Category: News

Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD)'s Howard Golden says they have the reverse circulation drill spinning in a 6,000-metre program at the Vranso project, Burkina Faso, to systematically test for extensive shallow high-grade gold mineralisation at four prospects. These advanced stage drill-ready prospects – Dassa, Guido, Semapoun and Bantole – are within a 20-kilometres radius of the Perkoa zinc mine and were identified following a data compilation and integration exercise.

Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) has the reverse circulation drill spinning in a 6,000-metre drilling program at the Vranso Project, Burkina Faso, to systematically test for extensive shallow high-grade gold mineralisation at four prospects.

These advanced stage drill-ready prospects – Dassa, Guido, Semapoun and Bantole – are within a 20-kilometres radius of the Perkoa Zinc Mine and were identified following a data compilation and integration exercise.

This work captured historical geochemical, geophysical and geological information from the project that is within the gold-bearing Palaeoproterozoic Birimian Greenstone belt.

"Gold exploration opportunity"

Arrow’s managing director Howard Golden said: “The commencement of Arrow’s drilling program on the Vranso Project is the culmination of a concerted effort, following the identification of an outstanding gold exploration opportunity by the company.

"We have consolidated an enviable land position in a prolific gold belt with a huge cache of historical data that has sat dormant in terms of gold exploration for the past 10 years.”

Vranso Project in central Burkina Faso is in the underexplored gold-bearing Paleoproterozoic Birimian Greenstone Belt.

"Arrow is now pursuing an aggressive exploration campaign to define shallow gold deposits amenable to open pit mining in an area with excellent infrastructure within Burkina Faso,” Golden said.

“With an experienced and well-funded team in place, a multi-faceted field program will be executed over the coming months.”

Following up gold results

The RC drill program is expected to comprise about 50 holes to follow up previous results:

• Dassa – previous best of 33 metres at 1.9 g/t gold and 17 metres at 3.3 g/t;
• Guido – 13 metres at 4.7 g/t and 12 metres at 1.9 g/t;
• Semapoun – 4 metres at 12.5 g/t and 6 metres at 3.7 g/t; and
• Bantole – 4 metres at >25 g/t and 4 metres at 1.6 g/t.

Guido, Semapoun and Bantole prospects are within 20 kilometres of the central Perkoa Zinc Mine processing facility with Dassa just to the west of Poa.

In prolific region

Vranso project is 100 kilometres west of the capital Ouagadougou and comprises 10 semi-contiguous exploration permits extending for more than 80 kilometres along the main NE-SW trending Boromo Shear Zone, host to numerous multi-million-ounce gold deposits including Bissa, Bouly, Poura and Batie West.

The project covers more than 1,300 square kilometres of the richly gold endowed Paleoproterozoic Birimian Greenstone Belt, the majority of which is yet to be evaluated using modern gold exploration techniques.

This first phase of Arrow's multi-faceted exploration program is anticipated to take six-months to complete and includes RC drilling, geological mapping, stream and soil geochemical sampling, airborne and ground geophysical surveys, and diamond drilling to be completed by Arrow’s local team along with technical director Hugh Bresser.

Results will be released as the drilling progresses with completion of the drilling expected in early 2022.

Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) has firmed up its exploration prospects after unveiling a pipeline of gold targets at its Vranso Project in Burkina Faso.

The precious metals explorer has emerged from an intensive, two-month data compilation exercise that saw it hone in on a series of prospects at the West African gold camp.

Now, Arrow has embarked on what it describes as an aggressive, multi-faceted exploration program across its advanced and early-stage gold prospects.

A multi-purpose reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill rig is en-route to Vranso, while an aeromagnetics geophysical survey should lift off before year’s end.

“The table is set”

Speaking to the program, Arrow managing director Howard Golden said: “The Vranso Project comprises a portion of the Boromo Belt that has seen little historical gold exploration, sitting in a gap in the belt that hosts numerous multi-million-ounce gold deposits to the north and south of Vranso.

“Arrow recently consolidated the more than 1,300-square kilometres project and compiled the extensive historical data, identifying several shallow high-grade gold intersections that have yet to be systematically drilled.

“It is rare to have such high-quality shallow gold results to follow up at this stage of exploration.

“The table is set for a drilling program that is designed to deliver results efficiently in an exploration space that already has shallow, high-grade gold results.”

Drill-ready prospects

Recently, Arrow closed the book on a detailed data amalgamation project, bringing together historical geochemical, geophysical and geological data as far back as 1982.

Now, it’s on the hunt to uncover new, shallow, high-grade gold deposits at Vranso through its intensive exploration campaign.

