First Bougouni Drilling Assays 'Highly Encouraging'

West Africa-focused mineral exploration and development company Kodal Minerals has a busy exploration programme planned for the months ahead, with a focus on its lithium projects at Bougouni, in Mali.

CEO Bernard Aylward said in February that the company would return to drill its Ngoualana prospect at its Bougouni lithium project, in southern Mali, as soon as possible, following the company’s receipt of the project’s first assay batches for a reverse-circulation (RC) drilling programme.

“We expect to start a follow-up drilling programme in February and to advance the priority targets with the aim of establishing a maiden resource as soon as possible,” Aylward pointed out.

He describes the first drilling intersection from Ngoualana, which remains open along strike and at depth, as “highly encouraging”, with wide, high-grade mineralisation intersected in drilling confirming surface observations.

“We are eagerly awaiting the final assay results as our drilling continued to intersect a wide, coarse grained pegmatite body with high spodumene content.”

The first drill hole at the Ngoualana prospect has returned 21 m at 1.7% lithium oxide from a depth of 62 m, including a high-grade core of 12 m at 1.81% lithium oxide from 69 m.