Semafo drilling cuts long intersections at Wona

Delineation drilling by Semafo (SMF-T) at its Mana gold property in central Burkina Faso has returned long intersections from the Wona gold deposit.

Semafo is tightening drill control on both Wona and the nearby Nyafe gold deposit following a resource estimate done in March. Wona is now being drilled on 25-metre spacings using both diamond and reverse-circulation drills.

Holes drilled mainly at 50 through the nearly vertical structure returned mineralized lengths ranging from 4 to 61 metres. The 61-metre intersection, in reverse-circulation hole WRC-189, averaged 3.87 grams gold per tonne; after high assays were cut to 15 grams per tonne, based on statistical analyses, the grade remained at 3.81 grams per tonne.

A 25-metre intersection in diamond drill hole WDC-13 ran 6.49 grams gold per tonne, or 3.27 grams per tonne after cutting. The intersection included a 7-metre interval that ran 6.63 grams per tonne.

Grades in the other new drill holes ranged from 1.7 to 5.5 grams per tonne, generally over drilled lengths of 10 metres or better.

The resource at Wona, about 200 km west of Ouagadougou, was calculated at 4 million tonnes grading 3.9 grams gold per tonne.

Semafo is now drilling on Nyafe, immediately to the south of Wona, where the March estimate put the resource at 850,000 tonnes grading 8.4 grams gold per tonne. The results of the new drilling will go toward an updated resource estimate that will be used in a feasibility study, planned for completion in the early part of the new year.