Tajiri Delineates Giant Poly Folded Gold System at K4 - 5 Spanning 14km x 6 km With obvious potential to host a Giant Gold Deposit System on scale and of form comparable to those hosting known Proterozoic Large to Super
Tajiri Delineates Giant Poly Folded Gold
System at K4 - 5 Spanning 14km x 6 km With
obvious potential to host a Giant Gold Deposit
System on scale and of form comparable to those hosting known Proterozoic Large to Super
Giant poly folded gold deposits Such Homestake, Sukhoi Log, Kibali, Telfer and Wassa
VANCOUVER, BC
,
March 7, 2023
/CNW/ - Tajiri Resources Corp. (the "Company") (TSXV: TAJ) is
pleased to report further results of power auger drilling at its K4-5 Prospect,
Burkina Faso
,
West
Africa
(
Figure 1: Location
) and an extensive re-interpretation of all data that indicates mineralisation
outlined to date forms a giant poly-folded gold system spanning ~14km x 6km (
Figure 2
). Given the
scale of the K4-5 system and the fact that many of the known large to supergiant Proterozoic gold
deposits are dominated by a strong fold control of mineralisation the K4-5 prospect has potential
size and form to host a large to supergiant gold deposit (
Figure 3
).
Independent of its interpreted potential to host a large to super giant gold deposit, the geochemical
anomalism now outlined by the saprolite auger campaign is of a scale that is between 2 and 9 times
the size of similar tenor saprolite gold anomalism associated with other West African gold deposits
with known resources of between 4 to 7 Moz (
Figure 15
&
Table I
).
Adding further weight to the indications that at least a large gold deposit is present at K4-5 is the
scale of artisanal mining that has been undertaken at K4-5, in which the areas of both surface
lateritic and bedrock shaft sinking are between 1.5-5 times the size of workings overlying West
African deposits of between 4-7 Moz.
Geological Setting
An extensive review of all data which included the construction of a new lithology map for the project,
interpretation of multiple satellite images, and interpretation and re-processing of all propriety
geophysical data sets and a review of publicly available gravity and magnetic data, has revealed
several features that control the form and potentially influence the scale of mineralisation present at
K4-5.
The setting of the K4-5 gold system is shown in
Figure 2
. Key features of this are in accord with
potential for the discovery of a major gold deposit:
It lies at the complex triple point junction of the Hounde, Boromo and Goren Greenstone belts
and associated great structural complexity
It lies within a region of major regional crustal scale trend change and flexure
It lies on the flanks/at the tip of a major intermediate- basic volcanic complex which appears to
be complexly infolded / thrust transported extension of the Hounde Belt. This location on the
flanks of a major volcanic centre is associated with the many of the larger Birimian gold
deposits.
Another key finding of the review was the recognition of a strong fold control to mineralisation at K4-
5 which appears to be associated with complex compound type II interference patterns (See
Appendix I Figure D
for explanation), formed by the superposition of at least three phases of folding.
A late phase F3 which strikes NNW, F2 which is tightly to isoclinally folded around F3 and an earlier
phase of folding F1 which is difficult to trace for any distance, but is quite observable through the
formation of fold interference patterns from F1 interactions with both F2 and F3.
Given the newly discerned structural controls (evident across many data sets) much mineralisation is
now seen to strike subparallel to principal sampling directions - soil and saprolite auger samples
were taken on mostly
400m
-200m
spaced NW oriented lines and historic drilling on either NW or NS
oriented lines.
This leaves a lot of further potential at the K4-5 prospect which exhibits long kilometric scale zones
of low order anomalism striking NW- NNW that may be representative of significant but poorly
sampled mineralisation.
Results
Results of our saprolite auger sampling campaign that immediately extends mineralisation reported
previously at K4 South is presented in
Figure 4
and
Figure 5
. This includes the prospects K4 North
and West which combined with South comprise the K4 Prospect. Of note is that considering our
recognition of the larger K4-5 Gold system, close spaced auger sampling by the Company has
covered less than ~20% of the total prospect.
