At Randy’s Pit, an attractive deposit on the Tapanahony project in Suriname, Sranan Gold (CSE: SRAN, FSE: P84K, WKN: A416C1) has taken samples in recent months, and the laboratory results are now available. They showed high grades of 76.6 g/t and 23.7 g/t gold.
The Tapanahony project covers 29,000 hectares and is located in one of Suriname’s oldest and largest small-scale mining areas. It lies at the heart of the zone where a modern gold rush is currently taking place in Suriname, and is therefore considered very promising. Several mining areas have been developed on Tapanahony along a 4.5-kilometer trend. Significant amounts of saprolite are being extracted from these by local miners.
Artisanal mining is therefore an ideal starting point for Sranan Gold’s own project development. The samples were taken from shafts that had only recently been dug by local miners working on the project, north of Randy’s Pit. In total, the locals excavated four shafts by hand, reaching depths of 20 to 30 meters. A total of nine soil samples were taken from them.
Laboratory Reports Confirm Gold Grades of up to 76.6 and 23.7 G/T
The laboratory reports confirm the presence of gold, as 76.6 g/t and 23.7 g/t were identified in the rock fragments in the best samples. The northernmost of the four shafts dug by artisanal miners shows veins dipping to the west, and with grab samples of up to 6.5 g/t gold, also indicates interesting mineralization.
Access to these underground workings provides Sranan Gold with the opportunity to better understand the orientation and associated changes in mineralization. It will therefore be the target of the first drill holes of the company’s new drilling program. This is the first drilling program that will be carried out by Sranan Gold on the Tapanahony project.
The new target areas appear promising, as the mineralized saprolite in these workings contains transposed sugary quartz veins and intense sericite-limonite alterations. This is interesting because quartz veins and iron sulfides, which oxidize to limonite, are typically associated with gold.
Preparation for First Own Drilling Underway
In addition to the samples from the shafts, further samples were taken on the surface and a trenching program was started. With these trenches, Sranan Gold aims to test the continuity of the gold mineralization. The first trenches will be laid up to 150 meters south of the pit boundary.
The samples are prepared and analyzed by Filab, a local laboratory based in Paramaribo, Suriname. All samples containing more than two grams per tonne of gold were also re-analyzed and subjected to gravimetric analysis, applying the QA/QC procedure. This also proved to be a correct and forward-looking decision, as the grab samples contained promising indications of high-grade gold.
Additional Trenching and further Soil Samples as Next Steps
The next steps now include the excavation of channels and further trenches for sampling. These will be followed by the first drillings. The company expects reliable data from them to be able to determine the average grade and thickness of the encountered mineralizations more precisely. While grab samples, as more or less randomly selected samples, are an important first indication, their significance is limited, as they may not reflect the actual mineralization.
Sranan Gold can be satisfied with the samples taken from the shafts and on the surface. They unequivocally prove that the artisanal miners are following an interesting lead that the company can systematically pursue with its own work in the coming months.
Dr. Dennis LaPoint, Vice President Exploration and Corporate Development, expressed his pleasure and satisfaction with the developments of the past weeks: “These shafts and samplings are very exciting for the potential of the Randy trend. These samplings are crucial for Sranan as drilling commences. We can better define the orientation of the mineralized structures while demonstrating the presence of high-grade gold.”
