Altus Strategies (ALTS.V, ALS.L) has started a 17,500 meter drill program on its Diba gold project in Mali, where the company will be trying to expand the currently known Diba deposit as well as following up on the Diba NW discovery, which is just 800 meters away from the main Diba zone. Dibe consists of a series of stacked lenses, each about 20-40 meters thick and shallow dipping at a 30 degree angle.
The 17,500 meters will consist of 10,000 meters of RC drilling in 65 holes and 7,500 meters of AC drilling in 350 holes, and the latter will be zeroing in on the northern strike of the Diba NW discovery and to follow up on the artisanal workings at the Diba Far East prospect (which is just a few kilometers away from the main Diba zone). The RC drilling will also provide more insight in the recent high grade gold intervals encountered on the main Diba deposit with for instance 5 meters of 43.83 g/t gold and 9 meters containing 13.6 g/t gold.
As a reminder, the Diba gold project currently contains about 400,000 ounces of gold across all categories and rock types, but we are more particularly interested in the oxide mineralization where Altus Strategies has outlined a 183,000 ounce gold resource at 1.46 g/t gold in the indicated resource category and an additional 33,000 ounces of gold at 1.1 g/t in the inferred resource category. Previous drill programs have indicated the rock appears to be mineralized until a vertical depth level of about 70 meters with good oxidation levels in the first 50 meters from surface.
Disclosure: The author has no position in Altus Strategies. Please read our disclaimer.
