Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE, OTCQX: ORZCF)
(the “Company” or “Orezone”) is pleased to provide initial drill
results from its recently announced multi-year exploration campaign
at its flagship Bomboré gold mine. Initial targeting of this
program centered on the North Zone, with wide spaced drilling
successfully demonstrating the continuity of the mineralized system
at depth, both in terms of grade and overall width.
Drill Highlights:
-
Hole BBD1313 intersected 1.02 g/t Au over 57.00m, from 100m below
the reserve pit
-
Hole BBD1314 intersected 1.64 g/t Au over 46.00m, from 200m below
the reserve pit
- Including a
sub-interval of 2.03 g/t Au over 22.00m
Patrick Downey, President & CEO stated,
“Over the past several months, the Company has completed a detailed
review of the Bomboré exploration model, which highlighted
significant exploration upside. This analysis was aided by a more
recent structural review of the project, and ongoing detailed
mapping and grade control drilling within the current oxide open
pits.
These first set of reported holes from our
multi-year exploration campaign clearly shows that we have a robust
exploration model, and highlights the significant exploration
upside to Bomboré’s current stated global resource of 5.13 million
gold ounces. The wide spaced nature of this initial targeting, and
associated results, underscores the continuity of the mineralized
system at depth within the North Zone, with mineralization now
traced to a vertical depth of 340m, or 240m below the life of mine
reserve pit.
The initial drill results have positive
implications in terms of materially extending the life of mine at
Bomboré and achieving the Company’s targeted long-term global
resource base of 7 to 10 million gold ounces. This outlook is
underscored by the fact that hole BBD1314 was only the 15th hole,
across the project’s greater than 14km long reserve defined strike
length, to be drilled below a vertical depth of 300m. As such, we
see outstanding exploration potential within the North Zone, and
extending across the entire mineralized system at depth.
Drilling continues at the next targets in the
North Zone, and given the success of these first two holes, we plan
to add a second drill rig to the ongoing program. The primary focus
of this Phase I program will be on wide spaced drilling at depth,
with the goal of illustrating the broader size, scale and potential
of the Bomboré system. As part of this drill program, we also plan
to locally follow-up on a number of higher-grade intercepts, such
as the recently released 113.74 g/t gold over 8.00m in the Siga
Zone (see press release dated June 12, 2024), which we believe with
additional drilling may resolve into higher grade plunges and
potentially support an underground mining scenario longer term.
Overall, this is an exciting time for Orezone,
both as we ramp-up exploration and discovery at Bomboré, and
continue to advance the hard rock expansion, which is set to
increase production at Bomboré by approximately 50% to a targeted
180,000oz per annum starting in 2026.”
North Zone Overview
The North Zone, which is a sub-zone of the 14km
long Bomboré Shear Zone, is reserve defined across a continuous
strike length of over 2.5km and down to a shallow average depth of
less than 100m. The reported intercepts are hosted within a broad
structural corridor, with consistent gold grades over mineralized
drill widths of up to 30-60m. Mineralization within the North Zone
is hosted within a deformed and altered metasedimentary unit, with
the reported holes ending in a post mineral intrusive. Follow-up
drilling within the North Zone will look to push subsequent holes
further at depth, to evaluate the potential to drill through the
post mineral intrusive, and back into the mineralized
metasediments. This has positive implications in terms of
potentially extending the limits of the delineated footwall further
to the northwest, a prospect which is supported by recently
identified near-surface mineralization.
Bomboré Drill Results
Table 1: Highlight Drill Intercepts from
the North Zone
Hole |
From(m) |
To(m) |
Length(m)* |
Grade(g/t Au) |
Type |
BBD1313 |
12.40 |
23.50 |
11.10 |
0.75 |
Oxide |
and |
241.00 |
298.00 |
57.00 |
1.02 |
Hard Rock |
BBD1314 |
375.00 |
421.00 |
46.00 |
1.64 |
Hard Rock |
incl. |
375.00 |
397.00 |
22.00 |
2.03 |
Hard Rock |
incl. |
407.00 |
410.00 |
3.00 |
5.56 |
Hard Rock |
* True widths for North Zone drilling are
approximately 85% of drilled lengths.
