Altus Strategies (ALTS.V, ALS.L) and Marvel Gold (MVL.AX) have released an updated resource estimate for the Tabakorole gold project in Mali. The project currently contains 620,000 ounces of gold in the inferred resource category (16.6M tonnes at 1.2 g/t gold) and an additional 290,000 ounces of gold in the indicated resource category (7.3M tonnes at 1.2 g/t gold).
Marvel is currently earning an initial 33% stake in the project, and it looks like reaching the 1 million ounce milestone is within reach as the deposit appears to remain open along strike and at depth. Drilling will start again this quarter, and both partners will be conducting metallurgical test work as well. That will be interesting as Altus has recently released metallurgical test results on one of its other Malian projects, resulting in a 98.3% recovery rate for the gold in an oxide sample and almost 87% for the sulphide sample in a CIL scenario. Of course, there are no guarantees the Tabakorole project will yield the same recovery rates but recovery rates in the 90% range should not come as a surprise.
As a reminder, Marvel Gold can earn a stake of up to 80% in both the Tabakorole and Lanflaka gold projects from Altus Strategies by committing to a substantial amount of exploration expenditures on the projects.
The agreement above mentions Graphex Mining, which is Marvel Gold’s previous name. Altus will retain a 2.5% NSR on both projects.
Disclosure: The author has no position in Altus Strategies nor Marvel Gold.
