through the exercise of warrants. Warrant proceeds of approximately $3.3 million will fully fund this next phase of development work at Enchi, an important next step in de-risking the project with the completion of important infill drilling alongside additional metallurgical testwork. The team is prioritizing the first drill targets, with a drill rig anticipated to be on-site within the next month. We are excited to continue to advance Enchi towards a construction decision while proving up the significant potential that exists across the district scale Project.”
This next phase drill program will follow-up on the accomplishments achieved over the past several years including over 93,000 metres drilled that resulted in new discoveries across the project, a significant amount of metallurgical testwork to de-risk project development, and most recently the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment Study defining the robust economics of the Project.
Newcore Gold is advancing its Enchi Gold Project located in Ghana, Africa’s largest gold producer. Enchi’s land package covers 40 km of Ghana’s prolific Bibiani Shear Zone, a gold belt which hosts several multi-million-ounce gold deposits, including the Chirano mine 50 km to the north. Newcore’s vision is to build a responsive, creative and powerful gold enterprise that maximizes returns for shareholders.