Interpretation
An interpretation of results to show a mineralised envelope containing substantively >100ppb
saprolite auger results and >250ppb intersections in historic drillholes is shown in
Figure 6
and
Figure 7
. Here, given that sampling is in substantial part oriented subparallel to interpreted strike of
mineralisation, we have extended mineralisation to follow the form of interpreted lithological contacts
which are largely influenced by F2-F3 folding and F2 and F3 fold axes (See
Figure 7
for our
provisional interpretation of major fold axes at the K4 prospect).
In the above mentioned Figures, we show a side by side comparison of K4 to the 13Moz Wassa
deposit, which as noted in our previous announcement is the only other documented example of a
poly folded gold deposit hosted within the Birimian of
West Africa
. Both look remarkably similar in
form yet K4 (representing ~ 20% of the larger K4-5 system) has a footprint that is ~ 3-5 times larger
than Wassa's.
Clearly K4 has significant potential to host a large gold deposit
It should be noted that the interpreted mineralised envelope at K4 cannot be expected to be all ore.
Rather, something similar to the distribution of mineralisation at Wassa could be expected. At
Wassa, high grade ore is concentrated around fold closures or sometimes within axial planar shears.
Away from fold closures, fold limbs are extenuated and exhibit weak and narrow <
10m
zones of gold
mineralisation. In contrast mineralisation in fold closures is >3.0g/t, tends to be or in excess of
25-
30m
thickness (up to
80m
), has dip extents of ~150-
200m
, and enormous contiguous down
plunge extents that exceed at least
2,000m
.
Another good example of expected style/form of potentially better mineralisation at K4-5 is shown in
Appendix I Figures E, F, G & H
which shows an area of intense artisanal bedrock workings not far
from K4-5 has exploited gold mineralisation which appears in all respects to be hosted by similar,
Type II fold interference patterns as K4-5.
Evidence
The interpreted fold scheme for K4-5 has largely been based on interpreting visible folding evident in
multiple satellite images as documented in
Appendix I notes to Figure 7
. Evidence to support our
interpretation that the K4-5 system is a large poly-folded gold system is documented in the following
Figures:
Figure 8
. Workings at K4 South are configured into the distinct arrowhead shape of a Type II
fold interference pattern. This is made particularly evident in later Sentinel 2 imagery which
post-dates imagery shown in our
October 26, 2022
press release (Also see
Appendix I Figure B
). In addition, forms evident in a gradient array IP section line, which is near
co-incident with the central F3 controlling fold axis of the K4 South workings appear strongly
supportive of the interpreted fold scheme.
Figure 9
. A new lithological map of the area has been constructed, based on a discriminant
analysis of XRF multielement ratios. The new lithological map is broadly and at larger scales
supportive of the interpreted fold scheme.
Figure 10
. Overall form of the K4-5 gold anomalism as expressed in more dispersed soils is
supportive of the fold scheme and echoes regional forms visible in magnetics.
Figure 11
. Horizontal gradient magnetic data measured by gradiometry- a good way to examine
lithological contacts in higher resolution than filtered TMI data alone is strongly in agreement
with the fold scheme interpreted from satellite data. As this data is from a survey flown at
100m
line spacing on N-S lines it does lack some resolution of tighter folding and is in part somewhat
aliased by the NS line orientation being subparallel to NNW F3 fold axes.
Comparatives and Workings
As part of an extensive review of K4-5 we have mapped and aggregated all workings visible in 13
publicly available high resolution satellite images dating between 2008 and 2023 with supplemental
mapping from lower resolution Aster and Sentinel images. This allowed a compilation of the outlines
of all workings, both surface lateritic and bedrock shafts from over 13 years of near continuous
artisanal activity to be compiled. All workings are shown in
Figure 13
and a logical relationship to
interpreted folding appears evident.
For the purposes of comparison, a similar exercise, reviewing multiple satellite images and compiling
evolving outlines of artisanal workings, was conducted at a number of gold deposits with reported
resources/reserve throughout
Burkina Faso
and Northern Ghana. An example of such review and
comparison to current mining and drilled resource outlines is presented in
Figure 12
.
In general, a high correspondence between areas of mineralisation outlined by artisanal bedrock
shafts and later drilled resource outlines was found.
