What a difference a year can make. One year ago; the flagship project of Nexus Gold Corp (TSX: V.NXS, OTCQB: NXXGF, FSE: N6E, Forum) was its Walker Ridge Project in Nevada. Nevada is a world-famous gold jurisdiction, one of the largest gold-producing regions, and home to numerous mining and exploration companies.
However, while Nevada is a great place for gold mining it is a somewhat difficult location for a junior gold exploration company. The Nevada gold industry is dominated by larger players with robust financial resources, making it difficult for junior miners to make their mark.
Nexus principles, Pete Berdusco and Alex Klenman, met geologist Warren Robb in 2011 when Robb was Chief Geologist with Roxgold Inc and all three were working for the company. In 2015; Robb joined the Nexus board and began working on its Nevada project.
By the beginning of 2016, Robb began discussing a property located in Burkina Faso known as the “Bouboulou concession”. This is a 38 sq km land package, forming the core of the “Bissa West” permit when Roxgold previously held title to the exploration license. However, the license on the concession eventually lapsed and Bouboulou was up for grabs.
Almost exactly one year ago management decided to capitalize on this lapsed claim and signed a letter of intent to acquire Bouboulou. Warren Robb became Senior Geologist for Nexus.
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There had already been significant exploration work done on Bouboulou. Even before Roxgold began exploring the property, another company (Riverstone Resources) had engaged in both sampling work and an IP geophysical survey over the area producing the highest gold values. Riverstone’s initial sampling returned values between 1.09 g/t Au and 19.16 g/t Au.
Then Roxgold became the project operator and brought in the drills. High-grade drill results included 4.62 g/t over 6 meters (including 81.32 g/t over 0.3 meters), as well as 5.33 g/t Au over 2 meters and 12.53 g/t over 4 meters. Additional drilling by Roxgold uncovered longer intercepts of gold mineralization but with less robust grades which are more in line with the Burkina average. Among these intercepts were: 40 meters of 1.548 g/t (including 20m of 2.25 g/t) and 35 meters of 2.2 g/t (including 12m of 5.45 g/t). All of these results were near-surface, at depths of roughly 100 meters or less.
Based on previous drill results and other exploration data, Nexus has concluded that gold mineralization at Bouboulou is comprised of three, separate mineralization trends. The three trends intersect on the property, with each trend being approximately 5,000 meters long. More importantly, management believes that Bouboulou mineralization exhibits the potential of hosting two types of gold deposits.
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Getting a better understanding of Bouboulou requires learning a little about the gold mining industry in Burkina Faso. A poor nation, Burkina Faso is located in West Africa, between Mali and Ghana – two nations with robust gold mining industries. Not surprisingly, when foreign mining companies began exploring Burkina Faso they quickly found gold.
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The dominant geological trend in Burkina Faso from a mineralization standpoint is the Birimian greenstone belt. More than a dozen 1+ million ounce deposits of gold have already been established in Burkina Faso within this trend, with 10 deposits of 3 million ounces of gold or more.
Several foreign mining companies have either established a large gold resource in Burkina Faso or are already mining gold. Orezone Gold Corp. has drilled out a 5.28 million ounce resource. Endeavour Mining already has an open pit gold mine producing nearly 200,000 ounces per year. Part of the reason why Roxgold let the Bouboulou concession lapse may have been because it already had a more advanced property in Burkina Faso – its Yaramoko Project.
The majority of these gold deposits are of low-to-moderate grades with large tonnages (20 to 40 million tonnes). Less common are gold deposits of roughly ¼ that size, but with higher grades ranging from 5 to 7 grams per tonne. The differing grades and lengths of intercepts in Bouboulou drilling suggest that both types of gold formation could be hosted there.
The Company was eager to do some of its own drilling at Bouboulou and had planned a 2,000 meter drill program, drilling to a maximum depth of 400 meters. However, by this time Warren Robb was already pointing toward another very interesting property in Burkina Faso, located less than 100 kilometers away – Niangouela.
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The Niangouela exploration permit covers a huge property, significantly larger than the Bouboulou land package. Totaling 178 square kilometers, Niangouela is part of the Boromo greenstone belt, a formation from the Birimian age.
