Resource Drilling Underway at Akoko Gold Project
Hamak Strategy Limited (LSE: HAMA / OTCQB: HASTF) a company combining traditional gold exploration in West Africa with a Digital Asset Treasury Management strategy, is pleased to announce that it has commenced a 4,125 metres reverse circulation (“RC”) resource drill programme on the Akoko gold project in southwest Ghana.
Highlights
· Resource drill programme underway at Akoko oxide gold project in southwest Ghana
· 72 RC holes for 4,125m planned across the two primary targets at Akoko
· Drilling focused on upper 80m of oxide gold material which hosts a non-JORC resource
· Programme to generate a maiden JORC* compliant mineral resource estimate (“MRE”) and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for a low-cost open pit mine
CEO and Executive Director Karl Smithson commented:
“We are delighted to commence drilling at the Akoko gold project in southwest Ghana. The 4,125m RC drill programme is designed to generate a maiden JORC compliant MRE and support the preparation of a PEA. Drilling is focused on the upper 80m where modelling suggests the primary oxide gold target is, and which could be amenable to low-cost open pit mining and processing. We look forward to providing regular updates on the exploration results from this programme.”
RC Drilling Programme
Since Hamak signed its contract with Ghana based drilling company Deeprock (GH) Limited (“Deeprock”) for an initial 4,125m RC drilling programme over the Akoko oxide gold project, the Company has rapidly undertaken the necessary preparation for drill rig access and drill pads. Deeprock has now mobilised the drill rig to the Akoko North project area and has commenced drilling a planned 72 holes for 4,125m across Akoko North and Akoko South.
Drill rig being mobilised to the first drill pads
QAQC
All drilling samples are collected by the Company following industry best practices with an appropriate number and type of certified reference materials (standards), blanks and duplicates inserted to ensure an effective Quality Assurance Quality Control “QAQC” regime. RC samples are collected at 1m intervals with representative samples split at the site. Samples will be submitted to the ISO accredited SGS Laboratory (“SGS”) in Tarkwa (Ghana) for fire assay technique. Tarkwa is a nearby town to the Akoko project and is where Hamak has established its base and therefore, it is expected that assay results will be received on a regular basis.
MRE & PEA Report Preparation
Hamak has retained independent consulting geologist Dr. Colin Andrew to prepare a maiden JORC compliant MRE for Akoko. The MRE will be based on the current drill programme results and the 16,000m of historical drilling assay results that Hamak has received. The current MRE (non-JORC) was undertaken in 2016 by the previous licence owners which estimated 270,000 ounces of contained gold.
Hamak is currently engaging with several independent consulting and engineering groups to propose a budget for the preparation of a preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) for a potential low-cost open pit mining and processing operation at Akoko. The declaration of the updated and JORC compliant MRE is the first step towards preparing the PEA, which will also assess options for mining and processing methods, capital and operating costs and cash flow forecasts, in a robust financial model.
* Note: JORC refers to the Joint Ore Reserves Committee Reporting Code (2012), the Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources, and Ore Reserves