TIDMCGO
RNS Number : 6397S
Contango Holdings PLC
18 March 2021
Contango Holdings Plc / Index: LSE / Epic: CGO / Sector: Natural
Resources
18 March 2021
Contango Holdings Plc
('Contango' or the 'Company')
NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report Confirms Potential for
2Moz Gold at Garalo
At Least Two Target Zones Extend on To Recently Acquired Ntiela
Licence
Numerous Additional Targets Identified for Further
Exploration
Highlights
-- Independent Technical Report (the 'Report') produced on the
Garalo Gold Project ('Garalo' or the 'Project') to NI 43-101
standards.
-- Report confirms new model for gold formation at Garalo, highlights potential for up to 2Moz.
-- Gold structures confirmed as identical to structures that
control the nearby 2.8Moz Kalana gold deposit operated by Endeavour
Mining.
-- Confirmation that Garalo has potential to host high grade deposits within licence.
-- In addition to G1 and G3 targets (the basis for 2Moz),
numerous other clusters of anomalous zones with potential for gold
discovery have been identified.
-- Accelerated development schedule underway targeting first
gold in Q4 2021 in conjunction with expansion drilling.
-- Further upside from contiguous 100km(2) Ntiela Gold Project
with the extension of at least two target zones from Garalo to
Ntiela.
Carl Esprey, Chief Executive Officer of Contango Holdings, said:
"Garalo has surpassed expectations with this Independent Technical
Report establishing the potential for a 2Moz gold development.
Acquired less than six months ago, with just a historic target of
320,000 ounces, Garalo has very quickly turned in to something far
larger, with every possibility of rivalling some of its neighbours
in this globally significant gold producing region.
"The recent acquisition of the Ntiela Gold Project, on which
recent work has identified the extension of at least two target
zones from Garalo to Ntiela, offers further material upside. With a
resource of 2Moz now being contemplated at Garalo and the
probability of additional resource ounces being delineated at
Ntiela with sufficient drilling, our future billing as a mid-tier
gold producer becomes very credible.
"However, our immediate focus remains on near term cash flow. As
reported previously, we are accelerating the development of a
30,000oz per annum heap leach operation from the shallow oxides
given the high margins and low capex for its development. Given the
significant findings in the Report, in due course the Company will
undertake further drilling programmes on both Garalo and Ntiela,
designed to realise and optimise the asset's full potential, as we
look to establish a large standalone gold mine with multiple open
pit operations across both permit areas. With production,
construction and exploration news flow expected on these gold
assets in 2021, as well as further progress across the broader
Contango portfolio, we expect to generate substantial value for our
shareholders over the coming months."
The full report from Birima Gold Resources Consulting will be
made available on the Company's website at
https://contango-holdings-plc.co.uk/corporate-documents/#.
Further Information
Introduction
Contango Holdings Plc, the London listed natural resource
development company, is pleased to announce the receipt of an NI
43-101 Independent Technical Report on the Garalo Gold Project
located in the Sikasso region of southern Mali, 200km south-east of
the capital Bamako and close to the Guinea border. Garalo consists
of an exploration licence for gold and associated minerals covering
a surface area of 62.50 km(2) which is valid for two years and is
renewable for another term of two years.
The permit is surrounded by a number of multi-million ounce gold
deposits and the region is home to some of the world's leading gold
miners, including IAMGOLD, Barrick, B2 Gold, Endeavour Mining and
Hummingbird Resources, which has helped to establish Mali as the
third largest gold producer in Africa.
Birima Gold Resources Consulting ("BRG Consult")
The Report was conducted by BRG Consult, an international
mineral exploration consulting company with significant experience
in West Africa, ranging from grassroots to mine-site exploration
and mineral deposit expansion. Specialisms include gold exploration
and management of all aspects of mineral exploration programmes
from data compilation and project design through to all levels of
implementation and management.
