The Balandougou license was recently held recently by Delta Exploration Inc., the holders of the adjacent property to the west. There are two regional surveys that cover the area: a 1981 survey by the BRGM on a 1600 x 500 metres grid and detection limit of 100ppb, and a 1994 survey by Young-Poong Corp. (South Korea) on a 500 x 200 metres grid. However, Delta cites a soil sampling program comprising 600 samples on a 400 x 100 metres grid of EW lines that should have confirmed the anomalies detected during the regional exploration programs conducted by BRGM on a 1,000 x500 metres grids.
There has been no known commercial gold production from the area. However, artisanal workings are present within the property boundaries. In the northeastern corner of the licence area, a zone of artisanal pits, around 20 metres wide and several hundred metres longwere observed, which apparently follow a north-south trending structure. The ground on either side of the zone of pits differs in the presence of abundant termite mounds on the eastern side and their absence on the western side, which may suggest a change in underlying geology on either side of the potential linear structure. The pits vary in age, with those at the most northerly ones apparently more recent, with the last workings estimated to have been within the past two years. In addition to the usual 1 metres diameter round pits, there was also a much larger excavation in which the clay zone beneath the thick laterite duricrust appears to have been exploited.
The Balandougou licence area is located within the Bougouni region of the West African craton, where generally northsouth trending belts of Birimian metavolcano-sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks and orogenic granitoids of Early Proterozoic age crop out. The trend of the major structures is northsouth and northeast-southwest, which are related to transcurrent D2 and D3 deformations. The published geological mapping of the area indicates that the Balandougou property covers an area of Birimian metasedimentary and metavolcanic formations cross cut by a number of northwest-southeast and northsouth trending structures. The area is covered by a thick laterite profile, which is evident within the pits near the village of Balandougou in the northeastern corner of the licence area. Although no outcrop was encountered in the area, milky vein quartz, grey quartz and metapelite saprock was observed as excavated material from the artisanal workings. The pits extended several hundred metres in a north-south direction, and most likely follow the strike-slip structure indicated in the northeastern part of the licence area. In addition to this, quartz float was observed in the centre of the property in the area where a large northwest-southeast structure is indicated on the available mapping. There are some ridges in this area, although no outcrop was found. The hills were observed to be covered with pisolitic laterite.
The Balandougou licence area is bordered to the west by the Manalo property, to which Delta hold the research permit. Delta have recently completed a soil sampling program (50 metre intervals along eastwest lines spaced 200 metres apart) which revealed a 600 metres long gold soil anomaly (gold >85 ppb) coincident with 300 metrs of artisanal workings. In addition, a recent drilling program targeting the northwest fault system has been reported to have intersected an 11 metres interval at 18.48 g/t gold.
The property to the north is held by Page Management where there are a number of small artisanal workings, some of which are within a kilometre of the northern boundary of the Balandougou property. To the east, the licence area is bordered by the Balaban research permit held by MAS Trading, and the small Kela Authorisation d'Exploration held by REXMI. In the southwest corner of the Balandougou licence area, the small Berea property is enveloped on three sides by Balandougou.
The gold soil anomalies and the location of the artisanal workings correspond to a package of meta-greywacke and volcano-sedimentary units that have been intruded by late-stage granitoids and dissected by a northwest-southeast and north system of faults (dextral and sinistral respectively). The general trend of the anomalous zones appears consistent with these main geological structures. This structural corridor continues northwestward into Delta's Manalo licence, where mineralisation has been encountered during recent drilling on the property. The gold mineralisation at Balandougou is likely to occur within quartz veins hosted within structural lineaments, such as the northsouth trending fault zone in the northeastern corner of the licence that has been exploited by artisanal workings, and in the northwest-southeast trending structure that runs across the central part of the property. Gold soil anomalies across the property and in particular within these structural corridors are encouraging and their association with, welldeveloped artisanal workings in some localities provides justification for further exploration. The extension of the northwest-southeast trending structures has been found to be mineralised within Delta's licence area to the west. In addition, the assay results from the samples of excavated vein quartz material showed very encouraging grades of 10 g/t in hematite-rich vein quartz material. At least two target areas with coincident Au soil anomalies and fault/sheared contacts or structural crossing are evident at Balandougou: one in the northeastern area of the property where there are artisanal workings and a larger northwest-southeast trending zone that runs across the centre of the licence area. A third target is proposed at the southwest sector of the licence area with some occurrences aligned along a N130° trend and coincident with some mapped wedges of dacitic lavas and quartz veins.
In general, the Balandougou licence area has good potential and merits further exploration for the following reasons:
- There are strong geochemical soil anomalies;
- Favourable geological relationships and structures;
- Known gold mineralisation within artisanal workings and the extension of this mineralisation into neighbouring properties; and
- Favourable location, with good access, close to the River Diéleba, the town of Kangaba and the major Bamako-Guinea highway.