Dalaroo Metals Expands Cote d’Ivoire Footprint with Acquisition of Four New Gold Projects
Dalaroo Metals (ASX: DAL) has secured a deal with private vendor Red Rock Exploration to acquire four gold projects including two granted tenements over 1368 square kilometres of Birimian Greenstone Belts in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Djekanou, Yamoussoukro, Molonou, and Kokoumbo permits will expand Dalaroo’s regional footprint to comprise an extensive and highly-prospective land package in the heart of the Birimian, home to multi-million-ounce gold deposits at Yaouré – owned by Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) – and Bonikro.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Dalaroo will issue Red Rock with 13.2 million fully-paid ordinary shares and pay a resource definition royalty of $2/oz of minerals defined on the new projects as an indicated resource, as well as the existing 1.5% net smelter royalty Red Rock holds over the projects.
Historical Exploration at Kokoumbo
Kokoumbo is the most advanced of the new projects, having seen significant historical exploration by past owner Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI) that included soil geochemistry, rock chip sampling, and extensive aircore and diamond drilling.
The company has previously reported a total of 122 rock chip samples, 42,130 geochemical samples, and 30 diamond drill holes, with significant gold intercepts including 7.5m at 16 grams per tonne, 7.5m at 1.6g/t, and 4.5m at 1.3g/t.
Dalaroo believes past drill holes and numerous gold-in-soil anomalies represent immediate follow-up targets for testing with a view to delineating and defining a maiden resource estimate.
Quality West African Portfolio
Dalaroo chair David Quinlivan said the acquisition was a major step forward for the company as it builds a high-quality portfolio in one of West Africa’s most prospective and underexplored gold provinces.
“These projects have already returned encouraging high-grade gold intersections with scope for rapid advancement and new discoveries and we will be leveraging our in-country expertise and established partnerships to accelerate early-stage work and set up meaningful drilling campaigns,” he said.
“We look forward to updating shareholders as we integrate these new assets into our West African growth strategy and advance them toward discovery and resource definition.”
Placement to Fund Purchase
Dalaroo has received binding commitments from sophisticated and professional investors to raise $1.35 million through the issue of 24.54 million shares priced at $0.055 each.
Each parcel of four new shares will come with one free attaching option, exercisable at $0.036 and expiring in 2029.
Non-executive director Bilal Ahmad has confirmed a $150,000 commitment to the placement, on the same terms as other investors.
Dalaroo will direct a portion of the proceeds toward the Red Rock transaction, and apply the remainder to existing projects and working capital.