Figure 12
shows M1 South and Sanbrado
demonstrates the very close correspondence between areas outlined by artisanal shafts and the
outline at surface of drilled resources. In this case the variance is <10%. This finding allows a
reasonable indication of potential deposit size to be gleaned from the extent of bedrock shaft
workings.
A comparison of artisanal workings overlying example 4-7Moz Burkina and Northern Ghanaian gold
deposits and K4 is shown in
Figure 14
.
During the course of the comparison of the exercise, it was found that both the K4 North and K4
South areas of bedrock shafts are much larger than any one image might show. At K4 South
because shaft sinking has been episodic but with near continuous periods of lateritic surface working
– including mechanical working which tends to back fill or otherwise disperse shaft spoil obliterating
evidence of earlier shafts. While at K4 North, all shafts since 2015 have been sunk off the bottom of
a large 5-
10m
deep pit of about ~
100,000 m
2
from which all lateritic material was removed
mechanically and sluiced at nearby creeks. This rather sizable pit floods during the wet season, with
shaft sinking now only taking place for ~ 4-6 months of each year during the dry. After each wet
season many artisanal shafts are found to have collapsed and shaft spoil is often masked by a
coating of lateritic clay obscuring the true extent of shaft workings at K4 North in any one image. Of
note the more extensive shaft workings at K4 South, than initially suspected, may have negatively
impacted the tenor of results returned by our auger drilling as it is possible that extensive areas of
higher-grade mineralisation has been removed.
Across Burkina it was also noted that shaft workings that exploited mineralisation known to be of
higher grade were generally deeper as shown by the darker colouration of surrounding shaft spoil
(i.e. shafts had gone deeper into less bleached saprolite chasing higher grades) and higher grade
areas were generally (but not universally) surrounded by large areas of shallow lateritic surface
workings. The later feature is possibly a result of the greater coarse gold content of higher-grade
deposits which upon weathering forms an extensive deflation lag far more amenable to the crude
wind winnowing method used for recovering gold from surface workings in Burkina.
Of note the K4 North shaft workings show the features indicative of potentially high grade
mineralisation which is further supported by the fact that shafts have been worked for a long time-
continuously from 2010-2015 and then seasonally from 2015- present. Further in support of the high
grade potential of the K4 North shaft workings is that the area has due to sample orientations hardly
been sampled but the one historic drill hole which did interest the edge of these workings returned
4m
@ 16.2g/t from
4m
.
Finally,
Figure 15
compares the size of saprolite geochemical anomalies present at K4-5 with those
overlying known 4-7Moz deposits and with reference to Table I it is clear that K4-5 is of a scale at
various threshold levels that is between 1.5 and 9 times the size of those peers.
Table 1
Comparing areas of saprolite auger defined anomalism at various gold cut-offs as
reported for other Brimian Gold Deposits. Area of K4-5-Dassa Anomalism is compelling 1.5-9
times that of other bread and butter 4-7Moz Birimian Deposits.
Anomaly Cut
off Au.
K4
K4-5 Dassa
Namdini
Shandong
Gold
Bankan NE
Predictive
Discovery
Sanbrado
M1 South
Alone
West
African
Resources
All
Sanbrado
less M1
South
West
African
Resources
Wassa
Known
Endowment
?
?
7.2Moz @
1.2g/t
3.9Moz @
1.63g/t
1.8Moz @
11.2g/t
4.1Moz @
1.2g/t
13Moz
@ 3.2g/t
Area m
2
Area m
2
Area m
2
Area m
2
Area m
2
Area m
2
Area m
2
12ppb
19,690,000
658,700
740,300
3,100,000
25ppb
2,323,000
5,590,200
488,419
4,557,000
(district
incl. Banken Creek
@ 0.33Moz)
50ppb
298,252
80ppb
1,253,000
2,344,000
151,200
900,000
100ppb
871,200
1,531,700
197,600
497,300
160ppb
631,400
49,790
257,400
250ppb
275,200
462,700
220,183
Where blank either we have not yet interpreted the K4-5 system at that threshold or data is not
reported by other companies
President's Comments
"After such a detailed review of not only the results from our own 18,000+ metres of auger drilling
but all relevant proprietary and publicly available data the Company is extremely excited to release
to market its new geological model for the K4/K5 prospect. Given the Reo Project's rich history of
exploration successes there was certainly a lot of work to be done to put this together and we are
supremely confident that what we have presented here today clearly illustrates the world class
upside of the Reo Project, specifically as it relates to the size and scale potential of the gold
discoveries already made at K4/K5. With the recent renewal for a full 9 years of the permit hosting
the K4/K5 prospects there will be plenty of time for the Company to test, assess and hopefully
confirm what has been presented today enroute to the discovery of a world class gold deposit - but I
can assure you we will waste none - as we look forward to commencing further exploration work as
soon as possible."
