EXPLORATION 1997 — SEMAFO intensifies its exploration effort in Burkina Faso

At the same time that preparations are being made for prefeasibility studies on two advanced gold projects in Ghana and Guinea, West Africa Mining and Exploration (SMF-T) is carrying out grassroots work on ground held in nearby Burkina Faso.

The Montreal-based junior, also known as SEMAFO, is the largest landholder in the West African country, with interests in 14 properties covering more than 10,000 sq. km. Although most of these properties are still at the grassroots stage, three have been targeted for reverse-circulation (RC) drilling. Two of these, Mires and Kodyel, are contiguous with one another and lie in the east, while the third, Gourcy, is in the central-northern region.

On all its properties in Burkina Faso, the junior holds 75% interests, with local partners owning the remainder.

Victor Baruh, SEMAFO’s vice-president of development, attributes the company’s successful acquisition program to an early recognition of Burkina Faso’s unexplored potential.

“We were one of the first companies to go to Burkina before the land rush took place, so we acquired as many permits as possible,” he says, adding that the country differs from Ghana and Guinea in that little exploration data are available.

Among the advantages to exploring in Burkina Faso, Baruh cites promising geology and a mining code that is attractive to foreign investors.

On the Mires concession, the company has completed 4,500 metres of RC drilling, which tested the Boulgou South, Boulgou North and Boubouanga targets.

On Boulgou South, one hole yielded 8.23 grams gold per tonne over 3 metres (from 66 to 69 metres) and 22.56 grams gold over 1 metre (from 29 to 30 metres), while another intersected 5 metres farther down-hole (from 90 to 95 metres) averaging 2.28 grams gold.

No assays have been reported from the other targets, though previous prospecting along the 6-km-long Boubouanga target identified samples with values of up to 14 grams gold in pits in shear-hosted quartz veining.

At both the Kodyel and Gourcy concessions, the company has carried out vertical rapid-air-blast (RAB) drilling. Although Baruh says the technique is not entirely reliable, he nonetheless describes it as an inexpensive method of determining whether or not a target warrants further exploration.

At Kodyel, drilling has outlined a northwest-dipping, northeast-striking zone of gold mineralization which extends for 300 metres. The zone has been traced along a thickness of up to 25 metres and for 100 metres downdip. The highest gold values appear to correlate with zones of steeply dipping quartz veins, which occur within sheared granite along its contact with a diorite intrusion. Highlights include 11.06 grams gold over 1 metre, and 16.33 grams gold over 3 metres. As well, a 6-metre intersection in felsic tuffs, east of the Main zone, returned 7.46 grams gold. In all, 54 of the 179 holes drilled on the property returned greater than 0.3 gram gold.

>From the previous fall to the end of the upcoming summer field season, the company expects to have spent $3.7 million exploring all its properties in Burkina Faso. A little more than half this amount is being directed to the Mires and Kodyel properties.

In the meantime, the company is in the process of calculating a preliminary resource for its Teleku-Bokazo property in Ghana and Jean-Gobele property in Guinea.

At Teleku-Bokazo, in which the company can earn a 100% interest, diamond drilling is testing a zone of primary sulphide-associated gold mineralization which underlies an oxide zone previously identified by trenching and RC drilling. The main focus of these programs is a southeastern portion of the 1,000-metre-long Anwia geochemical anomaly, which strikes

northwest-southeast. To date, more than 19,000 metres of RC drilling and 4,800 metres of diamond drilling have tested the lobe. Of the diamond drill results, 31 primary mineralized intercepts have an average core length of 44 metres and an average uncut grade of 2.22 grams.

Highlights from five of the most recently completed drill holes include: 17 metres of 3.84 grams gold (from 10 to 27 metres) and, within the same hole, 3 metres of 22.61 grams gold (from 45 to 48 metres); 2 metres of 19.84 grams gold (from 28 to 30 metres) and, further down hole, 12 metres of 3.96 grams gold (from 44 to 56 metres); and 6 metres of 30.71 grams gold (from 144 to 150 metres).

SEMAFO has two drill rigs on site and is preparing to mobilize a third. The company will have spent $4 million by the end of the upcoming summer on the Teleku-Bokazo property.

Meanwhile, at the 50%-owned Jean-Gobele property, diamond drilling is testing the Jean quartz-vein structure. By April, the company plans to have drilled 35 shallow holes in total, comprising 1,700 metres. Following this, resource calculations will be completed for both this target and the parallel, near-surface Gobele quartz-vein structure, 600 metres to the east, where 4,600 metres of diamond drilling have been completed.

Once the Jean-Gobele program is complete, SEMAFO will start drilling the Mankan gold anomaly, which lies 10 km to the northwest. Mankan consists of a series of linear gold anomalies up to 500 metres long. Hand trenching at one of these returned 1.43 grams gold over a width of 5 metres.