Projects
Tabakorole Gold Project
The Tabakorole Gold Project, located in southern Mali approximately 230km south of the capital city of Bamako, is comprised of 10 tenement areas covering a total area of 830 km2.
It is located between the Siekerole Shear Zone and the Bannifin Shear Zone in southern Mali and is a possible large splay off the Bannifin Shear Zone.
JORC Mineral Resource
The Company announced an upgraded JORC compliant Mineral Resource for Tabakorole in October 2021. The upgraded Mineral Resource represents a 12% increase in ounces from the September 2020 Mineral Resource estimate (JORC) with a total combined Mineral Resource of 26.5 million tonnes at 1.2 g/t for 1,025,000 ounces.
| Indicated | Inferred | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt | Au (g/t) | koz (Au) | Mt | Au (g/t) | koz (Au) | Mt | Au (g/t) | koz (Au) | |
| Oxide | 1.4 | 1.2 | 50 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 55 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 110 |
| Fresh | 7.8 | 1.2 | 310 | 16.0 | 1.2 | 610 | 23.8 | 1.2 | 915 |
| Total | 9.2 | 1.2 | 360 | 17.3 | 1.2 | 665 | 26.5 | 1.2 | 1,025 |
Note: Reported at a cut-off grade of 0.6 g/t Au, differences may occur due to rounding.
Further details about the Mineral Resource can be found in the ASX Announcement 5 October 2021.
Tabakorole Exploration & Drilling
Drilling at Tabakorole during 2021 focused on extending the Mineral Resource to the southeast and northwest, as well as infilling to confirm the continuity of high-grade mineralisation with the Central Zone.
In the Northwest Zone, a new parallel zone was announced, which falls outside the October 2021 Mineral Resource. The new zone included intercepts of 24m at 2.4 g/t, 16m at 2.0 g/t, 21m @ 1.5g/t and 19m @ 1.3g/t over a 700m strike length.
Drilling in the Central Zone confirmed the strike continuity of previous shallow, high-grade intercepts in the 2021 drill campaign.
The best intercepts included:
- 21TBKDD014 – 21m at 2.6 g/t Au from 70m and 7m at 1.0 g/t Au from 119m
- 21TBKDD013 – 9m at 1.3 g/t Au from 8m and 8m at 1.9g/t Au from 80m
Tabakorole Regional Exploration
During the course of 2021, Marvel’s landholding has grown from 100km2 to 830km2. As part of its regional exploration program at Tabakorole, Marvel has collected over 7,000 soil samples with multi-element assays and completed 5,870 line km of high-resolution ground magnetics. Numerous targets have been identified for drilling commencing late 2021.
Regional aircore drilling has also encountered gold mineralisation approximately 3km south-east of the Tabakorole deposit including 4m at 2.7 g/t from 20m (terminating in mineralisation). Nearby artisanal workings reinforce the potential prospectivity of this target. This is highly encouraging for the region’s prospectivity and for the likelihood of making additional discoveries to complement the growing Mineral Resource at Tabakorole.
Metallurgical Testwork
A total of four composite samples were collected from diamond drillholes completed by the company in mid-2020. The composites were made from the coarse split of diamond drilling samples based on the drillhole locations within the deposit and the head grade assay of the original samples.
The composites targeted the Mineral Resource grade of 1.2 g/t gold and ranged from 1.1-1.9 g/t gold. All samples were taken in fresh rock as this material represents approximately 90% of the Tabakorole Mineral Resource. Initial bottle roll testing is the industry standard first step to determine gold recoveries from cyanide leaching.
Results from the bottle roll testing showed high recoveries from all samples, with low cyanide and lime consumption. Average leach recoveries were 92.7%, 94.8% and 96.6% for the four samples at the three grind sizes.
The high recoveries show that the gold is likely to be recoverable via a simple carbon-in-leach process flow sheet, with no indications of refractory gold.
Community Development Programs
The first community initiative since commenced exploration at Tabakorole was completed and commissioned during the March 2021 quarter.
The Company installed a solar powered water pump and elevated water tank storage for the village of Tabakorole, the nearest village to the project area with a population of approximately 800 people.
This is significant for the local people as it provides water on demand and saves considerable time and effort in not having to draw water from the bore by hand as well as providing a small water reserve.
Next Steps
Following the announcement of the updated Mineral Resource, the Company announced the commencement of an expansive drilling program at Tabakorole, with approximately 35,000m of drilling planned, targeting new discoveries and continued expansion of the Tabakorole Mineral Resource.
A multi-purpose aircore (AC) / reverse circulation (RC) rig is mobilising to site to commence approximately 15,000m of AC drilling and an initial 5,000m RC program.
The Company also announced the commencement of 15,000m auger drilling program to follow-up numerous targets identified from multi-element soil geochemistry and magnetics.