The Report has been prepared in conformance with the Canadian
Securities Administrator National Instrument 43-101, Companion
Policy 43-101CP and form 43-101F1 (NI 43101). The Qualified Person
responsible for the preparation of this report is Serigne Dieng
PhD, the main author and responsible for the overall preparation of
this report. Dr. Dieng is the General Manager for BRG Consult with
22 years' experience in the mining sector. Mr. Dieng is a
registered member of the "The Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy" (The AuSIMM, Reference Number 316918).
NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report
The Report summarises historic and more recent technical
information on Garalo and concludes that the main structure that
controls the gold mineralisation at the Garalo G1 and G3 Targets is
a north-south-striking, shallowly-west-dipping shear zone system
forming pull-apart similar to the nearby 2.8Moz Kalana Gold
Deposit.
This new model for the gold formation at Garalo suggests that
the gold mineralisation is hosted in a system of parallel dilation
fracture networks within shear zones. These fracture networks are
under-explored and may contain a gold potential of up to 2Moz. The
Report finds that Garalo has high potential to host economic gold
mineralisation, which can be delineated via Reverse Circulation
(RC), Diamond (DD) and Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drilling
programmes.
The Report finds historic exploration works completed by
AngloGold Exploration Ltd, PGRM and Golden Spear Mali between 2001
and 2008 were professionally managed and procedures were consistent
with generally accepted industry best practices. Consequently, the
exploration data from soil geochemistry sampling, ground
geophysical survey, trenches and drilling were assessed to be
sufficiently reliable to confidently allow interpretation of the
gold mineralisation in the Garalo property, enabling the outline of
an extensive drilling programme over existing gold deposits and in
areas with potential for new discovery to be drawn. Exploration
works performed in the Garalo permit resulted in the discovery of
the Garalo G1 and G3 gold deposits and numerous other clusters of
anomalous zones with potential for gold discovery. Some of these
areas and targets have offered additional high-grade potential.
Work undertaken by BRG-Consult in 2021 determined the geological
and structural setting of the deposits and the style of the gold
mineralisation, establishing a new conceptual geological and
structural model for the gold mineralisation. BRG-Consult
interprets NS to NNW-striking and shallowly west-dipping shear zone
systems that control the gold mineralisation at Garalo G1 and G3
deposits. These structures are identical to structures that control
the nearby 2.8Moz Kalana gold deposit operated by Endeavour
Mining.
The gold mineralisation is strongly structurally controlled and
is contained into zones of deformation and hydrothermal
quartz-calcite-chlorite-pyrite-arsenopyrite alteration associated
with sheared and highly altered brecciated greywacke and shale
rocks in the hanging-wall of a shallowly-west-dipping, NS to
NNW-striking parallel set of fracture systems. Large and high-grade
gold mineralisation were intercepted at the Garalo gold project
(Tables 1.1 and 1.2 and Appendix B).
At Garalo G1 Target the gold structure:
-- has a strike-length of up to 1,000 metres and is open
laterally north and south along strike and downdip
-- has width that can exceed 200 metres in place and
-- hosts large and minable-grade gold mineralisation (Table 1.1)
Num Hold ID From (m) To (m) Interval Gold (g/t) Comments
(m)
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
1 G1AD001 200 201 1 6.22
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
2 G1AD003 57 59 2 10.35 including 1m@7g/t
3 65 65 1 43
4 167 167 16 1.24
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
6 G1ARC002 81 87 6 6.66
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
7 G1ARC003 53 55 2 2.42
8 78 79 1 7.64
9 87 90 3 22.11
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
10 G1ARC004 21 26 5 3.65
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
11 G1ARC006 83 96 13 1.02
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
12 G1ARC009 38 40 2 17.05
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
G1ARC1471
13 G1ARC148 0 18 18 1.69
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
14 68 76 8 2.7 including 2m@27,8g/t
15 40 54 14 4.45
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
including 2m@35.6g/t
16 G1ARC178 0 8 8 9.3 from surface
----- ---------- --------- ------- --------- ----------- ----------------------
Table 1.1: Best gold intercepts from drilling at Garalo G1
Target (cut-off of 3m@0.3g/t)
At Garalo G3 Target the gold structure:
-- has a strike-length of up to 600 metres and is open laterally
north and south along strike and downdip
-- has width that can exceed over 100 metres in place and
-- hosts large and minable-grade gold mineralisation (Table 1.2)
Num Hold ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Gold (g/t) Comments
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
1 G3AD001 159 163 4 1.44
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
2 G3AD002 73 75 2 1.44
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
3 G3ARC002 46 52 6 1.37 including 1m@5,6g/t
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
4 G3ARC002 87 90 3 5.11 including 1m@13,2g/t
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
5 G3ARC066 64 74 10 0.41
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
6 G3ARC147 30 34 4 1.36
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
7 G3ARC148 22 32 10 0.54
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
8 G3ARC148 60 62 2 1.5
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
9 G3ARC148 84 90 6 2.06 including 2m@5.3g/t
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
10 G3ARC149 34 48 14 0.66
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
11 G3ARC149 62 64 2 2.58
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
12 G3ARC149 74 78 4 1.08
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
13 G3ARC149 84 100 16 13.89 including 2m@95g/t
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
14 G3ARC150 0 2 2 6
---- --------- --------- ------- ------------- ----------- ---------------------
Table 1.2: Best gold intercepts from drilling at Garalo G3
Target (cut-off of 3m@0.3g/t)
The Garalo gold project is part to the Paleoproterozoic rocks of
the Bougouni Formation of the Baoulé-Mossi domain, in the Birimian
Super group of West Africa that hosts several word-classes
multi-million-ounces gold deposits (examples include 2.8Moz Kalana,
7.3Moz Morila, 6.2Moz Syama and, 1.8Moz Yanfolila gold deposits).
Geological and structural relationships, mineral alteration
assemblage and the style of the gold mineralisation within the
Garalo permit demonstrate that the gold deposits are classic
example of mesothermal shear-zone-controlled, intrusive-related,
orogenic-type gold mineralisation, hosted in greenstone folded and
deformed sedimentary successions of graywacke and shale similar to
the nearby 2.8Moz Kalana gold deposit.
The Report concludes that Garalo can be considered as very
prospective to host an economic gold deposit, advising additional
exploration works are undertaken to fully define and delineate
additional gold mineralisation and the ultimate resource.
Based on BGR-Consult's due diligence site visit and subsequent
review of available historical exploration information, BGR-Consult
offers the following general comments and conclusions.
-- The main structure that controls the gold mineralisation at
Garalo G1 and G3 Targets is a north-south striking,
shallowly-west-dipping shear zone system forming pull-apart similar
to the nearby 2.8Moz Kalana deposit. This new model for the gold
formation at Garalo suggests that the gold mineralisation is hosted
in a system of parallel dilation fracture networks within shear
zones. These fracture networks are under-explored and may contain a
potential of up to 2 Moz within the Garalo property.
-- Historical exploration results on the Garalo gold property
indicate the presence of significant gold mineralisation with
potential for economic gold discovery. The Garalo main gold
deposits (G1 and G3 Targets) are the highest priority exploration
targets within the concession. Additional drilling, geophysical
survey, sampling and mapping are required to evaluate the resource
and economic potential of the deposits.
-- The assessment of and conclusions made in this report on the
exploration potential of the Garalo gold property is based on the
historical exploration results, particularly the gold results
obtained from historical soil geochemistry sampling, ground IP
geophysical survey and drilling programs completed by AngloGold
Exploration Ltd and Golden Spear Mali between 2001 and 2008.
-- BGR-Consult concludes that the type of and amount of
historical exploration works completed in the Garalo permit and
data generated by this work provides an adequate basis for the
review and assessment of exploration potential provided in this
technical report and, the recommendations made herein.
**ENDS**
For further information, please visit
www.contango-holdings-plc.co.uk or contact:
Contango Holdings plc E: info@contango-holdings-plc.co.uk
Chief Executive Officer
Carl Esprey
Brandon Hill Capital Limited T: +44 (0)20 3463 5000
Financial Adviser & Broker
Jonathan Evans
St Brides Partners Ltd T: +44 (0)20 7236 1177
Financial PR & Investor Relations
Susie Geliher / Cosima Akerman
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