USD $4,127.96
Goldman Nielle acquisition positions Castle as it expands its West African gold footprint with a large-scale, high-grade exploration opportunity.
Castle Minerals Limited (ASX:CDT) has entered into an agreement to acquire a 90% interest in the high-grade Nielle Gold Project in northern Côte d’Ivoire, marking a significant expansion of the company’s West African gold portfolio.
The Nielle Project is located about 50km north of the 5Moz Tongon Gold Mine, within a prolific gold district that also hosts major deposits including Sissingué and Wahgnion. The project comprises a large-scale ~212km² tenement application covering prospective Birimian greenstones.
Castle said the acquisition complements its existing Côte d’Ivoire ground position, which already totals 1,842km² of granted tenements and applications, and positions Nielle as the company’s flagship asset.
Historical drilling at Nielle has outlined a broad 4.5km mineralised corridor with shallow high-grade gold mineralisation remaining open along strike and at depth.
Key historical drilling results include:
- 5m at 15.42g/t Au from 7m, including 2m at 31.54g/t Au from 8m
- 13m at 5.07g/t Au from 12m, including 3m at 16.33g/t Au from 13m
- 9m at 4.33g/t Au from 86m, including 2m at 16.88g/t Au from 88m
- 8m at 4.26g/t Au from 8m, including 2m at 11.63g/t Au from 10m
- 10m at 3.62g/t Au from 86m, including 2m at 13.88g/t Au from 88m
Broader mineralised intervals reported from historical drilling include:
- 26m at 1.95g/t Au from 32m, including 4m at 5.51g/t Au from 42m
- 26m at 1.79g/t Au from 108m, including 2m at 6.07g/t Au from 110m
- 16m at 1.96g/t Au from 48m
- 14m at 1.73g/t Au from 26m
Castle noted that historical drilling remains limited relative to the scale of the system, with no drilling completed since 2021. The company plans to rapidly advance exploration targeting extensions to known mineralisation and progress the project towards a maiden Mineral Resource estimate.
The acquisition also aligns with Castle’s broader strategic focus on Côte d’Ivoire, alongside a proposed company name change to TerraNova Metals Limited and ongoing discussions regarding divestment of its Ghanaian gold assets.
Steve Zaninovich, Managing Director of Castle, commented:
Nielle represents a rare opportunity to secure a high grade gold project with demonstrated scale and immediate upside in a tier one jurisdiction.
The project has already delivered exceptional shallow drilling results, including standout high grade gold intercepts and broad mineralised zones, yet remains largely untested along strike and at depth. With no drilling since 2021, there is significant upside waiting to be unlocked.
Critically, Castle is not arriving in Côte d’Ivoire as a newcomer. Our team has deep roots in this jurisdiction and across West Africa. Mohamed Niaré, our In-Country Project and Business Development Manager, has spent more than 25 years’ operating in Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, building relationships and local expertise. Mohamed’s track record gives Castle an operational edge that is difficult to replicate. Having a trusted, experienced leader permanently on the ground means we can move from transaction to drill ready faster.
This in-country advantage is backed by a broader leadership group with substantial West African credentials. I have personally been involved in West African project development and operations since 1996, and our Chair Andrew Grove brings direct West African gold experience from his leadership of Chesser Resources and Aura Energy, as well as West African focused corporate development at Perseus Mining.
Castle’s objective is to rapidly advance Nielle toward a maiden Mineral Resource, leveraging the strong existing dataset and pipeline of drill ready targets.
We are excited by the scale of the opportunity at Nielle and look forward to executing an exploration strategy to realise the project’s full potential.
