Nevsun Resources eyes ground held by African Selection

Selecting ground near known gold deposits and existing mines, African Selection Mining (AFSM.U-C) has assembled a property portfolio in West Africa. Much of the company’s ground is underlain by geologically prospective Birimian rocks.

African Selection’s portfolio has already attracted attention from various companies looking to expand their African holdings. Earlier this year, a unit of African Selection granted Nevsun Resources (NSU-T) the right to earn 75% of its interest in the Satifara concession. The property is in northwestern Mali, just west of the Sadiola Hill gold mine operated by South African-based Anglo American and Toronto-based Iamgold.

African Selection’s local subsidiary acquired rights to the 171-sq.-km concession in 1996. Since then, it has carried out prospecting, geophysical and geochemical programs at Satifara. It outlined a large gold anomaly that it later tested by trenching, with one of the trenches returning 4 grams gold per tonne across a length of 31 metres. The mineralization occurs within a stockwork of quartz veinlets hosted within the saprolitic portion of a diorite intrusive body, and is open to the north, south and along strike of the western lobe of the anomaly.

In Guinea, African Selection holds an option to earn a 70% interest in the Eco-Guinea concession, 60 km east of the Siguiri gold mine being developed by Ashanti Goldfields and 27 km south of the Banora gold deposit. The interest can by earned by spending US$3 million on exploration.

Work to date has included an airborne geophysical survey and a ground geochemical survey, as well as trenching. While seven of the 11 trenches did not return any significant results, gold values were obtained from the remaining trenches. Results include: 1.73 grams gold over 14 metres (from bedrock); 10 metres of 0.61 gram (alluvium); 34 grams across 10 metres (transported material); 6.9 grams over 38 metres (alluvium and rock fragments); 0.5 gram over 168 metres (bedrock); and 3.96 grams over 68 metres (bedrock and saprolite).

Samples were submitted to SGS Laboratories for fire assay. An independent consultant is being brought in to conduct a check sampling program.

African Selection also holds the Kofi and Netekoto concessions in Mali. It can earn 75% of Kofi, which is situated near Randgold’s Loulo gold project, and 80% of Netekoto by spending almost US$3 million on exploration.

No exploration has been carried out at Kofi. However surface mapping and sampling have identified a coincident gold-arsenic anomaly at Netekoto.

In northern Ghana, a unit of Australia’s Dominion Mining has an option to earn a 50% interest in African Selection’s Grupe concession, situated within the Bole-Nangodi gold belt, 5 km along strike from the Dokrupe gold deposit.

The junior also holds one concession in Senegal and two in Burkina Faso; these three have yet to be tested.