Introduction
The Akoko Project consists of two granted Prospecting Licences and is located ~10 km east of Adamus Resources' Salman gold project and 40km south of the Prestea gold mine.
Exploration by Castle has resulted in the definition of a JORC Code compliant resource estimate for the Akoko Project totalling 2Mt @ 1.6g/t gold for 102,000 ounces.
The Akoko Project is located 25km south of Tarkwa in south west Ghana in the prolific gold producing Ashanti belt. Gold mineralisation was first discovered on this greenfields project by Castle in late 2007. Since that time Castle has undertaken seven RC drill programs and defined substantial oxide gold mineralisation. Runge Limited completed an independent resource estimate for the Akoko South and Akoko North gold deposits and estimated a total Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 102,000 ounces.
The Akoko gold resources have excellent potential to be substantially increased. Potential for additional oxide mineralisation exists along strike of each deposit and testing for primary mineralisation has yet to be undertaken.
Additionally a number of soil anomalies remain untested including a significant anomaly straddling a granite greenstone contact that has reported soil values up to 25 g/t gold.
| Deposit | Indicated | Inferred | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonnes (t) | Au (g/t) | Tonnes (t) | Au (g/t) | Tonnes (t) | Au (g/t) | Au (oz) | |
| Akoko South | 610,300 | 1.3 | 610,300 | 1.3 | 25,900 | ||
| Akoko North | 358,000 | 1.8 | 1,076,000 | 1.6 | 1,434,000 | 1.7 | 76,100 |
| Total | 358,000 | 1.8 | 1,686,300 | 1.5 | 3,044,300 | 1.6 | 102,000 |
The Akoko North resource is shallow and either outcrops or comes within a few metres of the surface and 80% is within 50m of surface. Castle is planning to complete further drilling on all its Akoko prospects and in March this year completed an open pit optimisation on the Akoko North deposit with the US$800/ounce shell capturing an Indicated and Inferred Resource totalling 1.22Mt @ 1.58g/t gold containing 58,000 ounces.
Exploration Results
Akoko North soil geochemistry and RC drilling
Akoko North - RC Section 559 800mN
Akoko North - RC Section 559 600mN
Akoko South
Soil sampling was completed over the south west corner of the Licence adjacent to the Avrebo soil anomaly of Adamus Resources. This work reported a very strong soil anomaly, with an initial RC drilling program completed in October 2007 producing positive results including:
| 52m | @ 1.16 g/t | gold | from surface |
| 4m | @ 4.09 g/t | gold | from 6m |
| 20m | @ 0.89 g/t | gold | from 57m |
A further drill program was completed in January 2008 and reported further encouraging results, including:
| 35m | @ 1.52 g/t | gold | from 5m | (AKRC 41) |
| 9m | @ 14.9 g/t | gold | from 59m | (AKRC 41) |
| 7m | @ 4.03 g/t | gold | from 47m | (AKRC 39) |
| 2m | @ 12.1 g/t | gold | from 33m | (AKRC 29) |
| 16m | @ 1.49 g/t | gold | from surface | (AKRC 29) |
| 72m | @ 0.27 g/t | gold | from surface | (AKRC 26) |
| includes | 9m @ 1.02 g/t | gold | from 1m |
Akoko North
In February 2008 soil sampling (200 x 50m spacing) confirmed a strong 3km long surface gold anomaly at Akoko North.
Within the larger anomaly is a higher tenor (+250ppb gold) continuous and well defined zone 1.5km long with a peak value of 1090ppb gold. The northern half of this zone contains numerous historic prospecting pits and shafts over a 600m x 75m area.
This high tenor zone is interpreted to overlie weathered pyritic basalt and is situated immediately west of a basalt/sediment contact, it is aligned north-south suggesting an underlying change to the regional north northeast strike.
This anomaly was drilled in March 2008 and intersected significant open ended shallow gold mineralisation over 1,000m of strike.
Five 200m-spaced drill fences were completed with significant gold mineralisation intersected on all lines. The mineralised zone is open in all directions.
| 2m | @ 2.66 g/t | gold | from 15m | (ANRC 04) |
| 17m | @ 2.29 g/t | gold | from 5m | (ANRC 06) |
| 18m | @ 2.17 g/t | gold | from 3m | (ANRC 07) |
| 10m | @ 1.11 g/t | gold | from 42m | (ANRC 07) |
| 11m | @ 6.65 g/t | gold | from 50m | (ANRC 08) |
| 10m | @ 1.50 g/t | gold | from 40m | (ANRC 13) |
| 20m | @ 0.80 g/t | gold | from 30m | (ANRC 18) |
Twenty four new drill holes were completed in July 2008 with significant gold mineralisation intersected in most holes. The mineralised zone remains open along strike and at depth.
Intercepts of note include:
| 1m | @ 84.5 g/t | gold | from 40m | (ANRC 22) |
| 18m | @ 3.02 g/t | gold | from 7m | (ANRC 32) |
| 19m | @ 2.02 g/t | gold | from 32m | (ANRC 33) |
| 19m | @ 2.16 g/t | gold | from 6m | (ANRC 37) |
| 14m | @ 2.26 g/t | gold | from 41m | (ANRC 37) |
| 13m | @ 1.96 g/t | gold | from 22m | (ANRC 43) |
| 7m | @ 7.11 g/t | gold | from 43m | (ANRC 44) |
| 11m | @ 1.02 g/t | gold | from 3m | (ANRC 28) |
| 10m | @ 1.15 g/t | gold | from 21m | (ANRC 28) |
| 13m | @ 1.21 g/t | gold | from 36m | (ANRC 28) |
| 6m | @ 2.29 g/t | gold | from 28m | (ANRC 29) |
Gold mineralisation occurs within near surface horizontal zones up to 150m wide. These zones are laterally continuous and can be traced along strike for at least one kilometre. The mineralised zones are typically hosted within weathered basalt and quartz veining is common.
In December 2009 wide spaced reconnaissance RC drilling was completed on 200m spaced lines south along strike of the existing Akoko North resource (1.4Mt @ 1.7g/t gold) and returned the following significant results.
| 6m | @ 4.94 g/t | gold | from 13m | (ANRC 51) |
| 4m | @ 29.2 g/t | gold | from 26m | (ANRC 51) |
| 2m | @ 5.89 g/t | gold | from 38m | (ANRC 51) |
| 5m | @ 3.52 g/t | gold | from 13m | (ANRC 49) |
| 1m | @ 47.8 g/t | gold | from 94m | (ANRC 56) |
The geometry and geological setting of the mineralisation appears consistent with Akoko North with drill defined gold mineralisation now continuous over 1,500m of strike. Strong soil anomalism extends a further 800m south of the current limit of drilling and remains to be tested. It is considered probable that further gold mineralisation will be discovered as this zone is drill tested.
New High Grade East Lode Discovered
Previous drilling by Castle at Akoko North reported a primary intercept of 1m @ 84.5g/t gold from 40m on the then south eastern limit of drilling. A deeper hole beneath this intercept returned 1m @ 47.8 g/t gold from 94m down hole and like the earlier intercept was also hosted within a zone of silica/pyrite alteration. This new zone requires drill testing at depth and along strike to determine the continuity and extent of this very high grade mineralisation.
Updated July 2010