DeSoto widens Timbakouna drilling as Guinea gold assays approach

Timbakouna drilling expands ahead of assay results

DeSoto Resources Limited (ASX:DES) has added 200 holes to its Timbakouna power auger campaign after airborne geophysics identified new targets, turning a 10,000-metre program into a broader test of the company’s Guinea exploration thesis. The first assay results from the campaign are expected in early November, giving the market its next substantive read on whether the project’s historic gold indications extend beneath its lateritic cover.

The company said 352 power auger holes totalling 3,473 metres had been completed after the September quarter, with 1,769 auger and soil samples scheduled for laboratory dispatch. The drilling is aimed at identifying bedrock-derived gold anomalism in the saprolite zone, rather than establishing a resource at this stage. Results will be combined with magnetic data to determine whether targets warrant reverse-circulation or diamond drilling.

Timbakouna contains more than 6 kilometres of semi-continuous artisanal workings and historic drilling intercepts including 18 metres at 11.8 grams per tonne gold, with narrower high-grade intervals of 1 metre at 78.84g/t and 3 metres at 40.4g/t. Those results were generated by previous explorers and, according to DeSoto, were not tested below 80 metres or into fresh rock. The company’s earlier Timbakouna drilling restart followed a temporary pause during Guinea’s enforcement campaign against illegal mechanised mining.

Geophysics widens the Siguiri targeting campaign

DeSoto also completed 6,262 line-kilometres of airborne magnetic and radiometric surveying across seven projects: Timbakouna, Dadjan, Tolé, Nerekoro Sud, Koba, Kassa Est and Mini. The survey used 100-metre-spaced lines, with processing and interpretation still underway. The company said the initial interpretation had already produced the additional Timbakouna targets, while the broader dataset is intended to identify structures, lithological contacts and alteration corridors for follow-up exploration.

In southwest Siguiri, 143 BLEG stream sediment samples covered more than 687 square kilometres of drainage catchments and produced three priority areas. Soil sampling is now under way at Yarakoura, Woussoubadou and Branama, with 449 samples collected to date across Yarakoura and Moïko. These programs remain target-generation work: the filing reports anomalies and planned follow-up, not a mineral resource or new confirmed discovery.

Fortuna alliance moves from ground acquisition to field work

The DeSoto-Fortuna Alliance has moved beyond its initial transaction milestone, with its joint venture vehicle High Guinea Gold signing a Heads of Agreement to acquire up to seven exploration projects covering 591.43 square kilometres in the Siguiri Basin. The staged consideration totals US$604,682 including a securing payment, with payments linked to tenure progression and exploration milestones. Fortuna is funding exploration under the alliance terms, while High Guinea Gold has begun BLEG sampling, geological mapping and systematic mapping of artisanal workings across the package. The 591.43km² JV ground package was previously described as a seven-project platform for exploration planning.

The operational backdrop remains important. Guinea-related field work was paused in July while authorities enforced restrictions on illegal mechanised and semi-artisanal mining, then resumed in August after DeSoto said it received approval from relevant authorities. Access has also been constrained by artisanal workings, deep pits and the wet season. Several permits and authorisations remain subject to renewal or conversion, although the company said discussions with the Guinean Government were continuing and that it had support to continue exploration during the cadastre modernisation process.

Cash supports exploration but leaves results to do the work

DeSoto spent about A$1.06 million on exploration during the quarter, including A$1.01 million in the Siguiri Basin and Gaoual projects. Net operating cash outflow was A$1.329 million, taking cash from A$9.155 million at June to A$7.740 million at 30 September. The Appendix 5B calculates an estimated 5.82 quarters of funding based on the quarter’s relevant outgoings, although that figure is a mechanical cash-runway measure rather than a forecast of future exploration spending.

The company’s Northern Territory assets received no exploration expenditure during the quarter, with DeSoto continuing to assess divestment or joint venture opportunities. For now, the investment case is concentrated in Guinea: assay results from Timbakouna, the interpretation of the airborne survey, progress on permit conversions and the Fortuna-funded work will determine whether the expanding footprint begins to translate into a defined mineralised system.