Kokoseb Gold Project inspires confidence

WIA Gold informed the Australian stock exchange on Monday about changing the status of outstanding shares in the company to fully paid ordinary options.This move strengthens the position of non-executive director Andrew Pardey and other board members of the mining exploration company regarding ownership of the firm.It follows the release of WIA Gold&#039;s 2024 annual report to shareholders on 27 September. Details in the report indicate progress with exploration work in Côte d&#039;Ivoire, but the highlight is the expansion of the gold resource estimate for the Kokoseb Gold Project, which has grown by 63% since last year to 2.12 million ounces of underground gold.Kokoseb is located in the north-west of Namibia in the Okombahe exploration license area, which WIA Gold owns (80%) in partnership with its state-owned enterprise partner, Epangelo (20%). In a recent interview, WIA Gold&#039;s executive chairman, Josef El-Raghy, told Mining Review Africa that the initial ground anomaly suggesting Kokoseb could be a significant gold find was identified in the second quarter of 2021."The first drilling followed early in 2022, and in April of that year, we announced an initial inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 1.3 moz (million ounces). Today, approximately three years after the first fieldwork began, the resource has grown to 2.12 moz at 1.0 g/t Au. To reach this point, we completed about 47 000 meters of drilling and cut 12 trenches totaling 1 189 meters," he said.Team on the groundEl-Raghy stated that chief geologist Pierrick Couderc travelled from WIA&#039;s Côte d&#039;Ivoire projects to Namibia. He was convinced by Kokoseb that further local investigation was necessary. By the end of 2021, samples had recorded up to 1 gram per tonne of gold in the ground. "It was clear that we had a major discovery on our hands," El-Raghy told Mining Review Africa.Despite a new drilling campaign of 10 000 meters in Côte d&#039;Ivoire, WIA Gold&#039;s focus has now shifted back to Namibia, El-Raghy noted. Couderc is now leading a Namibian team of 40, excluding drillers, to try to expand exploration drilling around the arcuate deposit. The eventual open-pit mine is currently planned to run along 4.8 km of the deposit, although the gold could potentially be found in any direction and at any depth. Drilling focuses on converting estimates to the indicated resource category and increasing the amount of identified gold. Over the coming months, the company will also lay the groundwork for necessary environmental studies, although feasibility studies are expected to occur later next year, El-Raghy said.- augetto@republikein.com.na

Kokoseb Gold Project inspires confidence

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

Please login to leave a comment

Kokoseb Gold Project inspires confidence

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

Please login to leave a comment

Login