The SMSZ Project
Desert Gold's flagship SMSZ Project overlies a 38 km section of West Africa’s prolific Senegal Mali Shear Zone which is related to 4 tier one gold mines including B2 Gold's Fekola Mine, Barrick's Gounkoto and Loulo Mines and Allied Gold's Sadiola and Yatela Mines.
At 410km2 the Company’s SMSZ Project is one of the largest gold exploration projects in Western Africa. With 20+ open gold zones discovered to date that require follow up and numerous targets yet to be tested, the SMSZ Project has the potential for the discovery of a major gold deposit(s) consistent with the region’s tier 1 gold mines.
Summarized Exploration Program – Barani East Area
Barani East Long Section with planned holes
Exploration Targets
Barani East
The Barani East zone is a northeast-trending, sulphide replacement zone in silicified limestones. This type of alteration and
host rock, are similar to the large Sadiola Gold Mine, located along the same structural
and geological trend, approximately 50 km
to the north.
Multiple, moderate-southwest-plunging lenses of gold mineralization have been
both identified and inferred in the Barani
East area.
One of the best holes, returned 6.3 g/t gold over 13 metres (approximately 11 metres true thickness). Drilling, slightly below the interpreted down plunge extension of the zone, returned 4.76 g/t gold (3.81 g/t gold cut to 30 g/t gold) over 13.5 metres (estimated true width – metres) and 2.49 g/t gold over 5.1 metres (estimated true width --- metres) at a vertical depth of ---- metres
The goal with Barani East, is to continue to expand the mineralization footprint with an objective to increase the current modest indicated resource of 46,600 ozs gold grading 2.22 g/t gold and an inferred resource of 23,300 ounces grading 2.29 g/t gold (2016, 43-101 compliant report - Technical Report on the Farabantourou Gold Mining Permit, Kéniéba District, Western Mali, Mineral Resource Update).
Drilling, completed subsequent to the resource estimate, has extended the mineralized zones beyond the current
in-pit estimated resource.
8 holes totaling 1,355 holes are planned for early 2021 to follow up on previous intercepts and test conceptual targets. Additional holes will be completed, pending results.
39 further holes, totalling 3,050 metres, are planned in the Barani East Zone area to test targets.