Sarama hits another high-grade gold zone at South Hounde

VANCOUVER — It seems there is still much gold to be found at the South Houndé project in Burkina Faso, where initial drilling at a
new target has returned shallow, high-grade gold for Sarama Resources (TSXV: SWA). 

The new prospect is called MM East, named such because it lies 500 metres east of the MM zone where Sarama has focused its efforts at the property to date. Sarama is calculating an initial resource estimate for South Houndé that will focus on the main 3.8 km long MM zone, which has yielded high-grade hits since Sarama started exploring there in 2011. 

The first drill results from MM East suggest the new area may host similar mineralization. Based on the results of a regional scout drilling program and an induced-polarization survey completed last year, Sarama probed MM East with 100-metre long reverse-circulation drill holes spread along 1.4 km of strike. Promising results prompted the company to extend some holes to 160 metres depth and drill a few diamond holes as deep as 220 metres.

At the south end of the tested area drills returned long, shallow, high-grade gold. Hole 845 hit into 26 metres grading 6.9 grams gold from 22 metres downhole, and cut 31 metres of 1.43 grams gold a few metres later. To the east on the same section, hole 55 returned 37.5 metres grading 2.59 grams gold from 27 metres downhole. Two deeper intercepts carried 2.18 grams gold over 4.3 metres and 1.97 grams gold over 6.5 metres. 

Stepping east again, hole 708 intercepted 16 metres grading 3.84 grams gold from 20 metres depth, while hole 59 returned 36 metres grading 6.48 grams gold from just 14 metres downhole. 

Moving north along the MM East prospect drilling encountered gold zones that were narrower, but still carried good grades. The narrow zones dip steeply to the west, so holes drilled on the west side of the trend angled to the east hit the largest number of zones. For example, hole 847 returned no fewer than seven intercepts, all between 80 and 240 metres depth, with 36.7 metres of 2.15 grams gold, 10.5 metres of 0.99 gram gold, 19 metres of 5.39 grams gold, 12.3 metres of 4.44 grams gold, 11 metres of 2.68 grams gold, 14.5 metres of 1.39 grams gold and 7 metres of 1.47 grams gold. 

Sarama plans to incorporate MM East into the resource estimate it is preparing for South Houndé. Most of the resource will come from the main MM zone, where the company has defined 3.8 km of mineralized strike. The strike length jumped by 1.9 km in late June when an extensional drilling program intersected mineralized quartz-feldspar-porphyry units southwest along strike from earlier intercepts.

The recent results from MM include 17.2 metres of 3.14 grams gold from 161 metres depth, 26 metres of 1.84 grams gold from 28 metres depth, 9 metres of 3.57 grams gold from 114 metres depth and 26 metres of 1.38 grams gold from 16 metres depth.  

Some of the better drill results from the main MM zone to date include 10.2 metres carrying 14.85 grams gold, 15.5 metres of 6.61 grams gold, 11.8 metres grading 8.06 grams gold, 13.9 metres averaging 14.47 grams gold and 18.3 metres of 7.09 grams gold. 

Sarama has also identified mineralization northeast along strike from MM, at a zone known at the Phantom prospect. There is an untested gap between MM and Phantom, but including that gap the zones extend along 5.7 km of strike. Sarama has mostly limited its drilling to 150 metres depth, with the intention of defining a resource amenable to open-pit mining. 

South Houndé is named after the Houndé greenstone belt, which already boasts two sizeable gold deposits: Semafo’s (TSX: SMF; US-OTC: SEMFF) Mana mine is home to 7.8 million oz. gold and produces 170,000 oz. gold annually, while Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV) is exploring its 2.2 million oz. Houndé deposit.

Sarama has a large land position at the south end of the Houndé belt, spread across three properties. The largest of these is Tankoro, which covers more than 1,000 sq. km and includes the South Houndé project. 

The West Africa-focused explorer has three more properties in Liberia and one in Mali.

News of the gold intercepts at MM East added 3¢ to Sarama’s share price, bringing it to 35¢. The company has a 52-week share price range of 20.5¢ to 95¢, and 66 million shares outstanding.