afrol News, 8 September - The Volta Resources Inc. has announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent with Randgold Resources ("Randgold") to purchase a 100% interest in the Kiaka Gold Project in Burkina Faso.

The deal will however be subject to a free participating right of 10 percent, up to a bankable feasibility study, held by a local Burkinabe company, for a combination of cash and shares of Volta, the announcement said.

Kevin Bullock, Volta's President and CEO, said, "Acquiring Kiaka from Randgold fulfills Volta's key publicly stated goal to add an advanced gold project in our region to our portfolio that we believe we can fast track towards a development decision. We have evaluated many projects during the past year and believe that Kiaka is the superior project. We are especially pleased that Randgold believes that Volta has the right team to move this project forward and we are delighted to have Randgold as a major shareholder in our company."

According to Volta, the Kiaka project represents an opportunity to provide a multi-million ounce, high tonnage, low strip ratio, deposit within a condensed timeframe. The company hopes to deliver high quality product within the next 9 months of resumption.

Diamond and RC drilling has been undertaken on the Kiaka Main Zone (KMZ) and the Kiaka Hangingwall South Zone (KHZ). Holes have been drilled at -45 degrees to the southeast and east on sections spaced from 80m to 400m apart.

The Kiaka exploration permit covers an area of 244km2 and is located approximately 120 kilometres southeast of the capital, Ouagadougou. The permit lies at the intersection of the northeast striking

Tenkedougou greenstone belt and the regionally significant north striking Markoye Fault, in whose proximity some of the larger gold resources discovered in Burkina Faso so far, have been discovered. These include Iamgold's Essakane deposit, High River Gold's Taparko, Orezone's Bombore and Etruscan's Youga.

Randgold has reportedly spent in excess of US$6 million undertaking extensive exploration on the permit since 2004, including mapping, ground geophysics, soil sampling, pitting, trenching, RAB drilling, RC drilling and diamond drilling.

Regionally, there are another 5 prospects including Niaogo-Gozi, Kiaka Dam, Kiaka East, Sondo and Gueka. They were identified by Randgold using regional and infill soil sampling, followed up by mapping, rock chip sampling, limited trenching and RAB drilling. These prospects lie within analogous mineralised environments to the Kiaka Main area.

Volta is a mineral exploration company primarily focused on the identification, acquisition and exploration of gold properties in West Africa. The Canadian-based company has operations offices in Accra, Ghana and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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