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Afema Gold Project

Afema Gold Project

Project Location

The Afema Project is located in south-east Côte d’Ivoire on the Ghanian border, 120kms east of Abidjan and is serviced by a new bituminised major highway connecting Abidjan to Ghana. Two of Côte d’Ivoire’s major hydro-power schemes are located on the north-western boundary of the Afema Project area.

The Afema Project is on a granted mining permit supported by a Mining Convention between Afema Gold SA (mining permit holding entity) and the State of Côte d’Ivoire. The granted mining permit covers an area of 227km2 and was granted in December 2013 and is valid until December 2033, with a 20-year renewal option thereafter. Turaco was recently granted three contiguous exploration permits covering a combined area of 812km2, providing a total granted Afema Project area of 1,040km2. A further exploration permit application is also held covering an additional 228km2 and Turaco recently secured an option over an additional application area cover 366km2, providing a total Afema Project area of over 1,600km2.

Afema Project Location

Highlights for the December Quarter 2024

Turaco Gold Limited (ASX | TCG) (‘Turaco’ or the ‘Company’) continued to advance the Afema Project in southern Côte d’Ivoire during the 3 months to 31 December 2024.

With the end of the wet season, Turaco commenced drill testing several exploration targets, yielding immediate success with the discovery of gold along the previously undrilled southern +10km of the ‘Niamienlessa Trend’ at the ‘Niamienlessa SW’ prospect and the ‘Affienou’ prospect.

Subsequent to the end of the December Quarter, the Company confirmed an additional discovery at the ‘Baffia’ prospect, where maiden drilling returned highly encouraging results with broad zones of gold mineralisation intersected. These discoveries provide further vindication of the exceptional exploration potential at Afema. Additionally, extensional and infill drilling at the Jonction deposit returned high-grade gold results with strong continuity, improving confidence in Jonction and demonstrating Jonction’s Mineral Resource Estimate (‘MRE’) growth potential.

Afema Project
JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate
Deposit Tonnes Gold Grade Ounces
Woulo Woulo (0.5g/t cut-off) 42.6Mt 0.9g/t 1,250,000
Jonction (0.7g/t cut-off) 10.1Mt 2.0g/t 660,000
Anuiri (0.7g/t cut-off) 11.6Mt 1.6g/t 600,000
Total 2,520,000

(figures may not add up due to appropriate rounding)

The maiden independent JORC MRE for the Afema Project totals 2.52Moz of gold. The MRE included only the Woulo Woulo, Jonction, and Anuiri deposits and is considered as ‘interim,’ with ongoing work expected to deliver substantial growth in the near term. Notably, the maiden MRE excludes several additional drilled mineralised areas along the ‘Afema Shear’, such as the Asupiri, Begnopan, Adiopan, and Toilesso prospects, which are currently undergoing infill and extensional drilling, along with metallurgical test work.

The December Quarter saw over 15,000 metres of drilling completed (8,308m RC / 6,683m DD / 202m auger). Turaco remains on target to release an updated MRE towards the end of the current March Quarter or early in the June Quarter, which is expected to show a material increase in ounces. Aggressive drilling will continue throughout the March Quarter with three rigs operating on double shift. Drilling will be undertaken at:

  • The Asupiri prospect, located along the Afema Shear, subparallel to the Anuiri Deposit. Pending results from confirmatory metallurgical test work, Asupiri is expected to be incorporated into the next MRE update
  • The Begnopan and Adiopan prospects located along the Afema Shear, along strike from Asupiri
  • Exploration drilling between the Jonction and Anuiri deposits, testing 5 kilometres of undrilled contact
  • Follow-up drilling at the recent Baffia discovery located ~3 kilometres to the west of the Jonction Deposit
  • Follow-up drilling along Niamienlessa Trend
  • Exploration drilling at the northern end of the Afema Shear following recent soil geochemical sampling

Alongside drilling, soil sampling and trenching programs are ongoing across the entire Afema Project area aimed at defining further drill targets. Over 2,700 soil samples were collected during the December Quarter which are defining additional largescale anomalies for drilling. Furthermore, a large Induced Polarisation (‘IP’) survey is being completed, covering 10 kilometres of predominately undrilled strike of the Afema Shear from the Anuiri deposit in the south to the Toilesso prospect in the north. Finally, the Company continued its systematic and comprehensive metallurgical test work programme which is delivering excellent results across all deposits. Turaco expects to provide a metallurgical update during the March Quarter.

