Semafo hits new gold zone in Niger

Taking a look at the old data has lead to a new discovery for Semafo (SMF-T).

The Montreal-based, West African miner found a new mineralized trend at its Samira Hill in Niger after pouring over a patchwork of historical exploration data and devising a drilling strategy in the area.

Now that it has struck mineralization, with a highlight intercept of 1.48 grams gold over 43 metres, the company is calling the new area the Tonde Boubangou Horizon (TBH).

TBH sits 20-km north of its Samira Hill processing plant and has been traced over a distance of 10-km along strike.

Other highlight intercepts from reverse circulation (RC) drilling included: 9 metres grading 2.15 grams gold and 32 metres grading 1.41 grams gold. It also says that mineralization was hit along the entire length of the sedimentary unit, which remains open in all directions.

Exploration at TBH got underway in June of last year after the company compiled and re-analyzed historical early stage work done in the area. That historical work was made up of sporadic auger drill results, geochemical anomalies, a few trenches and a small amount of RC drilling — all of which seemed to indicate a 10-km long geophysical trend.

Since last June Semafo has drilled 10,350 metres of air core, 15,667 metres of RC, and 1,518 metres of core drilling. Results have yet to come in for over half of the RC and all of the core drilling.

Semafo says mineralization at TBH is similar to that in parts of the SH deposits which are currently being mined at Samira Hill. Like SH, mineralization at TBH has been found within silicified graphitic sediments, associated with quartz veining and quartzo-feldspathic dykes.

The company says it will now look to geological mapping, RC follow-up drilling and core drilling to enhance its understanding of the controls as it tries to establish the continuity and geometry of zone.

Semafo operates two other gold mines in West Africa besides Samira Hill. In Burkina Faso it has the Mana Mine and in Guinea it has the Kiniero Mine. Last year the three mines combined to give the company 250,100 oz. of gold production.

In Toronto on June 19 the company’s shares were up 2.1% to $5.36 on 1.72 million shares traded.