- 01Zaranou resource rises 228% to 1.20Moz.
- 02Skylark to lift its stake to 90% for US$1.2m.
- 032027 exploration to target open M’Basso corridor.
Skylark Minerals (ASX: SKM) has lifted the inferred mineral resource estimate at its Zaranou gold project in Côte d’Ivoire by 228% to 1.20 million ounces of contained gold, following its first systematic drilling campaign at M’Basso.
The enlarged resource totals 29.0 million tonnes grading 1.28 grams per tonne gold, compared with about 365,000 ounces before the latest exploration campaign.
Alongside the resource increase, Skylark has entered a binding agreement to raise its project interest from 51% to 90% for US$1.2 million, bringing forward ownership previously tied to technical study milestones.
The company now plans to concentrate much of its 2027 exploration effort on the Zaranou Central corridor, where mineralisation at M’Basso remains open along strike and at depth.
M’Basso Resource Expansion
M’Basso accounts for about 872,600oz of the updated resource, up from just 11,700oz before Skylark’s 2026 reverse circulation drilling campaign.
85 RC holes totalling 15,888 metres defined mineralisation across approximately two kilometres of continuous strike and to around 200m vertical depth.
The remaining inferred ounces comprise approximately 307,000oz at Ehuasso and 16,500oz at Coffee Bean, with all project resource figures presented on a 100% ownership basis.
Skylark estimates it spent about A$7m directly on M’Basso discovery and resource definition, equating to less than A$9 for each additional contained ounce.
Preliminary LeachWELL test work on oxide and fresh M’Basso samples produced average gold extraction of 95%, although further metallurgical studies are required.
Density and Geological Confidence
The updated MRE is entirely classified as inferred under the 2012 JORC code, reflecting the current drilling density and geological confidence.
M’Basso and Ehuasso resources were reported using a 0.5g/t gold cut-off within optimised open-pit shells based on an assumed US$3,500 an ounce gold price, while Coffee Bean was not constrained by a pit shell.
A sensitivity comparison retained about 91% of contained ounces as the reporting cut-off rose from 0.3g/t to 0.5g/t, while the average modelled grade increased by about 21%.
“Our strategy at Zaranou hasn't changed and remains central to our broader objective of building a multi-asset West African gold company—we're looking to establish shallow, coherent gold mineralised systems with favourable potential mining characteristics to build a Resource inventory of commercially relevant scale,” executive chair Nikolai Zelenski said.
“We've […] only explored part of what is a much larger system, [and] our next challenge is to see how much further we can grow it.”
Increased Zaranou Ownership
The revised ownership agreement allows Skylark to acquire another 39% of Zaranou without completing the scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies required under its earlier staged earn-in arrangements.
Its pathway to the remaining 10% is unchanged, with alternatives comprising a 2.5% net smelter return royalty or a 1.25% NSR royalty plus US$4m in cash, subject to the underlying agreement.
About 80% of the planned 2027 exploration budget is earmarked for Zaranou Central, including extensions at M’Basso, Coffee Bean, and Ehuasso and testing between the existing deposits.
Skylark also intends to explore the Ebilassokro and Yakasse regional targets in 2027, potentially advancing them towards drilling in 2028 across a project covering approximately 47km of prospective strike.
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