Orezone drills Bondi, Essakan fails to grow

Orezone Resources (ORZ-T) has wrapped up a 41-hole, reverse-circulation drilling campaign on its Bondi gold property in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The 2,250-metre program targeted a portion of a 4-km-long gold-in-soil anomaly with a fence of two to three holes every 75 metres along the trend. The anomaly covers the folded and altered contact between Tarkwaian sediments and volcanics.

Highlights from the drilling include:

• Hole 1 returned a 26-metre width (from 40 metres below surface) grading 4 grams gold per tonne;
• Hole 7 surrendered 8 metres (from 16 m) of 6.4 grams gold;
• Hole 8 contained 18 metres (from surface) grading 5.3 grams gold;
• Hole 19 encountered an 8-metre (from 38 m) section running 6.8 grams gold;
• Hole 24 yielded 42 metres (from 16 m) averaging 3.8 grams gold; and
• Hole 22 cut 16 metres (from surface) running 5.1 grams gold.

Most of the remaining holes returned between 1 and 5 grams gold over smaller intervals; 17 of the holes failed to return significant results. All of the holes were angled at a dip of minus 50.

Orezone says the drilling indicates a gold mineralized corridor exceeding 800 metres in length, with horizontal widths up to 25 metres. The company says the zone is oxidized to a depth of at least 45 metres.

Orezone also says that the zone continues along strike below the other trenches and remains open in all directions.

Previous grab sampling on the anomaly returned up to 13.4 grams gold per tonne; trenching over a 500-metre section yielded up to 18 metres of 2.5 grams gold.

“This was the first round of drilling to test a portion of a 4-km target and the resulting grades and widths in this system have exceeded our expectations," says Jeff Ackert, Orezone’s vice president of exploration.

The company plans further trenching, geological mapping and surface magnetics in anticipation of more drilling in the fourth quarter.

Orezone has an option to earn a 100% interest in Bondi and owns a 100% interest in the two adjoining permits immediately to the north for a total area exceeding 1,000 sq. km.

The Bondi property is contiguous with mineralization at Golden Hill (Intidougou), where Orezone intersected 22 metres averaging 11.4 grams gold per tonne on the Peksou zone. The properties lie about 250 km southwest of the capital, Ouagadougou.

Orezone’s drills are now headed back to the Peksou target.

The results failed to impress investors who sent shares down 3, or 4.5% of value, to 64 in late-afternoon trade in Toronto on June 2. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 16-77.

Meanwhile recent drilling by Orezone, about 500 km to the northeast on the Essakan property, failed to extend the deposit over a 1.3-km-long section to the southeast. Results are yet to arrive from drilling 3-4 km further to the southeast.

The holes, which returned between 1 and 3 grams gold over widths from 2-47 metres, confirm widths and grades in the main zone to its current southern limit.

Drilling continues on five targets all within a 15-km radius around Essakan’s main zone. The targets, all more than 2 km in length, comprise gold-in-soil anomalies coincident with magnetic and geological features.

Plans are to initially sink 400-500 metres of drilling into each target, with follow up holes planned for areas returning good results. So far, two of the targets have been tested.

Results are pending.

South Africa’s Gold Fields (GFI-N) is funding the exploration as part of its option to earn a half-interest in the property by spending US$8 million. Orezone is the operator for the first $2 million and will constitute half of the operating team until Gold Fields earns its interest. The South African can boost its stake by 10% by completing a bankable feasibility study.

In late April, drilling at Essakan uncovered a northern extension with the same geology and style of mineralization as the Main zone, with similar widths and grades. The 6,600-metre program was highlighted by 39 metres averaging 3.46 grams gold in the northernmost hole.

The northern extension occurs as two sub-parallel, 1-km-long zones. Nine of the 12 holes were drilled on several fences to test the southern 600 metres of the zone. The balance tested separate areas on the northern portion of the deposit.

Essakan hosts a 18.9-million-tonne resource grading 2.14 grams gold per tonne.