Tiekoumala Project
The Tiekoumala Project (formerly FT Project), in southern Mali, consists of 522.5 square kilometres of mineral rights in three contiguous exploration permits in the Birimian Massigui greenstne belt. The rock types, metamorphic grade, and style of gold concentration is similar to that at the Morila gold deposit, 100 kilometers to the north, and to other Birimian gold deposits in the region that are generally classified as disseminated orogenic gold deposits.
A northwest-trending, gold bearing, shear zone containing a ca. 600,000 ounce gold deposit in the northern part of the project (the "FT Deposit") is within a dominantly intrusive domain of granite and gneiss. A northwest-trending, gold bearing, shear zone in the southern part of the project (the "Main Zone" or "Main Anomaly") is within a dominantly supracrustal domain of basalt and argillite in the greenschist facies of regional metamorphism.
The FT deposit is hosted in paragneiss of the northern intrusive domain which is intruded by reactive gabbro dikes. It has a west-northwest to northwest strike direction and has been traced in drill holes and pits for 2100 meters. At Anomaly J, 3 kilometers to the southeast, RC drill holes and pits have the same stratigraphy as the FT Deposit and are interpreted to be the strike extension of the depsit. The shear zone is characterized by quartz, biotite, muscovite, garnet with disseminated pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and gold.
The shear zone at the Main Anomaly cuts across basalt and fine grained, graphitic argillite. The secondary hydrothermal mineral assemblage is chlorite, quartz, actinolite, biotite, and muscovite. There are no diamond drill holes in this shear zone and the composition of sulphide mineral phases is not known. The shear zone trends northwest and has been traced in pits, drill holes, and outcrops over two kilometers.
A third shear zone at "Anomaly F" is associated with quartz, biotite, and chlorite but the information about the shear zone is from a single line of pits and RC holes. Hence, the strike length and orientation are not known.
Pit samples are recommended to sample the projected southern trajectory of the FT deposit shear zone, between Tabakarole and Anomaly J. One line of pits mid way between the "Main Zone" and an outcrop with anomalous gold in rock samples is planned on the interpreted trajectory of the shear zone. One line of pits are planned for a fairly strong geochemical anomaly in the east-central part of the Tiekoumala permit.
Contingent upon the results of the pits additional pitting and drilling may be required to evaluate the shear zones. The cost of the work will be on the order of $100,000 without additional drilling, and $250,000 to $350,000 with additional drilling. With respect to the FT Deposit, there are unresolved questions with respect to i) the application of the top cut assay and effect on the grade-tonnage curve and ii) the nature of second order cross structures, and iii) the distribution and grade of high grade shoots. Understanding these issues is critical to the advancement of the project.
