Great Quest Metals has announced the completion of a 48-hole limited rotary air blast drill campaign at the Tilemsi phosphate project, East Mali. The company limited this phase II drill campaign to the Tarkint Est concession.
The focus of the phase II drill program is on the plain and hill regions, which were not drilled during the phase I drill program at the project. Similarly, this drilling’s samples will be sent for preparation to ALS in Bamako for XRF testing in Vancouver, BC.
The geologists of the company explored 11 pits in the regions, which were drilled during the phase I and performed a visual lithological and geological test of the phosphate layer, as a part of the phase II program. The company is taking 100 kg of bulk sample from the phosphate layer in every pit and delivered half of the bulk sample for onward shipment to MINTEK in South Africa for processing and metallurgical analysis. Also, the company has delivered a sub sample from every pit sample to ALS Vancouver for XRF testing. The drill results will support the Aircore drill campaign, which has planned to start by January 2012, on a grid spacing of 250 m.
Great Quest Metals’ CFO and President, Victor J. E. Jones, stated that the company is delighted to progress the exploration work at Tilemsi along with the targets for 2011. The company is expecting to continue the development of this West African phosphate project in future.
Currently, the phase II drill program has been completed and the company has taken actions on the recent issues of security in Mali’s north region by withdrawing all the drilling and exploration groups temporarily from the project.
Great Quest has discovered the phosphate horizon on the Tarkint Est and Tin Hina concession areas, and will conduct the phase III drilling at the Ader Foul concession. Phase II program is expected to start during January with an Aircore drilling rig and this program will contain further pits and geological work to persist with the geological analysis of the phosphate layer.