KIBI GOLD BELT, Ghana – Robert J. Casaceli, a classic geologist with a pedigree of success, is headed back from Ghana this week.
Classics matter in Ghana, the West African democracy with a steadily rising gold output.
Next week I will return to Ghana for a third time to check out the classics and to follow up on Mr. Casaceli’s examination of our Ticker Trax Ghana prospect.
Classic. They love Elvis Presley in Ghana. Classic. Stately women balancing laundry, jars, their entire day in a jug, atop their heads.
Classic. Ashanti Goldfield’s 103-year-old Obuasi Gold Mine. Precambrian greenstone; free gold embedded classically in quartz veins.
I have seen James Longshore’s Xtra-Gold Resources (OTC:BB: XTGR, Stock Forum). The obscure West Africa prospector is almost seven years of sweat and precision-drilling into a classical granitoid-hosted gold mineralization.
The gold prospect appears to be developed along Xtra-Gold’s 5.5-km Kibi Gold Trend in this former British colony. Our Ticker Trax audience knows all about the Kibi Winneba greenstone trend. Xtra-Gold is one of 14 Planetary Prospects of the subscriber service, and we here at home own more than 100,000 shares.
I like classic layouts. Ghana’s gold output is expected to top 3 million ounces in 2010, the administrators of the country’s Minerals Commission tell me. It reminds me of the classic rush of copper and gold prospectors into Mongolia in 2002 and 2003.
“Yes, I would call what is happening right now a gold rush,” says Benjamin N.A. Aryee in response to a question I put to him the last time I was in Accra.
Mr. Aryee is the Ghana Minerals Commission CEO, effectively the operator of the government body. He figures gold output for Ghana is rising about 10 percent a year. At such a pace, gold exceeds a 6 percent piece of GDP for a nation of 24 million people.
I believe the Kibi Gold Trend stands a chance of joining Ashanti, Esaase and Tarkwa gold districts in a Ghana Classic Au Hall of Fame.
Xtra-Gold’s Kibi concessions at Kwabeng are a world unto themselves, many hours from that prolific Obuasi Mine and a four-hour drive from Ghana’s other exciting prospector, Dr. Dan McCoy’s Keegan Resources (TSX: T.KGN, Stock Forum) in the Esaase District, where I have spent time as well.
Still, for our Ticker Trax audience there is a question, a classic question, that floats above and below the Kibi surface. Gold is there; we’ve seen that across many of the first 68 drill holes. Our question: Is the gold zone continuous? Put another way, can the Xtra-Gold team show us via drilling and other prospecting methodologies that a lucrative straight or folded line of Au exists between holes?
As Ticker Traxspends time next week switch-backing across the Kibi with 44-year-old CEO James Longshore (pictured here on site), I am registering feedback on the connecting-dots subject. The responses come from Xtra-Gold’s newest team member: Robert J. Casaceli. He is just departing the project as I arrive for my second tour of the Kibi and my third visit to Ghana.
Mr. Casaceli is chief geologist with Franco-Nevada U.S. Corp. (TSX: T.FNV, Stock Forum). “He likes what he sees, that much is certain … and he has lots of pointers on where to go from here on our drilling program,” says Mr. Longshore.
This is the classic layout for tiny Xtra-Gold ($35 million market capitalization):
- Xtra-Gold’s 68 holes and counting are sunk into its Kwabeng-area concessions.
- The company’s freshest results include in Zone 3 some 30 meters of gold at 3.52 grams per ton. Featured in that round of drilling, all of it reverse circulation, were 14 meters of 6.47 gram-per-ton gold -- from a down-hole depth of 8 meters.
- “The idea is that we keep stepping out what we think we have, under the direction of (in-company exploration vice president) Yves Clement,” says Mr. Longshore. “Eventually, investors will see we are developing a very long-term and we hope vast resource in a great gold mining nation.”
The company’s favored Apapam concession across these rolling Kibi hills is what Xtra-Gold’s team hopes could become a resource of several million or more ounces of gold. (That’s Xtra-Gold geologist Yves Clement in the red vest, photo above.)
As for Mr. Casaceli -- he has spent several days in the field analyzing Kibi mineralization and structure at and around Apapam. Bob Casaceli’s take sits alongside what Mr. Longshore says is a patient drilling of prime areas. None of that cash-starved frenzy of “proving up” that many small prospectors commit … in their attempts to raise cash or win over banks and brokers.
“Our project only has 68 drill holes, with just under 8,000 meters drilled. All of our drill holes are pure exploration,” Mr. Casaceli says. “In our granitoid mineralization we are currently defining, it is not in a straight linear pattern.”
Some Ghana prospectors are quick to sink linear drill holes into their concessions. We can name a few. That’s a way of connecting the dots so the small companies can raise big money to keep connecting dots. Fair enough.
Why not Xtra-Gold? “It would not make sense to put in linear drill holes into non-mineralized areas that we will not grade. On our next drill program, we will start putting in some in-fill drilling in somewhat of a linear pattern,” Mr. Casaceli tells us. “The granitoid mineralization is linear for certain distances and does take some sharp bends (folds).”
Aligning the alluvial
The Xtra-Gold team also is analyzing “merging geological and chemical data sets to interpret the linear structure that may be present at low lying covered areas at the base of the hill,” he says.
Let’s not forget the ever-present alluvial angle. After all, James Longshore scooped up these properties that once were heir to a Ned Goodman alluvial operation. Alluvial miners had an operation at Kwabeng, complete with floating mill, which produced 16,000 gold ounces in the early 1990s.
