Gold exploration company Cora Gold announced the identification of key geological features at the Malian Sanankoro site after the completion of stage two drilling, the company announced on Thursday.
The drilling of 41 holes at Cora Gold's flagship project, which focused on joining zones A and B into a larger mineralised structure which would extend to a strike distance of over 3km, encountered broad zones of quartz veining where "visible gold" is often seen in panned samples.

Cora chief executive Jonathan Forster said: "Orientated core drilling at selective points at Zones A and B are designed to confirm the drill results of Gold Fields, and also enable the company to better understand controls to mineralisation. As with our earlier programme, we encountered broad zones of quartz stockwork along the structures tested, as well as deep levels of weathering."

The gold observed in panned samples has been observed to be fine to coarse grained sand in size which Forster stated is "not unusual in Biriman gold deposits".

"Test assays have been completed using a variety of techniques to ensure any potential sample bias in the results is managed effectively. Test results have, in general, confirmed the preference to use an assay procedure with larger sample sizes in order to provide better correlation of gold grade with observations of visible gold," said Forster.

There were 21 holes also drilled at zone C of the site, which encountered further broad zones of quartz veining with visible gold in panned samples.

Cora will now assay the majority of drill samples most likely to carry gold to "maximise potential for more representative results", which the company warned may result in a slight delay in receiving the final results for stage 2 drilling.

As of 0843 GMT, Cora Gold's shares were up 2.52% at 12.20p.

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