Dalaroo Metals has found significant gold mineralisation 1.25 km from its original high-grade discovery at the Bondoukou Gold Ridge Project in Côte d’Ivoire. The results expand the exploration story, but wide drill spacing and unknown true widths mean continuity is still unproven.
- 13 m at 2.67 g/t Au and 60 m at 0.85 g/t Au in northern Wilfred drilling
- Northern results sit 1.25 km from the original 18 m at 7.31 g/t Au discovery
- Significant gold intercepts reported in eight of 12 holes
- Approximately 1,750 m of diamond drilling planned within seven days
- 35.1 line-km IP survey to test Wilfred, Mag and Ali targets
Northern drilling widens the Bondoukou story
Dalaroo Metals Limited (ASX:DAL) has extended the footprint of its Bondoukou Gold Ridge exploration story, with the northernmost Wilfred drilling returning significant gold 1.25 km from the original high-grade discovery.
Hole BDRC010C returned 13 m at 2.67 g/t gold from 87 m, including 6 m at 4.19 g/t, while scissor hole BDRC011B delivered 60 m at 0.85 g/t from 148 m. That broader interval included higher-grade sections of 11 m at 1.62 g/t and 10 m at 1.27 g/t. BDRC010C also recorded isolated one-metre hits of 3.87 g/t at 164 m and 16.20 g/t at 187 m.
The results sit well beyond the original Wilfred section, where BDRC002 returned 18 m at 7.31 g/t from 63 m and BDRC001 returned 23 m at 2.14 g/t from surface. That earlier discovery prompted Dalaroo’s Wilfred follow-up drilling, designed to test the high-grade zone at depth and along strike.
Mineralisation appears across a widely spaced target
The northern results are the headline, but the central and southern sections also returned narrower, generally lower-grade intervals. BDRC004 produced 11 m at 0.68 g/t and a separate 3 m at 1.01 g/t, while BDRC005 returned 3 m at 1.26 g/t, 2 m at 1.63 g/t and 3 m at 0.78 g/t. BDRC003 added 5 m at 0.50 g/t.
Dalaroo says significant gold was identified in eight of the 12 holes reported to date, or 67%. The company’s interpretation is that Wilfred may contain multiple mineralised zones associated with quartz-sulphide veining, silicification and sheared volcanic rocks rather than one continuous economic-grade zone.
That distinction matters. Drill fences are typically about 300 m apart along strike and widen to roughly 500 m towards the north-west. All reported intervals are downhole lengths, with true widths, orientation, continuity and economic significance yet to be established. Three holes returned no significant intercepts, and the company says mineralisation between the widely separated sections has not been demonstrated as continuous.
Diamond drilling becomes the next test
Dalaroo plans to commence an expanded five-hole diamond programme of approximately 1,750 m within seven days. The work has grown from the previously outlined 1,250 m programme and will target depth extensions beneath the original BDRC002 discovery, together with sections about 80 m to the north-west and south-east.
The diamond core is intended to provide the structural information needed to assess orientation and true width, while the northern BDRC010C and BDRC011B section is scheduled for separate follow-up drilling. Assays from RC holes BDRC012 to BDRC018 remain pending, adding another near-term source of information for the broader Gold Ridge campaign.
IP survey adds another exploration tool
Preparations are also under way for a 35.1 line-km induced polarisation and resistivity survey across Wilfred, Mag and Ali. Four priority lines will cross the Wilfred drilling first, allowing chargeability responses to be compared with the pyrite and quartz-sulphide veining observed in the holes before the survey is interpreted across the wider corridor.
Mag is the next major surface target, with a gold anomaly extending about 1.5 km and the project’s peak soil result of 23.26 g/t Au. The planned drilling and geophysics could sharpen target selection across the approximately 7 km Gold Ridge corridor, but neither the surface anomaly nor the current RC results amount to a Mineral Resource estimate.
Bottom Line?
The northern intercepts make Bondoukou a larger exploration proposition, but the next value test is whether diamond drilling can convert isolated downhole hits into measurable, correctly oriented and repeatable zones.
Questions in the middle?
- Will diamond drilling confirm the true widths and structural orientation of the high-grade Wilfred mineralisation?
- Do the northern and original discovery sections connect through the broad gaps in reconnaissance drilling?
- Will pending Ali assays and the IP survey identify additional targets strong enough to justify accelerated follow-up work?