Where does that leave our audience and me? I am, as a natural resources reporter and researcher, as connected and hopeful of Xtra-Gold’s prospecting in Ghana as I am about a couple of small companies in my other favored nation for gold (and copper): Colombia. As with each of our Ticker Trax Planetary Prospects, as referenced above, I own Xtra-Gold shares.
Eventually, Xtra-Gold must put up. That means, after nearly seven years of toil, a 43-101 (Canada) resource estimate for one or more of its Kibi properties.
Mr. Clement and Mr. Longshore also are negotiating with contractors interested in working alluvial gold in creeks and riverbeds across the properties. Alluvial contractors also might provide more trench sampling and other surface data.
As for touchy feely stuff – the kind that Mr. Aryee and the Minerals 
Commission says is essential for any gold miner in Ghana, well, I do not think I ever have seen a mining CEO get more high-fives and grunts of approval from his 70 or so camp workers and the families that live across these hills than Mr. Longshore does.
“James and his folks work with the communities that surround them,” Mr. Aryee told me the last time I was in Ghana – September 2009.
It is easy to like what Mr. Longshore, Mr. Clement and the new member of the company’s advisory board, Mr. Casaceli, are doing with this Nevada domiciled company. The mining camp at Kwabeng is pristine. The food is very good. The crew all hails from surrounding villages. One of the geology team members, J.K. Mine, is credited with extending Ghana’s famous Ashanti Gold Belt.
James Longshore splits his time in Ghana and in Toronto, where he grew up, and Nassau, Bahamas. Mr. Clement seems to be on site at Kwabeng just about all the time.
Were Xtra-Gold to show 3 million or more ounces of gold in a regulatory compliant estimate, Ghana miners such as Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM, Stock Forum), Sir Sam Jonah's legendary AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU, Stock Forum), Golden Star Resources, Goldfields of South Africa (Tarkwa) and others might want to tag the Kibi as their own.
A Toronto listing is one thing we at Ticker Trax would like to see happen with Xtra-Gold’s (Over The Counter USA) shares. No one at the company is forthcoming on this subject. Yet were a Toronto or even venture-market listing to happen, the Canadian audience might give Xtra-Gold as much respect as Mr. Longshore got when the talented stick man played teen and university hockey in Ontario and the USA.
Please see Stockhouse for a selection of our Ticker Trax and Thom Calandra coverage of Xtra-Gold Resources.
InvestFest 2010: Gifts For You
InvestFest in Las Vegas – Join Stockhouse for a drink on the house June 4 at InvestFest. The gathering will feature investment masters who are making headway in today's marketplace. I’ll be there as a speaker on Day One, Thursday June 3 and staying for the party through Saturday. The event is called InvestFest 2010. At least 15 Ticker Trax subscribers tell me they shall attend the mini-conference. Please visit: www.stockhouse.com/products/investfest2010.
WHEN: June 3 to June 6.
WHERE: Green Valley Ranch Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s a five-star resort minutes from the Vegas strip. Great swimming pool. Excellent chow.
Special Offer to Ticker Trax subscribers: $197. Please book your resort rate by calling 1-866-782-9487. Quote: InvestFest.
Several speakers will be distributing gifts.They include:
- Brain Tracy’s book: “The Way to Wealth: Success Strategies of Wealthy Entrepreneurs”
- Garrett Gunderson’s book: “Killing Sacred Cows”
- Bill Walsh’s CD Program “The Ultimate Success Secret”
- Two grand prizes of a Whistler Lodge Presidential Suite in British Columbia, Canada.
(All photos by Thom Calandra.)
Thom Calandra and his family own shares of each of the Planetary Prospects in Ticker Trax. Thom’s family holdings are available for all to see on Stockhouse, the Canada publishing company. Thom’sholdings are listed for Stockhouse members at www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He and his family own recently minted gold and silver coins and shares of about 22 public and two private companies. Thom Calandra and his family own each of the Planetary Prospects in Ticker Trax.
THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch and MarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold in 1999 and in 2000. He has been covering life-sciences and natural resources since 1988.
Ticker Trax™Please see tickertrax.com to learn more about this wealth service and its Planetary Prospects. For an index of free Thom Calandra articles, please click here. For an entire explanation of our strategies, research methods and disclosure procedures regarding Ticker Trax and our Stockhouse reports, please visit our readily available Stockhouse articles. Please see this one in particular: Core Box Revealed.
Thom Calandra and Stockhouse produce this and other free reports. Please visit Stockhouse.
Ticker Trax™ is published by Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. Ticker Trax is an information service for subscribers and neither Stockhouse nor Thom Calandra is a broker or an investment advisor. None of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by Mr. Calandra or Stockhouse that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Ticker Trax does not purport to tell or suggest the investment securities subscribers or readers should buy or sell for themselves. Subscribers and readers of Ticker Trax should conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decisions. Ticker Trax will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader’s reliance on information obtained in the reports. Subscribers and readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Opinions expressed in Ticker Trax are based on sources believed to be reliable and are written in good faith, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. All information contained in Ticker Trax should be independently verified. The editor and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or responsible for keeping information up to date or for correcting any past information. Ticker Trax does not receive compensation of any kind from any companies that may be mentioned in the report. Any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. Owners, employees and writers may hold positions in the securities that are discussed in Ticker Trax. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THOM SEEKING PERSONALIZED INVESTMENT ADVICE, WHICH HE CANNOT PROVIDE. Copyright 2010 all rights reserved.