Skylark Minerals Ltd (ASX: SKM), a gold exploration and development company focused on West Africa, has announced a substantial uplift in its Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at the Zaranou Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire. The company also confirmed a binding agreement to accelerate its ownership of the project from 51% to 90%. This follows the successful completion of its drilling programme, significantly enhancing the project’s potential.
The updated Inferred MRE for Zaranou now stands at 1.20 million ounces of gold, a significant 228% increase from the previous estimate. This growth was largely driven by results from Skylark’s systematic drilling at M’Basso, which completed 85 reverse circulation (RC) holes for 15,888 metres. The programme confirmed continuous gold mineralisation across approximately two kilometres of strike and extended mineralisation beyond 200-vertical metres, where it remains open. M’Basso alone accounts for 872,600 ounces, or about 73% of the updated Zaranou MRE, with an estimated direct discovery and resource-definition cost of less than A$9 per additional M’Basso ounce.
The binding agreement sees Skylark acquire an additional 39% interest in the Zaranou Project for US$1.2 million cash, bypassing previously required Scoping, Pre-Feasibility, and Feasibility Study milestones to achieve 90% ownership. This move provides Skylark with a direct pathway to increase its economic exposure following the substantial expansion of the project’s gold resource base. The company is now planning its next major exploration programme, focused on further resource growth across the broader Zaranou Central mineralised corridor, targeting extensions at M’Basso, CoČee Bean, and Ehuasso.
