Birim guts more gold in Ghana

Vancouver — A 12-hole program of reverse-circulation drilling by Birim Goldfields (BGI-T) has enhanced the economic prospects of the Mansiso target, part of the Dunkwa concession in southern Ghana.

Birim is selling its 90% interest in the Dunkwa land package to Golden Star Resources (GSC-T). The property consists of two exploration licences: Asikuma, which surrounds the Mampon deposit, and Mansiso, which adjoins both Asikuma and Golden Star’s Bogoso property. Golden Star also assumes Birim’s right to a royalty from the Mampon deposit, which depends on the size of the mineral reserve outlined at Mampon.

The Mansiso property hosts the small Opon gold deposit, which has a probable reserve of 108,000 tonnes grading 2 grams per tonne.

Birim gets US$3.4 million for its holding in Dunkwa and retains a variable royalty based on the quarterly average of the London afternoon gold fix. At prices of US$300 per oz. and less, the royalty is 2%, increasing to 2.5% at gold prices below US$350, to 3% at prices up to US$400, and to 3.5% at prices above US$400. The first 200,000 oz. of production at Mampon are exempt from the royalty.

The transactions require the approval of the government, which owns a 10% interest in all the properties, and once the deal is complete, Golden Star will reimburse Birim for all costs incurred during the Mansiso drill campaign.

The newly completed, 865-metre program returned up to 39 grams gold per tonne over 1 metre in hole 5. Other highlights include the following: Hole 2 — 6.93 grams gold over 6 metres at a down-hole depth of 38 metres; Hole 3 — 5.16 grams gold over 6 metres at 53 metres down-hole; Hole 4 — 4.37 grams gold over 2 metres at 24 metres down-hole; and Hole 6 — 6.3 grams gold over 7 metres at 42 metres down-hole.

The results define a steeply dipping zone of gold zone up to 4 metres wide. Higher-grade mineralization is associated with quartz veining in strongly carbonate-altered Birimian meta-sediments and is surrounded by a halo of lower-grade values with weaker carbonate alteration.

The company has moved the rig to its wholly owned Bui District properties in west-central Ghana, where a 40-hole program aimed at testing the 1-km-long Namasa gold-in-soil anomaly is under way.