Akora Resources confirms potential for major development at Bekisopa iron ore project
Shallow drilling at Akora’s Madagascan project hit “encouraging” iron intercepts and confirmed mineralisation along strike.
Results from an ongoing exploration campaign by Akora Resources (ASX: AKO) at its flagship Bekisopa project in Madagascar have demonstrated the potential for a significant iron ore development.
Drilling of 13 shallow drill holes for a total 734 metres this month encountered “encouraging” iron intercepts and confirmed mineralisation along the 6km strike.
High-grade massive, weathered iron mineralisation was hit at surface in all holes, with several also intercepting extensive lengths of massive and coarse disseminated mineralisation at depth.
Five holes in the northern zone of Bekisopa intercepted iron mineralisation from near surface and four intercepted two layers of mineralisation at depth, each with downhole thicknesses of between 12m and 33m.
Drilling to the south highlighted a continuous zone of mineralisation from surface to depths of up to 44m downhole.
High iron contents
Akora said on-site logging and magnetic susceptibility readings show the mineralisation appears to contain high iron contents.
“Our drilling continues to be very encouraging, confirming continuous iron mineralisation from surface and across drill grids which is all favourable for the development of a significant resource tonnage at Bekisopa,” it said.
This month’s results complement the first round of drilling in July which saw the completion of 10 holes for 660m, with eight intercepting massive and coarse disseminated iron mineralisation.
This year’s total drilling campaign will cover more than 4,000m of Bekisopa acreage.
Central zone drilling
The final phase of shallow drilling will be in the Bekisopa central zone and aims to add additional iron mineralisation information to holes completed there in 2020.
That round of drilling returned high-grade, at-surface assays including 6.9m at 64.7% iron and 4.7m at 61.4% iron, as well as significant continuous-from-surface intervals of 70.5m at 44.1% iron and 49.1m at 29% iron.
On completion of the central zone work, Akora will commence drilling of around 20 deeper holes (150m to 250m) in the northern and southern zones to confirm iron mineralisation continuity at depth and provide further volume for the development of the Bekisopa resource estimate.
Drilling will be on a 24-hour-a-day roster and is scheduled for completion by October.