Overview
The Kobada Gold Project (“Kobada”) is an advanced stage gold development project located in Mali, Africa`s 4th largest gold producing nation. The Company owns a 90% interest in the Kobada gold project with the Government of Mali retaining a 10% carried interest.
The Project is located approximately 126 km south-west of Bamako, the capital city of Mali, in the Birimian Greenstone belt, with excellent transportation links to the capital and excellent logistics routes via other West African ports.
Southern Mali is considered a politically stable jurisdiction and a home to a number of gold producers. These include Endeavour Mining, Barrick, AngloGold Ashanti and Resolute Mining.
Economically Attractive Project
- Pre-tax IRR of 45% and NPV5% of US$506 mln
- Post-tax IRR of 38% and NPV5% of US$355 mln
Near Term Gold Producer
- DFS completed to high engineering standard with firm quotes from equipment providers
- 3 Mtpa plant with an average annual gold production of 100,000 ounces for first 10 years and a total mine life of 16 years
Low construction cost and cost profile
- Simple contractor driven mine plan and Gravity + Carbon-in-Leaching (“CIL”) processing plant with a total capital cost of US$165 mln
- Predominantly a “free-dig” mining operation
- Once in production, TRE will be one of the lowest-cost producers in West Africa
Large and Growing Mineral Resource
- Measured & Indicated: 1,711 Koz Au @ 0.86 g/t
- Inferred: 1,433 Koz Au @ 1.06 g/t
- Proven & Probable: 1,248 Koz Au @ 0.87 g/t
Fully Licensed and Permitted
- Mining license is valid until July 31, 2045
Significant Upside Potential
- Only 5 km within a larger 55 km shear zone has been drilled to date
Mineral Resource & Reserve Estimates
Material | Indicated | Inferred | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tonnes | Grade | Ounces | Tonnes | Grade | Ounces | Tonnes | Grade | Ounces | |
(Mt) | (g/t) | (Moz) | (Mt) | (g/t) | (Moz) | (Mt) | (g/t) | (Moz) | |
Oxide | 38 | 0.80 | 0.96 | 17 | 0.93 | 0.51 | 55 | 0.84 | 1.48 |
Fresh | 22 | 0.79 | 0.57 | 9 | 1.16 | 0.35 | 32 | 0.90 | 0.92 |
Total | 60 | 0.79 | 1.53 | 27 | 1.01 | 0.86 | 87 | 0.86 | 2.39 |
Notes:
- Tonnages are dry metric tonnes.
- Minor discrepancies may occur due to rounding.
- Oxide refers to Laterite, Saprolite and Transitional material as detailed in ASX Announcement dated 18 August 2023.
- Oxide resources quoted above 0.25g/t.
- Fresh rock resources quoted above 0.3g/t.
Exploration Potential
The Company intends to focus its activities on seeking to upgrade the existing resource through additional exploration, which may or may not include:
- regional geological techniques, including grab sampling, termite mound sampling, channel sampling and other known techniques;
- auger drilling;
- AC drilling;
- RC drilling; and
- diamond drilling.
A multi-year, multi-metre plan has been developed based upon the proposed budget, which includes an auger drilling programme (which is underway) on the contiguous exploration Faraba Permit and Kobada Est Permit and a proposed reverse circulation drilling programme. The objectives of these exploration plans are as follows:
A) Auger Drilling Programme on Faraba Permit and Kobada Est Permit
The auger drilling programme will be used to satisfy the license requirements of both the Faraba Permit and Kobada Est Permit and to target RC and DD drilling prioritisation targets. The auger hole drill programme has been designed based upon historical exploration which includes, but is not limited to:
- historical artisanal mining activity;
- outcrops of mineralisation on surface;
- soil and termite geochemical sampling;
- geophysical surveys; and
- trenching.
This programme is underway and on target for completion in Q3-2022, after which an updated report will be available. The programme targets known anomalies across the two exploration concessions, and drill holes and targets are provided in Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1 and Table 2.
