- 01Bekisopa DSO extends beyond current resource.
- 021.5km2 mapping; 8 trenches, 339m
- 03365 samples; surface DSO in weathered zone.
- 04Best hits: 36m @63.8%Fe; 87m @60.5%Fe.
AKORA Resources (ASX: AKO) has broadened the high-grade iron mineralisation outside of the known mineral resource at its flagship Bekisopa project in Madagascar.
The company’s latest exploration program involved 1.5 square kilometres of mapping and the completion of eight trenches for 339 metres to a maximum depth of 2m each, using low-cost techniques to target areas of known magnetic anomalies and visible outcropping mineralisation.
A total of 365 samples delivered further easily-accessible direct shipping ore (DSO) from surface and within the weathered oxidation zone between the existing south and central resource zones, which had not been previously drilled.
All trenches intersected iron and lithologies included massive magnetite-hematite, saprock of magnetite-hematite, and saprock of magnetite-bearing gneisses.
Best Intercept Results
Best horizontal intercepts were 36m at 63.8% iron including 14.5m at 66.3%, 87m at 60.5% iron including 33.2m at 64.4%, 20.1m at 48.2% iron including 6.4m at 57.06%, and 30.1m at 52.62% iron including 7.7m at 60.25%.
Vertical intercept highlights were 2.9m at 58.43% iron including 2m at 60.65%, 4m at 50.85% iron including 2.4m at 59.62%, and 2.6m at 66.85% iron.
AKORA also completed 55 density measurements during this program, with calculated densities ranging from 3.02 grams per cubic centimetre to 4.49g/cm3, with an average of 3.69g/cm3.
The results reinforced strong upside to expand the indicated DSO resource footprint of the Bekisopa tenement.
Continuity Between Zones
Managing director Peter Bird said the company had been encouraged by the trenching program.
“The trenching of high-grade DSO mineralisation from surface is a strong validation of the geological continuity between our existing southern and central resource zones and highlighted consistency and scale potential of the Bekisopa system,” he said.
“It improves the potential for more mine life, strengthens our development pathway and supports our strategy of progressing this as a robust and staged iron ore project.”
AKORA now intends to forward the latest results to Wardell Armstrong International to complete an update of the Bekisopa mineral resource estimate.
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