Semafo hits new gold zone in Niger

Taking the time to have a look through old data has led to a new discovery for Semafo (SMF-T).

The Montreal-based, West Africa-focused miner found a new mineralized trend at 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 is located 20 km north of its Samira Hill processing plant and has been traced over a 10-km distance 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.

The company says that gold mineralization was hit along the entire length of the sedimentary unit, which remains open in all directions.

Exploration at TBH got underway in June 2011 after the company compiled and re-analyzed the area’s historical, early stage work. The historical data comprised sporadic auger drill results, geochemical anomalies, and assays from a few trenches and a small amount of RC drilling — all of which seemed to indicate a 10-km long geophysical trend.

Since June 2011 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 more than half of the RC, and all of the core drilling.

Semafo says mineralization at TBH is similar to parts of the SH deposits 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 look to geological mapping, RC follow-up drilling and core drilling to enhance its understanding of the geological controls as it works to establish the zone’s continuity and geometry.

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. gold production.

On June 19 — the day the news was issued — the company’s shares were up 2.1% to $5.36, on 1.72 million shares traded.