Niamienlessa Discoveries

  • Maiden RC drilling along the undrilled southern +10 kilometre ‘Niamienlessa Trend’ returned highly encouraging initial results with the discovery of several new zones of shallow gold mineralisation which remain open in all directions
  • Results from initial drilling at the Niamienlessa SW prospect included:
  • 12m @ 6.72g/t gold from 18m
  • 27m @ 1.30g/t gold from 34m
  • 15m @ 2.11g/t gold from 22m
  • 13m @ 1.23g/t gold from 22m
  • 26m @ 1.04g/t gold from 71m
  • 16m @ 1.18g/t gold from 32m
  • Drilling at Niamienlessa SW targeted two sub-parallel soil anomalies extending for 2 kilometres and 1.6 kilometres respectively
  • Shallow first pass RC drilling at the Affienou prospect located at the southern end of the Niamienlessa Trend returned encouraging initial results confirming widespread gold mineralisation
  • Drilling across 2 kilometres of strike at Affienou, returned results including:
  • 7m @ 3.78g/t gold from 115m
  • 23m @ 1.19g/t gold from 64m
  • 10m @ 2.46g/t gold from 94m
  • 10m @ 2.15g/t gold from 47m
  • Results confirm the prospectivity of this structure with mineralisation now drilled for over 15 kilometres of strike of the Niamienlessa Trend and in close proximity to the deposits which form the 2.52Moz maiden MRE

Baffia Discovery

  • First pass shallow, wide spaced RC drilling at the previously untested, large-scale ‘Baffia’ prospect returned highly encouraging results with a new broad zone of gold mineralisation intersected
  • Results released subsequent to quarter end from the maiden drilling program returned:
  • 32m @ 1.69g/t gold from 12m
  • 21m @ 1.79g/t gold from 104m
  • 10m @ 1.95g/t gold from 22m
  • Drill hole BAFRC0004 returned 21m @ 1.79g/t gold in fresh rock and ended in mineralisation with hole BAFRC0005 drilled up dip and returning 32m @ 1.69g/t gold in oxide
  • Located ~3 kilometres from the Jonction deposit, the Baffia discovery further demonstrates the exploration upside outside the known mineralisation at the Afema Shear and confirms the potential for new discoveries to continue to grow the existing 2.52Moz MRE

Jonction Drilling

  • Diamond drilling at the Jonction deposit designed to improve confidence in the Jonction MRE and test for additional footwall mineralisation returned high-grade gold results including:
  • 9m @ 9.88g/t gold from 288m
  • 10m @ 7.32g/t gold from 80m
  • 16m @ 2.52g/t gold from 65m
  • 11m @ 2.42g/t gold from 219m
  • Drilling has confirmed excellent continuity of the high-grade core at Jonction which remains open at depth

Regional Exploration

  • Extensive soil sampling and trenching/pitting undertaken at Baffia, Kotoka, Koffikro prospects and the Anuiri-Jonction-Toilesso trend along the Afema Shear
  • IP survey covering 10 kilometres of strike underway along Anuiri-Jonction-Toilesso trend and to be completed in January 2025. The survey is designed to define the geological contact between Jonction and Anuiri that is considered to be a key control to mineralisation at those deposits

Exploration Activity During the December Quarter

Exploration Success with new Baffia Discovery

Following the announcement of the maiden 2.52Moz MRE and with the end of the wet season in Cote d’Ivoire, the December Quarter saw Turaco commence testing several undrilled, large scale exploration targets, all located in close proximity (<10 kilometres) of the Woulo Woulo (JORC MRE of 1,250koz @ 0.9g/t gold), Jonction (JORC MRE of 660koz @ 2.0g/t gold) and Anuiri (JORC MRE of 600koz @ 1.6g/t gold) deposits included in the 2.52Moz MRE.

The Baffia prospect is within the granted exploration permit adjoining the granted Afema mining permit and is located approximately 3 kilometres to the northwest of the Jonction deposit.

The Baffia geochemical anomaly covers an area of ~3.5 kilometres by ~2.5 kilometres located over a granodiorite adjacent to the regional significant ‘Ayame’ granitoid. Within the broader anomaly several discrete higher tenor zones have a northeast trend. The first phase of drilling was testing the central higher tenor anomaly that extends for ~2 kilometres. The granodiorite is a complex multiphase intrusion with the Baffia anomaly limited to a portion of the complex characterised by abundant slivers of mafic rock.

Maiden drilling was undertaken at Baffia with a reconnaissance style program completed of 23 RC holes to an average downhole depth of 125m. Drilling was shallow and wide spaced, testing the central zone of the large gold-in-soil anomaly at Baffia.

Results received from the first 13 holes returned excellent results outlining a new zone of gold mineralisation (refer ASX announcement dated 23 January 2025). Hole BAFRC0005 returned 32m @ 1.69g/t gold from 12m in oxide with hole BAFRC004 returned a down dip intercept of 21m @ 1.79g/t gold from 104m in fresh rock and ending in mineralisation. Hole BAFRC0013 was drilled ~200m along strike to the north and returned 10m @ 1.95g/t gold from 22m.