Qualified Person
The Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101
- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects
for this news release is
Dominic O'Sullivan
a geologist, member of the AusIMM, Executive
Chairman of Tajiri who has reviewed and approved its contents.
On Behalf of the Board,
Tajiri Resources Corp.
Graham Keevil
,
President & CEO
About Tajiri
Tajiri Resources Corp. is a junior gold exploration and development Company with exploration
assets located in two of the worlds least explored and highly prolific greenstone belts of
Burkina
Faso
,
West Africa
and
Guyana
,
South America
. Lead by a team of industry professionals with a
combined 100 plus years' experience the Company continues to generate shareholder value
through exploration.
www.tajirigold.com
APPENDIX I
See Linked Figures
APPENDIX II
Technical Details
Results reported today are from a program of ~ 18,000 metres completed in 4,125 auger drillholes
drilled between
November 2020
and
May 2021
at the K4-K5 Prospect. Auger drilling was conducted
to infill historic 400 x
100m
spaced saprolite auger sampling at varying infill grids; predominantly 200
x
50m
regionally and 100 x
25m
and 25 x
25m
over the K4 South Target. Regional 200 x
50m
lines
were oriented NW-SE while the 100 x
25m
and 25 x
25m
auger grids were oriented E-W.
Drilling with hollow stem power auger was conducted and supervised by Sahara Natural Resources
and whole samples of 1-4kg were assayed by 50 gram fire assay with a DIBK extraction at SGS
laboratories, Ougadougo,
Burkina Faso
along with standards, blanks and duplicates making up 10%
of the assayed samples. Assay sensitivity was 1 ppb Au.
The top metre of textured saprolite was sampled and auger drill holes ranged from 3 to
29m
in
depth. As saprolite was sampled by our auger program and lateral chemical dispersion of gold in
saprolite in the Sahel region of
West Africa
appears to be minor, detected gold anomalism should be
in-situ as confirmed in places by underlying historic RAB and RC drill results.
All samples will be subject to multielement analysis by XRF to allow identification of elements
consanguineous with gold mineralisation and the discrimination of lithologies by major and minor
element associations.
Source Materials
:
For Wassa figure showing Wassa drilling and age of Wassa Mineralisation:
Perouty, S et al. The
Wassa deposit: A poly deformed orogenic gold system in southwest
Ghana
- Implications for
regional exploration. Journal of African Earth Science 2015
Wassa gold endowment is the total of all resource categories Measured, Indicated, Inferred and
past production as reported in:
"Wassa Gold Mine NI-43-101 Technical Report
March 2021
(M+I =
3.537Moz; Indicated 8.183Moz) Past production ~ 2.197Moz
Sanbrado Resources:
Resource Source West African Resource/Reserve Statement
9 March 2021
M1 South Auger results:
West African Resources Press Release 15 June 2015.
Namdini Auger Results:
Cardinal Resources, Presentation 15 November 2017.
Namdini Resources
: Cardinal Resources Ltd. – "NI 43-101 Namdini Gold Project Feasibility Study"
November 27
2019.
Banken NE Auger Results:
Predictive Discovery ASX press release,
13 October 2020
. "
92M
at
1.9g/t Gold- Diamond drilling Expands Bankan Project."
Kiaka Resource:
West African Resources, Press Release
August 3, 2022
SOURCE
Tajiri Resources Corp.
View original content to download multimedia:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2023/07/c1514.html
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For further information:
Tajiri Resources Corp., Graham Keevil, President, CEO, 778-229-9602,
CO: Tajiri Resources Corp.
CNW 09:30e 07-MAR-23