Location and Background
The Nassara Gold Project is located within southern Burkina Faso, close to the borders of Ghana to the west and Cote d'Ivoire to the south. The closest town is the provincial capital of Gaoua. The Nassara Gold Project is located in the southwestern corner of the Gaoua Project area which comprises three licenses (Permis de Recherche), including Malba, Souhouera and Danyoro, for a total of 691.20 km2. All three licenses are held by a wholly-owned Burkina Faso subsidiary of Volta Resources Inc., Gaoua Minerals SARL.
The southern Boromo Belt is also delivering stellar exploration success to Volta's neighbours to the Gaoua Project, namely ASX listed Ampella Mining Ltd at their Batie West Project and Mali Gold's Diouloumba Project. Persistently excellent drilling results from Ampella's Konkera prospect and a major artisanal gold rush to the Tionor site, point to this region evolving as another major gold camp for the Birimian in West Africa. Volta has identified two similar prospects on extensions and structures parallel to those being pursued by Ampella, namely the Nassara and Gomblora gold prospects.
Geological Setting
The project is located at the southern end of the Boromo Belt, one of the 2300 -- 2180 Ma Birimian greenstones belts that are host to several world class gold deposits in West Africa. Greenstone lithologies include unmetamorphosed or very low-grade rhyolite, rhyodacite, andesite, andesitic tuff, sedimentary schist, volcanosedimentary schist and basalt.
Mineralization
A combination of mapping, airborne geophysics and stream/soil geochemistry has identified a number of gold anomalies located on N to NNW trending structures on the Gaoua Project. These are more akin to the typical shear zone hosted gold deposits that are well known in West Africa. Mineralization occurs along regionally extensive shear zones where local jogs and cross-cutting structures has resulted in local dilational settings which have resulted in well mineralized plunging gold ore shoots associated with extensive deformation and alteration. Volta has discovered this style of mineralization at Nassara and Gomblora and is actively following these targets up.
Current Exploration
Stream sediment sampling undertaken on the Gaoua project identified gold anomalism in the southwestern corner of the project area. Following intyerpretation of heliborne geophysical survey data, it was recognised that similar structures that host Ampella's resources at Konkera occurred in this area. A 4km long soil geochemical survey confirmed anomalism along the geophysical trend. A trench over a resistant "whaleback" ridge returned 44m @ 1.82g/t (including 20.5m @ 3.56g/t). This was followed up by 3 additional trenches which confirmed the strike extension of the mineralization along the ridge. A 4 hole scout RC drilling program confirmed down plunge continuity of the high grade trench intersection, returning 15m @ 4.45g/t.
Gradient Array IP surveys have indicated a strong resistivity and chargeability contrast coinciding exactiy with the mineralised structure and this will provide another targeting tool to extend the known mineralization at Nassara.
Presently, Volta has extended the soil sampling program along the full 10km strike extent of the geophysically defined structural lineament. Trenching is already underway on similar "whaleback" ridges encountered along strike with co-incident gold anomalism. Drilling is planned for June 2010 to follow up extensions and additional targets.
