TSX-V-listed African Gold Group has confirmed that high-grade intersections from Phase 1 drilling indicate that there is upside potential at its Kobada gold project, in Mali.

The Phase 1 drilling campaign is focused on confirming and upgrading the confidence level of the resource as set out in a 2016 feasibility study.

The company on Friday said better-than-expected high-grade mineralisation had been found in the central zone of the Kobada main shear, which reinforced the company’s belief that the resource was bigger and with greater thicknesses than suggested in the 2016 study.

High-grade intersections and additional resources in satellite orebodies should complement the resource model favourably, African Gold said.

“We are very happy to have completed the Phase 1 drilling campaign aimed at confirming and upgrading the resource confidence level,” African Gold exploration VP Dr Andreas Rompel commented, adding that the company was “keenly expecting the remaining results to complement already published high-grade intersections in the area of the openpit which exceeded our expectations.”

Phase 2 of the drilling campaign has started towards the north and is aimed at extending the resource northward.

Continuing mineralisation to the north of the central zone is expected to further confirm the company’s view that the Kobada project is larger than previously suggested.

“The results that we are seeing on this initial phase of drilling indicate a strong correlation to the resource model in the 2016 feasibility study.

“In addition, efforts at updating the structural information into the new model are paying dividends as we are able to closely map identical structures in adjacent shear zones that are future exploration targets,” African Gold COO Danny Callow said.

He explained that while the intention in phase 1 and 2 drilling was to confirm the existing resource model to a higher degree of accuracy, the overall resource was still only concentrated on a 4 km strike length within the main shear zone.

With a further 26 km of shear zones identified on the concession, and a more accurate geological template to identify key drilling targets, the company believes it will be able to define a significantly higher resource through further drilling programmes.

African Gold expects the Phase 2 drilling campaign to be completed towards the end of December, with further phases of drilling targeting additional shear zones to get under way in the first quarter of 2020.