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Riverstone Resources Inc. has focused its exploration activities on West Africa because it is literally elephant country for gold mining -- hosting world-class gold deposits in Ghana, Mali and Guinea that include Obuasi (past production and current reserves of 42 million ounces), Bibiani (5.0 million ounces), Syama (5.2 million ounces), Morila (5.9 million ounces), Sadiola (14 million ounces) and others. In addition, West Africa has had the fastest growth in gold production in the world over the past five years.
The Company has chosen to concentrate most of its efforts in Burkina Faso, a politically stable country adjoining Ghana, because the belts of favorable rocks that host all of the major gold deposits in Ghana continue on into Burkina Faso. While Ghana's well-documented exploration successes have resulted in a scarcity of available geological prospects, Burkina Faso, by contrast, offered Riverstone Resources the chance to build a property portfolio in an area that has been severely under-explored.
Some of the most important types of gold deposits in West Africa are shear-hosted vein deposits which occur in Birimian Greenstone Belts, composed of Lower Proterozoic volcanic or volcano-sedimentary rocks. This geological setting is analogous to the prolific Precambrian gold belts of eastern Canada and other parts of the world; however, West Africa has received only a small fraction of the exploration coverage that those other belts have experienced. In particular, Burkina Faso has undergone less than 10 years of modern exploration, starting in the mid-1990s, with little activity occurring between 1999 and 2003. It thus remains under explored even in comparison to neighbouring Ghana and Mali, which both host world class gold mines in the same belts of Birimian rocks. Therefore, management believes there are compelling opportunities for further major discoveries in this region.
The Company initially commenced operations in Burkina Faso in 2003 with the acquisition of the Rambo property. It provided Riverstone with an attractive exploration target as well as the opportunity to develop infrastructure, relationships and methodologies within the country. Finding the area conducive to exploration activities, and following its success at Rambo, the Company has acquired additional, highly attractive exploration permits throughout the country. Today Riverstone has a total of 17 exploration permits in 7 regions with its current land package covering some 3,500 square kilometres in regions shown in the map below.
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In October of 2007 Riverstone made a deal to acquire the Goulagou and Rounga properties from Golden Star Resources Ltd., which add a further 487 square kilometers to the Company holdings. These properties are contiguous with Riverstone's Rambo and Kao permits. The Goulagou property has a NI43-101 compliant indicated resource of 280,000 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 270,000 ounces of gold.Together, these permits comprise the Company's Karma project area where the Company is on track to define at least 1 million ounces of gold in 2008.
The Company continues to assess other areas, both within Burkina Faso and elsewhere in West Africa, and currently has applications and negotiations in process for additional permits.
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