Figure 1 - Target Generation and Drill Hole Layout for the Faraba Permit Targets
Table 1 - Number of Holes and Spacing for the Faraba Permit
Project | Target ID | No. of Auger Holes | Grid |
Faraba | A | 59 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba | B | 42 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba | C | 9 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba | D | 18 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba | E | 27 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba | F | 41 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba | G | 41 | 400 x 50 |
Faraba Total | 7 | 237 |
Figure 2 - Target Generation and Drill Hole Layout for the Kobada Est Permit
Table 2 - Number of Holes and Spacing on the Kobada Est Permit
Project | Target ID | No. of Auger Holes | Grid |
Kobada Est | A | 63 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | B | 36 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | C | 27 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | D | 18 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | E | 54 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | F | 60 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | G | 58 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | H | 18 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | I | 18 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | J | 27 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | K | 17 | 400 x 50 |
Kobada Est | L | 36 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | M | 27 | 200 x 50 |
Kobada Est | N | 9 | 50 |
Kobada Est | O | 18 | 400 x 50 |
Kobada Est | P | 9 | 50 |
Kobada Est | Q | 48 | 400 x 50 |
Kobada Est Total | 17 | 543 |
This auger drilling, which commenced on 7 April 2022, started on the Kobada Est permit with a local Malian drilling company (Kounfaga Mining Services SARL) and has completed 6,878 m of drilling to date. The auger holes were laid out on fences either 200m apart or 400m apart with the holes being spaced 50m along the fence lines. All 345 holes to date were drilled vertically to a depth of 20m. The auger drillholes with a 4.4-inch spiral were sampled in 2m increments resulting in 3,439 samples being sent to the Bamako SGS Laboratory. Drilling is continuing to test areas of interest.
The focus of the auger drilling campaign was on previously identified target areas, based on the termite geochemical sampling and geophysical interpretation, in the larger Kobada Est permit. The aim was to delineate surficial anomalous geochemical areas (testing the top 20 m) and potentially identifying mineralised areas and evidence of structures. This would shed light on the potential of mineralisation on the Kobada Est permit along the Kobada Shear and assist in the sighting of the follow-on AC or RC drilling campaigns.
Figure 3 shows the auger drilling programme completed to date along the Kobada Est Shear and additional areas of interest with the geophysical interpretation as background.
Figure 3 - 2022 Auger Drilling Programme and Targets over the Kobada Est Permit
Targets A to F were testing the Kobada Est Shear for mineralisation while targets M, H, Q and L were testing soil geochemical anomalies and possible side shears. The best results are associated with the central portion of the shear with the southern and northern extents indicating auger geochemical anomalies above 40 ppb (green shaded polygons) with evidence of vein quartz (orange shaded polygons) being identified in the samples. This can be seen in Figure 4 and Figure 5 which have the TMI aeromagnetic as background and the interpreted Kobada Est Shear position as large black dots. The 40 ppb background grade is based on the histogram of 2,722 samples which indicates that the lower background grade is at 40 ppb.
Figure 4 - Auger Drilling Results over the Southern Portion of the Kobada Est Shear (Target A to D)
Figure 5 - Auger Drilling Results over the Northern Portion of the Kobada Est Shear (Target F)
Target E, the central portion of the Kobada Est Shear, is showing the best potential for elevated mineralisation and Target Q also returning some promising results.
Figure 6 shows the auger drilling collars for Target E with the 40 ppb geochemical anomalies, vein quartz presence and gold intersections. The 40 ppb anomaly is approximately 1,200 m by 500 m as a surface expression with a higher grade 0.5 g/t anomaly with an approximate strike of 720 m. Target E could still extend further north and also seems to widen based on the 40 ppb anomaly and the presence of vein quartz. This is evident in Figure 7.
Figure 6 - Auger Drilling Results over the Central Portion of the Kobada Est Shear (Target E)
Figure 7 - Target E Potential Northern Extension and Widening to the North
Figure 8 is an oblique view of the strip logs in Leapfrog software for Target E auger holes showing the elevated mineralisation above 40 ppb as disks. There is a possibility that the mineralisation is dipping to the west, but this still needs to be confirmed as the geology is still not understood. TRE geologists will be doing follow up surface geology work to assist in the geological interpretations.
Figure 8 - Oblique View of the Elevated Mineralisation in the Auger Drillholes in Target E
The significant gold intersections above 0.3 g/t are shown in Table 3. These intersections occur in four of the target areas (Target B, E, M and L). Target E has three auger drillholes that have elevated gold grades over 8m in two of the holes. The 0.3 g/t grade is based on the mineralisation halos that are used to constrain the Main Kobada estimation and used to delineate the geological model.
