Predictive Discovery shores up confidence in Guinea-based project with near-surface gold

Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI) confirmed its successful execution of an infill drilling campaign at its Bankan Gold Project in the Republic of Guinea on Monday. 

Quick rundown: infill drilling refers to drilling conducted once a company detects target mineralisation at one location on-site, and then seeks to test for how far that deposit extends underground (and in which directions). 

The term applies for everything from gold to cobalt to lithium but is most often used in hard-rock mining contexts. Technically, one can also infill drill for oil and gas, but the terminology doesn’t show up there as much.

So what did they find? 

The company hit near-surface gold mineralisation as well as higher grades of gold at considerable depth on-site. The results are turned over on the back of a 20,985m long run across 81 drillholes. 

The company will upgrade its Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) in the coming weeks and months once the new results are calculated in. 

“Further infill drilling and Mineral Resource conversion will remain key near-term focus areas to support PDI’s Scoping Study,” company MD Andrew Pardey said. 

“There is significant upside to the NEB Mineral Resource below the optimised resource pit shell, and it was pleasing to receive another high-grade intercept in this area.”

Making sense of grades 

Investor information provider Undervalued Equity classifies high-grade gold as that in concentrations surpassing 5 grams of gold per tonne of ore (5g/t). Many Australian projects boasting grades of 4g/t are also considered high-grade. 

Compare that to the following results from Predictive Discovery. It’s worth keeping in mind that shallow near-surface gold is likely to be targeted first by the company in production scenarios. 

PDI reported the following on Monday: 

• 62m @ 1.31g/t gold from 4m depth 

• 56m @ 2.70g/t gold from 138m depth 

• 39m @ 3.63g/t from 188m depth 

• 49m @ 3.36g/t gold from 194m depth

• 37m @ 4.41g/t gold from 275m depth 

• 38m @ 5.28g/t gold from 535m depth 

A further high-grade hit below the company’s existing model for a future open pit mine at Bankan turned over 13m @ 5.91g/t from 697m depth—worth remembering, that’s approaching a kilometre underground. 

Geological context 

Predictive Discovery’s Bankan project overlies the Siguiri Basin, which hosts a number of gold belts stretching across multiple countries including Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. 

AngloGold Ashanti’s Siguiri mine produced 258Koz of gold in 2021 and NordGold’s Lefa mine produced 163Koz in the same period. 

The project is located 550km from the country’s capital city and is located within the administrative region of Kouroussa nearby local government infrastructure. 

Four permits make up the play: three are held 100% by Predictive subsidiaries while a fourth is held in a Joint Venture (JV) with local company Argo Mining SARLU. 

PDI's three month charts as at 1030 AEST Monday 30 January 2023