Taparko advances to feasibility — Three zones on property showing open-pit potential

With a million-ounce gold resource indicated on its Taparko property in Burkina Faso, High River Gold (HRG-T) has announced plans to complete a feasibility study on the project.

High River, which announced a preliminary resource estimate of 9.8 million tonnes grading 3.4 grams gold per tonne in August 1997, is planning to study the economics of an open-pit mine with a heap-leach plant. The company envisions daily production of 4,000 tonnes, for annual production around 90,000 oz. over an 8-year mine life.

The resource calculation includes estimates from three zones: zones 3 and 5, which are contiguous, and the GT zone. All three lie along the Taparko shear zone in Birimian volcanic rocks, and remain open at depth. Along a 4.4-km length of the shear, ten gold zones have been located so far.

High River has budgeted US$1.26 million for the feasibility study, and has also earmarked US$3.09 million for exploration elsewhere on the concession.

Soil and rock sampling have defined a number of areas with high gold concentrations both on and away from the main shear structure.

North of Zone 5, a thick mantle of deeply weathered lateritic soils obscures the Taparko shear and renders trenching useless. High River is planning to drill the extension of the shear beneath the laterite to assess the potential for gold mineralization along the structure’s northern extension.

Other targets along the exposed length of the shear zone are also slated for trenching or drilling.

Ten areas away from the Taparko structure have been delineated by soil sampling, and four of those have been examined in detail. High River has been mapping geology and using VLF electromagnetic surveys to define possible shear and vein structures in these areas, which are mainly in the northern third of the property.

Trenching of an anomaly called Area 2 has identified two gold zones over a 1,000-metre strike length in a shear zone. The first zone has a 300-metre-long shoot grading 0.5 to 2.4 grams gold per tonne over surface widths of 9 to 37 metres. The second has a 100-metre-long shoot showing gold grades of 0.4 to 3.1 grams.

Area 3, an 80-sq.-km soil anomaly, appears to host a swarm of veins with gold mineralization. One narrow structure graded 11.4 grams gold across a surface width of 5 metres; another graded 7.2 grams across 9 metres. In the same area, trench samples over greater widths — 15 to 40 metres — have yielded grades between 1 and 4 grams.

Two other anomalies, Areas 4 and 5, have yielded grab samples with high gold grades, but have not yet been trenched. Both are slated for trenching in the next phase of exploration.

High River has earned a 61.5% interest in the project from Incanore Resources, a private company which retains 18.5%. The government of Burkina Faso holds a 5% participating interest and a 15% carried interest in the project.