Gold Project Due Diligence & Technical Advisory

A: In the early decades of tropical exploration, intact supergene oxide blankets — where tropical weathering has reconcentrated gold into a high-grade near-surface zone — were relatively common discoveries. Most of those have now been found and mined by artisanal and small-scale miners. Today, a shallow high-grade intercept in laterite is more likely to represent a residual or partially dismembered enrichment zone.

A: Yes. The targets worth pursuing now are: (1) primary bedrock deposits beneath a stripped or thin regolith; (2) structurally-controlled systems where the regolith is thin and the primary ore is relatively shallow; or (3) terrain that was previously considered too complex or too remote but is now accessible.

A: Gold in soil anomalies can be residual (sitting directly above its source), transported (moved downslope by creep or colluvial wash), or a mechanical concentration in a drainage trap — and these three scenarios lead to completely different drill targets.

A: Gold concentrations in (B laterite) residual soils are considered anomalous above 25 ppb Au. Levels of 0.5 to 1.5 ppm Au in soil are considered very anomalous and are jokingly called ‘economic soils’. Levels of gold in soil reaching higher than 1.5 ppm Au are drill targets. Of course, this depends on climate zone and grade of the gold system, but these are general bench marks.