ABOUT PAPILLON
Papillon Resources Limited (Papillon or the Company) is an emerging West African gold developer focused on aggressively fast-tracking the exploration, appraisal and development of its flagship Fekola Project (Fekola or the Project), located in south western Mali, in order to fulfill its vision of becoming a gold producer in the near term.
Drilling results to date at Fekola have confirmed the presence of strong gold mineralisation, including a well defined, shallow plunging, high grade zone that remains open at depth. Thick zones of high grade mineralisation have been intersected from near surface to a maximum vertical depth of 260 metres, including intersections of 57 metres @ 10.70 g/t, 86 metres @ 6.19 g/t and 98m at 5.41g/t gold.
The Company released a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for Fekola in July 2012 which comprises 40.1 million tonnes averaging 2.4 g/t gold for a contained 3.14 million ounces of gold using a lower cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t gold. The MRE is based on just 24,500 metres of drilling, extending over a strike length of approximately two kilometres, to a maximum depth of 250 vertical metres. The mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike in both directions and accordingly, potential exists to substantially increase the resource base with ongoing work.
A Scoping Study is being undertaken to confirm the early stage technical and economic viability of the Project and its capacity to operate economically for a range of conservative gold prices, using the current MRE as a base case scenario. A metallurgical testwork program, conducted as part of the Scoping Study, produced very encouraging results including leach recoveries in excess of 93%. The testwork results indicate that Gravity Recoverable Gold by gravity concentration and a conventional Carbon in Leach (CIL) process are best suited to the Project. The Scoping study is well advanced and scheduled for completion in the December quarter of 2012.
Over the next twelve months, Papillon’s focus will continue to be the rapid advancement of Fekola. This will include aggressive drilling programs aimed at expanding the MRE, upgrading the resource classification and testing priority targets along the highly prospective Fekola Corridor. Concurrently with the drilling, the Project will be progressed through the Scoping Study and Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) milestones and into the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) phase.
Papillon believes that, given the corporate and technical expertise of the team it has assembled and the rapid progress made to date, it is well positioned to move the Company quickly towards its stated goal, of becoming a West African gold producer in the near term.