Fekola Gold Project

 mine, gold mine

This is the area covered by the Médinandi Exploitation License for the Fekola Gold Project in which the ownership is B2Gold with 90% and Government of Mali 10%, with the Government of Mali having the option to purchase a further 10%. The licence covers an area of 75 km² mining lease and was granted on February 13, 2014 for 30 years under permit number 0070/PM-RM. B2Gold holds the licence through Songhoi Resources Sàrl (Songhoi), of which they own 100% of the shares.

In 1953 a Frech prospector discovered gold at the Fadougou Main Zone then continued work on the property from 1954 to 1955. Subsequent work done on the property included geological mapping, reconnaissance trenching and surface sampling, auger and core drilling, and geophysical surveys. This work was done by Sonarem 1962 to 1970, BRGM 1975 to 1982, and Guefest 1992 to 1996, and BRGM reported undertaking a resource estimate. Regional mapping, ground IP surveys, trenching, soil and termite geochemical sampling, auger and reverse circulation (RC) drilling, and resource estimates for the Fadougou Main Zone were done by WAG frrom 1997 to 1998.

Randgold then began Interpreting Landsat and aeromagnetic data, geological and regolith mapping, regional geochemical soil and rock, compilation of data from previous work, and updated the resource estimate for Fadougou from 1998 to 2001. From 2006 to 2009 between Central African and Songhoi they conducted Mapping, soil geochemical surveys, IP and airborne magnetic and EM surveys over the project area, together with RC and core drilling (130 holes) over the Médinandi and Fadougou zones. The resource estimate at Fadougou was also updated. Duruing the period of 2010 to 2012 Colonial, Papillon, then Songhoi conducted more detailed drilling, sampling, aerial and ground geophysical surveys, and construction of the access road and exploration camp.

Fekola is situated in the eastern portion of the Paleoproterozoic Kédougou–Kéniéba Inlier which covers eastern Senegal and western Mali. The deposit is considered to be an example of an orogenic style gold deposit. Orogenic gold deposits dominantly form in metamorphic rocks in the mid to shallow crust, at or above the brittle-ductile transition, in compressional settings that facilitate transfer of hot gold bearing fluids from deeper levels. During a geological event the rapid rise of fluids takes these out of equilibrium with their surroundings, resulting in gold precipitation.

The majority of gold mineralisation in the Fekola deposit occurs in unweathered fresh rock, and is preferentially associated with stringers of pyrite parallel to the foliation and in fine disseminated pyrite. Gold mineralisation is associated with fine grained pyrite in tan dolomite-albite altered wall rocks, which locally contain diffuse, often deformed pale grey quartzdolomite-pyrite-albite matrix veins and veinlets. Trace amounts of chalcopyrite have also been observed. The total sulphide content of the deposit is typically less than 5%.

The Mineralization is broadly continuous and has been traced over a strike length of approximately 1.5 km, to depths of up to 400 m below surface, and with widths to 300 m. The greatest continuity is observed within a high grade shoot (>2 g/t Au) which plunges at approximately 13° to the north-north west. Mineralization is open at depth and down plunge.

Exploration work at Fekola has revealed several other targets which have the potential for gold mineralization. Fadougou NE prospect is along strike from the Fekola deposit and may represent an analog target to Fekola. InitialRC drilling has confirmed anomalous gold intersections beneath laterite cover. Tintiba is an anomaly that was identified as a structural target based on geophysical data. Two trenches returned significantly elevated gold values and the trench anomalism is supported by elevated gold values obtained from soil and pit sampling. The Médinandi prospect was initially delineated as a large gold-in-soil anomaly. However, subsequent work undertaken by Papillon noted the anomaly may be an artifact of artisanal mining activity and not be related to a cohesive mineralized structure. Betakili is a structural target derived from geophysical data interpretation. Fekola west and southwest are also potential satellites of the Fekola Main Deposit.