Out of Vranso’s six advanced, drill-ready gold targets, four will be explored in the upcoming campaign.

Drilling will kick off imminently on these precious metal prospects, which include:

• Dassa prospect, with previous best intersections of 33 metres at 1.9 g/t gold and 17 metres at 3.3 g/t;
• Guido prospect, with previous best intersections of 13 metres at 4.7 g/t and 12 metres at 1.9 g/t;
• Semapoun prospect, with previous best intersections of 4 metres at 12.5 g/t and 6 metres at 3.7 g/t; and
• Bantole prospect, with previous best intersections of 4 metres at more than 25 g/t and 12 metres at 1.6 g/t.

Gold target pipeline

In addition to the advanced targets, Arrow is honing in on a series of early-stage prospects at Vranso.

With exploration underway, the ASX-lister hopes to pinpoint new gold systems and advance the targets to drill-ready status.

To do so, Arrow has planned:

• A six-month geological mapping, stream and soil Geochem sampling program, as well as airborne and ground geophysical surveys and RC and diamond drilling;
• Follow-up soil sampling surveys after a sampling program took place over the Pilimpikou, Kordie and Viveo northern permits; and
• A detailed airborne magnetic survey in late November over the Vranso project area.

Arrow’s technical director Hugh Bresser plans to travel to Burkina Faso early this month to supervise the program’s commencement and implementation.

He will reside for roughly six weeks to support and assist Arrow’s in-country exploration team as it carries out the program.

Vranso Project

The Vranso Project, 00 kilometres west of Burkina Faso’s capital, consists of 10 semi-contiguous exploration permits that extend for more than 80 kilometres along the main northeast-southwest trending Boromo Shear Zone.

This area is host to numerous, multi-million-ounce gold deposits, including the Bissa, Bouly, Poura and Batie West gold camps.

Vranso covers more than 1,300 square kilometres along the richly gold endowed Paleoproterozoic Birimian Greenstone Belt, the majority of which is yet to be evaluated using modern gold exploration techniques.

Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) has highlighted a transformative 12 months ending June 30, 2021, with the company entering into several commercial agreements to acquire access to high-quality exploration permits, divesting non-core assets whilst retaining value options and growing the technical capability of the team.

The company is positioned well for an exciting year ahead, as it builds on its ongoing discovery success in Burkina Faso.

Arrow now has access to over 1,200 square kilometres of contiguous exploration ground in the highly prospective gold-rich Paleoproterozoic Boromo belt, an area referred to as the Vranso Project.

The company will also benefit from exposure to upside on its three joint ventures – the Arrow-Fortuna Silver JV in Burkina Faso, the 1% NSR carried on its Western Australian Plumridge nickel JV with IGO, and the recently signed farm-out agreement with Electrostate on the Malinda Lithium project in Western Australia.

Vranso Project

Within the Vranso Project in Burkina Faso, exploration is focussed on the Divole East and West permits.

Arrow has made a new discovery on the Divole West permit – the Dassa Gold deposit.

Dassa sits within a 5-kilometre long zone of highly anomalous gold in soil and auger sampling, the full extent of which remains to be tested.

Further auger and reverse circulation (RC) drilling continue to expand the known footprint of this significant discovery that remains open along strike, down-dip and at depth.

Exploration drilling was also conducted on the Divole East Permit, with 2,385 metres of RC drilling completed at the new Poa prospect, identifying gold mineralisation that extended the Divole East mineralised corridor to a strike-length of 7.5 kilometres.

Strickland Project

In Western Australia, at the company’s 100% owned Strickland Project, seven drill holes were completed to test airborne geophysical anomalies.

Downhole geophysical surveys identified an off-hole downhole electromagnetic anomaly in one of those holes that sits beneath the completed drilling and corresponds with a thick and highly anomalous copper intersection in nearby drilling.

Plumridge Nickel Project

At the Plumridge Nickel Project, Arrow opted to convert its contributing 10% to a 1% NSR (net smelter royalty).

This will enable Arrow to focus its resources on its high-quality precious and base metals projects while retaining exposure to any IGO success at Plumridge.

New appointment

Arrow’s board and management team was bolstered during the year by the appointment of Hugh Bresser as Technical Director.

Hugh brings a breadth and depth of highly relevant experience to the company and will serve on the board and as a hands-on technical expert.

Strong financial position

The work completed over the past twelve months has allowed Arrow to gain value from its non-core assets and paved the way to add to its gold discoveries in Burkina Faso.

Arrow’s strong financial position enables the company to organically grow the Burkina Faso gold inventory through ongoing discovery success as well as follow up on the positive results at Strickland.