On November 22, 2016, Nexus signed a letter of intent to acquire the exploration rights to this land package. The Company closed on the acquisition on December 6th. On December 8th, Nexus announced a preliminary exploration program at Niangouela.
Artisanal mining had already been taking place on the property. Nexus took chip samples from exposed quartz veins in these workings, some with visible gold showing. The most robust of these samples was taken from 46 meters below surface in an artisanal shaft. Testing of the sample returned a value of 2,950 g/t Au. Ironically, the Company came close to never analyzing that particular sample. With no visible gold showing, it was almost discarded as a throw-away.
Along with the other high-grade samples (including a 403 g/t Au sample), management quickly turned their attention away from Bouboulou and toward Niangouela. On January 31, 2017, a Phase One diamond drilling program commenced. On February 23rd, the Company announced an increase in that drilling.
On March 7, 2017; Nexus released initial assay results from Niangouela. A total of 13 holes had been drilled, essentially blind, with only sampling, a quick Rotary Air Blast (RAB) program, and visuals to guide Robb and the drill crew. The Company encountered mineralization on eight of those first nine holes. The principal highlight of the drilling was a high-grade intercept of 26.69 g/t Au over 4.85 meters, including 1 meter of 132 g/t.
Other highlights included: 4.0 g/t over 6.2 meters (including 20 g/t over 1 meter), 2.95 g/t over 4 meters (including 5.92 g/t over 1 meter and 5.00 g/t over 1 meter). Management was obviously pleased. Hitting on eight of nine holes in any new drill campaign with previous exploration data would have been very encouraging. To strike mineralization that consistently without such data is very rare.
In just three month’s time, Nexus had gone from closing on the Niangouela acquisition to making a high-grade discovery on that property, light-speed in the world of mining. One year ago, NXS was a gold junior trying to get traction in Nevada. Today, it is turning heads with its operations in Burkina Faso.
This nation is rapidly becoming a world-class gold producer. As a poor country, mining is an important industry and continuing to improve mining infrastructure is a priority. Burkina Faso has a stable government offering a progressive regulatory framework for foreign mining companies. As the nation’s gold mining industry matures, it is quickly developing a skilled workforce.
Altogether, this offers plenty of blue sky potential for Nexus and its shareholders. Going forward, the Company is eager to move to resource estimates on both of its Burkina Faso concessions. Niangouela is the current priority.
Currently, NXS is doing more drilling on that property and will continue to do additional sampling work as well. Having only held title to Niangouela for less than 4 months, their geological team needs to perform reconnaissance on the almost 45,000-acre parcel, with only about a kilometer explored to date.
Management’s plan is to expedite exploration at Niangouela in order to move to a resource estimate as quickly as possible. Then it’s back to Bouboulou. Given the extensive work that has already taken place there, the Company is also intent upon producing a resource estimate for this project.
Working concurrently on two highly prospective projects is a priority for Nexus as this provides additional security for Nexus shareholders. Having just closed on a $2 million financing, all near-term exploration activities are fully funded.
The Company’s management is a well-rounded team of corporate veterans. President and CEO Peter Berdusco has 20 years of experience serving in various roles, including senior executive and boardroom experience with public and private companies.
Alex Klenman is the Chairman and COO for Nexus. He brings over 25 years of experience in business development, marketing, finance, and corporate communications for several TSX Venture listed resource companies. He also has a decade of broadcasting experience, serving on the boards of both Canwest Pacific Television and CKVU Television in Vancouver.
As already noted, the Company’s field expertise in Burkina Faso is provided by Senior Geologist Warren Robb. A practicing geologist for more than 25 years, Robb has extensive experience in managing drilling operations as well as other exploration activities. In addition to his time at Roxgold, Robb has also worked for several other senior and junior mining companies.
Nevada is a world-famous gold mining jurisdiction. As such, it is a crowded, competitive landscape where producing new discoveries becomes more and more difficult each year.
In contrast, Burkina Faso provides lots of elbow room for the relatively small number of mining companies already operating in that jurisdiction. There is also an abundance of gold in this nation just waiting to be discovered (and mined).
For Nexus, it’s an opportunity to discover Burkina Faso’s next multi-million ounce gold deposit. For the Company’s shareholders, it’s an opportunity to profit on that discovery.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Nexus Gold Corp. is a paid client of Stockhouse Publishing.