Results are highly encouraging given the wide spaced reconnaissance nature of drilling and the scale of the soil anomaly. Results are pending from the remaining 10 shallow holes drilled across 200-600m wide spaced sections to the southwest.

Baffia Cross Section

Baffia Soil Anomaly & Drill Hole Collar Location

Exploration Drilling Delivers Gold Mineralisation along Niamienlessa Trend, Niamienlessa SW & Affienou

Niamienlessa SW

First pass RC drilling was undertaken at Niamienlessa SW, within the Afema mining permit, testing two sub-parallel trends with high tenor gold-in-soil anomalies extending across 2 kilometres and 1.6 kilometres respectively. The continuation of these two sub-parallel trends along strike to the south is clearly evident in both high-resolution airborne magnetics and the soil geochemistry. The trends appear to bifurcate into multiple trends within the adjoining exploration permit to the south where the ‘Affienou’ prospect is located.

Results from the central portion of the 2 kilometre anomaly where past trenching had returned 18m @ 1.91g/t gold and 12m @ 1.21g/t gold included (refer ASX announcements dated 21 November 2023 and 13 November 2024):

  • 12m @ 6.72g/t Au from 18m
  • 27m @ 1.30g/t Au from 34m
  • 15m @ 2.11g/t Au from 22m
  • 9m @ 1.35g/t Au from 49m
  • 13m @ 1.23g/t Au from 22m
  • 26m @ 1.04g/t Au from 71m
  • 16m @ 1.18gt Au from 32m

Due to the shallow nature of the initial drilling, the majority of mineralisation has been intercepted in the oxide zone (extending up to 80m from surface), however NIARC0043 returned 26m @ 1.04g/t gold from 71m (including 10m @ 1.66g/t) in fresh rock indicating broad mineralisation remains open at depth.

Mineralisation dips shallowly towards the southeast. Geology is dominated by metasediments (sandstone and shale) and volcanogenic sediments. Mineralisation is characterised by silicification with fine disseminated sulphides in the transitional and fresh mineralisation.

Affienou

Turaco completed a first pass, reconnaissance style RC program at the previously undrilled Affienou prospect within the recently granted exploration permit abutting the southern boundary of the Afema mining permit.

Drilling was shallow and wide spaced to test the southern 2 kilometres of 5 kilometres of anomalous gold-in-soils. These were the first drill holes drilled into this underexplored section of the prospective +20 kilometre Niamienlessa shear zone, located close to a sealed road and within 10 kilometres of the Anuiri deposit and 15 kilometres of the Woulo Woulo deposit, Results included (refer ASX announcement dated 16 December 2024):

  • 7m @ 3.78g/t Au from 115m
  • 23m @ 1.19g/t Au from 64m
  • 10m @ 2.46g/t Au from 94m
  • 10m @ 2.15g/t Au from 47m

The anomalous trend is marked by a series of strike ridges with mineralised horizons forming a topographic high. Weathering extends to approximately 75m vertical. Results are from both oxide and fresh rock, with several holes ‘stepped back’ to avoid access issues created by artisanal pit workings. Exposures of mineralised structures in artisanal pits indicate the presence of steeply west dipping discrete shear zones accompanied by horizontal extensional veins. In fresh rock the host lithology appears to be a fine-grained volcanic unit with mineralisation expressed as quartz veining accompanied by disseminated pyrite and carbonate.

Results are encouraging given the reconnaissance nature of drilling across an initial strike (in excess of 2 kilometres), with fences of drilling targeting coincident zones of soil geochemistry, trench anomalism and artisanal pits.

Niamienlessa Trend (with soil anomalies and trenching)

Niamienlessa SW Drill Plan

Affienou Drilling and Soil Anomalies

Affienou Drilling and Soil Anomalies

Resource Drilling

A diamond drilling program was completed at the Jonction deposit (MRE of 660koz @ 2.0g/t gold) with results including (refer ASX announcement dated 16 December 2024):

  • 9m @ 9.88g/t Au from 288m
  • 10m @ 7.32g/t Au from 80m
  • 16m @ 2.52g/t Au from 65m
  • 11m @ 2.42g/t Au from 219m

Results confirm the continuity of high-grade mineralisation focused along the hanging wall contact of the host Tarkwaian unit. Mineralisation is associated with intense silicification and disseminated pyrite.

These Jonction drill holes also provided additional core samples for ongoing metallurgical test work that is being undertaken in Perth, Western Australia which is providing excellent results.

Jonction Drill Plan and Drill Section

Jonction Drill Plan and Drill Section

New Highway Under Construction and High Voltage Transmission Lines (southern Mining Permit boundary)

Afema Core Yard