AFRICA SPECIAL — Oliver sets exploration pace in Mali

Legend has it that back in 1433, the emperor of Mali took eight tons of gold with him on his pilgrimage to Mecca. Now a Vancouver junior, Oliver Gold (OGO-V), is trying to locate the source of that offering.

Oliver takes its name from a small town in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, and the company still has interests in the Fairview gold-silver property, 6 km northwest of the town.

However, since 1994, Oliver Gold has been focusing on African prospects in Mali and Zimbabwe.

The junior blames a “restrictive climate towards mining” in British Columbia for its decision to look for more promising opportunities in Africa.

“We are in Mali, in part, because of a new mining code and foreign investment legislation [that] passed in 1994,” says Laura-Lee Duffett, Oliver’s co-ordinator of investor relations. “Certainly West Africa hosts prolific gold mineralization. Gold production made Mali one of the richest kingdoms in the world.”

Oliver was one of the first junior explorers to gain entry into the West African nation, where it is earning an undivided 50% interest in the 2,200-ha Segala project from Consolidated Mining (West Africa).

“We’ve spent more money on exploration than any other junior [active in the country],” she adds.

The property has a drill-indicated reserve of 1 million oz. gold, with an overall tonnage and grade of just over 11 million tonnes at 3 grams. The company’s objective for the current year is to outline a resource of 3 million oz.

To earn its interest in Segala, Oliver must spend US$250,000 on exploration, pay US$5,000 per month to Consolidated Mining for offices in Mali, and deliver a feasibility study within five years.

Farther south, in Zimbabwe, the company has just acquired Maple Leaf Mining, a private corporation that operates two small underground mines and has properties with three gold occurrences.

>From 1907 to 1995, the C and Camp mines produced more than 4,700 kg gold (132,000 oz.) from ore averaging 6.8 grams per tonne. Nearby are the Ipanema, Clifton and Agincourt properties, also held by Oliver.

The company also controls 38,823 ha of claims and prospecting permits surrounding the mine property, including the Ipanema prospect. “On the property itself are 200 gold adits,” Duffett says.

Oliver first went to Zimbabwe in 1994, when it acquired a half interest in Maple Leaf. Since that time, mining reforms have rendered exploration all that much easier.

Infrastructure

“The government is very pro-mining,” Duffett confirms. “There’s a well-maintained system of roads, railway links, electricity and manufacturing, and the mining regulations are all geared to encourage mining.

“Our focus in 1997 will be on Ipanema and Clifton-Hungwe, and on exploration for bulk-tonnage [deposits amenable to] open-pit mining,” Duffett explains.

The Ipanema prospect is defined by a strong gold-in-soil anomaly extending over 300

by 400 metres. Trenching into bedrock confirmed the widespread presence of gold mineralization in the geochemical anomaly.

The core from the first nine holes indicated that 76% of the gold is fully recoverable by simple cyanide heap leaching, indicating that the mineralization is not refractory.

Some 3,150 metres of diamond drilling have been completed on the prospect.

Results from hole 1 include 169 metres grading 2.1 grams gold (including 25.7 metres of 5.42 grams, 22.3 metres of 3.48 grams), and 10 metres of 0.78 gram.

Hole 2 intersected 1 metre grading 3.16 grams gold, 4 metres of 1.98 grams, 5 metres of 1.59, 39.5 metres of 1.12 grams, and 13.3 metres at 2.16 grams.

Other results include: 1 metre grading 6 grams gold in hole 3; 12.6 metres grading 1.03 grams and 18.4 metres of 1.34 grams in hole 4; and 127.6 metres grading 0.92 gram gold in hole 9.

The property will be subjected to an induced-polarization survey. Meanwhile, the first hole has been drilled on Clifton-Hungwe, a nearby open-pit target.

Recently, the company took a beating on the market for being tied to a controversy surrounding personal trades by a mutual fund manager; it now hopes to recover whatever value it lost as a result.

At presstime, Oliver was trading at $3.30, less than half its 52-week high of $6.95.