“I believe this unique geological environment and the potential for genuinely large discoveries across the belt is ultimately why Fortuna and Newmont hold approximately 25% of our register.”
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What will be the focus of Awalé’s current drilling campaign?
In October, we started an 88,000-metre drill program on the two permits that form our JV ground at the Odienné project in Côte d’Ivoire. Two thirds of the planned program is resource development drilling, with a view to moving toward our first resource in Q2 2026. At the same time, this campaign will also include discovery drilling. We want to expand on our existing discoveries by drilling deeper and testing targets along strike. We also see significant opportunity and scalability within the project area through drilling new pipeline targets with the potential to find new high-grade mineralization such as Charger. As part of that effort, we have flown an airborne gravity gradient survey that aims to delineate the many different intrusion types within the system which will aid in our targeting strategy.
Our first resource estimate will be quickly followed by a PEA. We are confident that we can progress into PFS shortly after.
Could you remind our readers of the terms of the Newmont JV?
The Odienné project is Newmont’s only African exploration interest outside of Ghana. Under the JV terms, they can earn up to 75% of the project (from its current 61%) by spending US$15 million on exploration and delivering a 2 million oz gold resource. As such, Newmont will continue spending above this initial committed capital toward a resource estimate, while their interest remains at 61%. Awalé’s shareholders can therefore benefit from this non-dilutive financing, and the Company will only start funding its 25% portion of exploration costs once a 2 million oz gold resource is declared and the 75% earn-in is achieved.
What are the most interesting targets on Awalé’s ground so far?
Outside of the discovery targets that are very interesting with their expansion potential, this year, we commenced working on the Fremen target—located just 4 km along strike from our BBM discovery. Fremen is an over 8-km-long geochemical anomaly and early drilling displays similar geology and alteration as BBM. Scout drilling over 300-750 m spaced fences has returned encouraging gold results such as 15 m at 0.6 g/t gold and grades up to 4.6 g/t gold. BBM is a significant discovery with a resource target in the range over 1 million oz gold equivalent and Fremen has the potential to become our first 100%-owned discovery. Just as exciting for us is the over 50 km of trend we have to follow in the recently granted Seydou and Sama permits—both 100%-owned. These permits lie directly on strike from the discoveries we have made.
Odienné is read as a potential Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) system. What supports this thesis?
This is a hybrid system where the combination of oxidized fluids and intrusion related processes at a major basin-margin creates a unique geological setting similar to what you’d see in South Australia or in the Carajás region of Brazil. We get this “double whammy” of late intrusions driving mineralization along a crustal scale basin margin with orogenic structures, typical of West Africa, channel the fertile fluids. That combination of intrusion-related processes with major basin-margin structures creates the kind of large-scale alteration footprints you expect in the world’s major IOCG provinces. I believe this unique geological environment and the potential for genuinely large discoveries across the belt is ultimately why Fortuna and Newmont hold approximately 25% of our register.
How do you see value being unlocked as you advance both the JV ground and your 100%-owned ground?
I don’t think Odienné is currently being valued on something that is Newmont-scale, which is ultimately what we’re working towards. Now that we’re starting on the 100% -owned ground, we can begin to capture value for our investors across the full property. Up to now, we haven’t seen much valuation traction on that ground, even though we’re first movers in what could prove to be a geologically significant district.
Can you tell us about Awalé’s contribution to local skills development?
Côte d’Ivoire is booming, and with that growth comes a real shortage of skilled workers. We run a cadetship or graduate program, where we’ve taken on three students who are finishing their baccalaureate, and we’ve created roles that allow them to learn economic geology—a subject that isn’t well covered at university. Our goal is to mentor Ivorian nationals and build that technical capacity internally.
What will be the focus of Awalé’s current drilling campaign?
In October, we started an 88,000-metre drill program on the two permits that form our JV ground at the Odienné project in Côte d’Ivoire. Two thirds of the planned program is resource development drilling, with a view to moving toward our first resource in Q2 2026. At the same time, this campaign will also include discovery drilling. We want to expand on our existing discoveries by drilling deeper and testing targets along strike. We also see significant opportunity and scalability within the project area through drilling new pipeline targets with the potential to find new high-grade mineralization such as Charger. As part of that effort, we have flown an airborne gravity gradient survey that aims to delineate the many different intrusion types within the system which will aid in our targeting strategy.
Our first resource estimate will be quickly followed by a PEA. We are confident that we can progress into PFS shortly after.
Could you remind our readers of the terms of the Newmont JV?
The Odienné project is Newmont’s only African exploration interest outside of Ghana. Under the JV terms, they can earn up to 75% of the project (from its current 61%) by spending US$15 million on exploration and delivering a 2 million oz gold resource. As such, Newmont will continue spending above this initial committed capital toward a resource estimate, while their interest remains at 61%. Awalé’s shareholders can therefore benefit from this non-dilutive financing, and the Company will only start funding its 25% portion of exploration costs once a 2 million oz gold resource is declared and the 75% earn-in is achieved.
What are the most interesting targets on Awalé’s ground so far?
Outside of the discovery targets that are very interesting with their expansion potential, this year, we commenced working on the Fremen target—located just 4 km along strike from our BBM discovery. Fremen is an over 8-km-long geochemical anomaly and early drilling displays similar geology and alteration as BBM. Scout drilling over 300-750 m spaced fences has returned encouraging gold results such as 15 m at 0.6 g/t gold and grades up to 4.6 g/t gold. BBM is a significant discovery with a resource target in the range over 1 million oz gold equivalent and Fremen has the potential to become our first 100%-owned discovery. Just as exciting for us is the over 50 km of trend we have to follow in the recently granted Seydou and Sama permits—both 100%-owned. These permits lie directly on strike from the discoveries we have made.
Odienné is read as a potential Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) system. What supports this thesis?
This is a hybrid system where the combination of oxidized fluids and intrusion related processes at a major basin-margin creates a unique geological setting similar to what you’d see in South Australia or in the Carajás region of Brazil. We get this “double whammy” of late intrusions driving mineralization along a crustal scale basin margin with orogenic structures, typical of West Africa, channel the fertile fluids. That combination of intrusion-related processes with major basin-margin structures creates the kind of large-scale alteration footprints you expect in the world’s major IOCG provinces. I believe this unique geological environment and the potential for genuinely large discoveries across the belt is ultimately why Fortuna and Newmont hold approximately 25% of our register.
How do you see value being unlocked as you advance both the JV ground and your 100%-owned ground?
I don’t think Odienné is currently being valued on something that is Newmont-scale, which is ultimately what we’re working towards. Now that we’re starting on the 100% -owned ground, we can begin to capture value for our investors across the full property. Up to now, we haven’t seen much valuation traction on that ground, even though we’re first movers in what could prove to be a geologically significant district.
Can you tell us about Awalé’s contribution to local skills development?
Côte d’Ivoire is booming, and with that growth comes a real shortage of skilled workers. We run a cadetship or graduate program, where we’ve taken on three students who are finishing their baccalaureate, and we’ve created roles that allow them to learn economic geology—a subject that isn’t well covered at university. Our goal is to mentor Ivorian nationals and build that technical capacity internally.