Figure 1: Bomboré Gold Mine Property
Map
Figure 2: North Zone Long Section
Looking Southeast
Figure 3: North Zone Cross Section
Looking Northeast
About Orezone Gold
Corporation
Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE OTCQX: ORZCF)
is a West African gold producer engaged in mining, developing, and
exploring its flagship Bomboré Gold Mine in Burkina Faso. The
Bomboré mine achieved commercial production on its oxide operations
on December 1, 2022, and is now focused on its staged hard rock
expansion that is expected to materially increase annual and
life-of-mine gold production from the processing of hard rock
mineral reserves. Orezone is led by an experienced team focused on
social responsibility and sustainability with a proven track record
in project construction and operations, financings, capital markets
and M&A.
The technical report entitled Bomboré Phase II
Expansion, Definitive Feasibility Study is available on SEDAR+ and
the Company’s website.
Contact Information
Patrick DowneyPresident and Chief Executive
Officer
Vanessa PickeringManager, Investor Relations
Tel: 1 778 945 8977 / Toll Free: 1 888 673
0663info@orezone.com / www.orezone.com
For further information please contact
Orezone at +1 (778) 945 8977 or visit the Company’s
website at
www.orezone.com.
The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor
disapproves the information contained in this news release.
QUALIFIED PERSONS
Rob Henderson, P. Eng., VP Technical Services of
Orezone, is the Qualified Persons under NI 43-101 and has reviewed
and approved the scientific and technical information contained in
this news release.
QA/QC
The mineralized intervals are based on a lower
cut-off grade of 0.28g/t in the Oxide+Upper Transition zone, and
0.45g/t Au in the Lower Transition+Hard Rock zone, a minimal width
of 1.5m and up to a maximum of 3.0m of dilution being included. The
true width of the mineralization is approximately 85% of the drill
length in the North Zone. The half-core drilling samples were cut
using a diamond saw by Orezone employees. The samples were prepared
by SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. (“SGS”) at their Ouagadougou facility
and then split by Orezone to 1 kg using Rotary Sample Dividers
(“RSDs”). A 1-kg aliquot was analyzed for leachable gold at BIGS
Global Burkina s.a.r.l. (“BIGS Global”) in Ouagadougou, by
bottle-roll cyanidation using a LeachWell™ catalyst. The
leach residues from all samples with a leach grade greater than or
equal to 0.25g/t Au were prepared by BIGS Global and then split by
Orezone to 50 g using RSDs. A 50-g aliquot was analyzed by fire
assay at BIGS Global.
Orezone employs a rigorous Quality Control
Program including a minimum of 10% standards, blanks and
duplicates. The composite width and grade include the final leach
residue assay results for most of the drill intercepts reported,
with the details available in the tables posted on our web
site.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain information
that may constitute “forward-looking information” within the
meaning of applicable Canadian Securities laws and “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws
(together, “forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking
statements are frequently characterized by words such as “plan”,
“expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate”,
“potential”, “possible” and other similar words, or statements that
certain events or conditions “may”, “will”, “could”, or “should”
occur. Forward-looking statements in this press release include,
but are not limited to, statements with respect to the size, timing
and expectation of the exploration program (including the potential
for deeper drilling to materially expand the project’s mineral
inventory, delineate higher-grade centers of mineralization and
further expand the project’s life of mine), the Phase II hard rock
expansion and the future production profile, and statements with
respect to the higher-grade plunging sub-zones may further support
an underground mining scenario later in the project’s mine life and
other exploration targets and discoveries.
All such forward-looking statements are based on
certain assumptions and analyses made by management in light of
their experience and perception of historical trends, current
conditions and expected future developments, as well as other
factors management and the qualified persons believe are
appropriate in the circumstances.
All forward-looking statements are subject to a
variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could
cause actual events or results to differ materially from those
projected in the forward-looking statements including, but not
limited to, delays caused by pandemics, terrorist or other violent
attacks (including cyber security attacks), the failure of parties
to contracts to honour contractual commitments, unexpected changes
in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable
authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as
agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices;
unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, the possibility
of unanticipated costs and expenses, accidents and equipment
breakdowns, political risk, unanticipated changes in key management
personnel and general economic, market or business conditions, the
failure of exploration programs, including drilling programs, to
deliver anticipated results and the failure of ongoing and
uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing
needed in the future, and other factors described in the Company's
most recent annual information form and management discussion and
analysis filed on SEDAR+. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements.
Although the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release are based upon what management of
the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot
assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
made as of the date of this press release and are expressly
qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject
to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any
obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements
contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after
the date of this press release.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://orezone.com/site/assets/files/5800/figure1.jpg
https://orezone.com/site/assets/files/5800/figure2.jpg
https://orezone.com/site/assets/files/5800/figure3.jpg
Orezone Gold (TSX:ORE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024
Orezone Gold (TSX:ORE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024