Table 3 - Significant Mineralised Intersections above 0.3 g/t Gold
Target | BHID | From (m) | To (m) | Grade (g/t) | Combined Mineralised Length (m) | Weighted Average Grade (g/t) |
B | B-313 | 16 | 18 | 0.44 | 2 | 0.44 |
E | E-423 | 2 | 4 | 0.32 | 8 | 20.69 |
E | E-423 | 4 | 6 | 78.90 | ||
E | E-423 | 6 | 8 | 3.14 | ||
E | E-423 | 8 | 10 | 0.39 | ||
E | E-412 | 10 | 12 | 3.94 | 8 | 1.81 |
E | E-412 | 12 | 14 | 1.86 | ||
E | E-412 | 14 | 16 | 1.11 | ||
E | E-412 | 16 | 18 | 0.34 | ||
E | E-417 | 0 | 2 | 2.42 | 2 | 2.42 |
M | M-677 | 8 | 10 | 1.62 | 6 | 0.91 |
M | M-677 | 10 | 12 | 0.65 | ||
M | M-677 | 12 | 14 | 0.46 | ||
L | L-665 | 0 | 2 | 10.10 | 2 | 10.1 |
The auger drilling results will not be utilised in any Mineral Resource estimation but will assist in the drill targeting for the additional exploration drilling detailed below.
The initial auger drilling results have identified Target E as the best area for additional drilling to test these anomalies further. Additional auger drilling is currently underway to test the possible northern extension of Target E. Follow up AC or RC drilling will be required in future to test the possible lateral and strike extensions and get a better understanding of the geology in this area. In addition to Target E, Target Q and L results suggest additional follow up work.
Figure 9 - Future Testing of Target E
B) Multiple Additional Targets
Multiple additional targets have been identified at the Kobada Gold Project, and an exploration programme has been defined to target these areas. Initial priority targets are as follows (refer to Figure 10):
-
Gosso Target (Phase 3) – Drilling to date has delineated 750m of continuous strike in this shear zone. The intention is to drill step out and infill drilling holes to seek to convert the drilling into an Inferred Mineral Resource. Future drill programmes will test the continuity of strike along its length;
- Main Shear Zone (Phase 4 A, B & C) – Infill drilling programme within the current resource pit shell – there are an estimated 285,000 inferred ounces that are within the RPEEE resource pit shell and require infill drilling to ascertain whether they can be converted into Indicated Mineral Resource ounces; and
- Main shear zone extension (Phase 5 & 6 – Northern Extension & Foroko) – Additional drilling is earmarked to test the potential of the northern strike extension of the current Mineral Resources at the Kobada Project.
Figure 10 - Map of Targets
C) Future Potential Exploration Drilling Based Upon Known Anomalies
A comprehensive drilling programme of approximately 67,000m (refer to Figure 11 and Table 4) has been designed to target all known anomalies on the Kobada Project. This programme will be revised according to the results from the ongoing auger drilling programme, and proposed drilling as stated above to generate priority targets.
Figure 11 - 67,000 m Exploration Programme
Table 4 - 67,000 m Exploration Programme
Target | Boreholes | Metres | Target Name |
3 | 33 | 4,550 | Gosso B & C |
4 | 23 | 3,440 | Kobada Main B & C |
5 | 35 | 5,250 | Gosso North – Target 5 |
6 | 65 | 9,750 | Kobada Est – Target 6 |
7 | 35 | 5,250 | Kobada Est – Target 7 |
8 | 40 | 6,000 | Gosso NE – Target 8 |
9 | 20 | 3,000 | Kobada Est – Target 9 |
10 | 35 | 5,250 | Kobada Est – Target 10 |
11 | 35 | 5,250 | Kobada Main – Target 11 |
12 | 40 | 6,000 | Kobada Main – Target 12 |
13 | 40 | 6,000 | Kobada South – Target 13 |
14 | 30 | 4,500 | Faraba |
15 | 8 | 960 | Foroko Shear |
16 | 15 | 1,800 | Kobada North |
454 | 67,000 |