Key Structural Controls On Gold Mineralization At Sodala

TORONTO - Compass Gold Corp. reported an update on the recently completed drilling at the Sodala prospect, located on the Company’s Sikasso Property in southern Mali. Highlights: Drilling at Sodala identifies a broad, shallow gold target, associated with a shear zone; Air core drilling (9 AC holes, 467 m) intersected gold mineralization within a 280-m wide fault zone cutting artisanal gold workings; & Further geophysical testing and drilling planned on permit to test a large (1,000 m x 500 m) shallow soil anomaly.

Larry Phillips, CEO, said, “Additional bedrock drilling on the Sankarani East permit has identified gold mineralization within a newly discovered shear zone centered on the Sodala artisanal workings.  The results of this latest drilling validate Sodala as a major target for additional geophysical testing and follow-up drilling.  This work has also given us a much clearer understanding of the controls on mineralization, and explains the location of a pronounced soil anomaly, which includes a 31.3 g/t Au sample collected by Compass. As we’ve recently reported, geophysical and geological testing has led to our discovery of two new mineralized trends at Tarabala and Samagouela, and it now appears that Sodala lies on a similar structure.  We have abundant evidence that several permits within our 850-square-kilometer property display the necessary geological features to potentially host open-pittable gold deposits, all within one of the most prolific gold districts in the world.”

In mid-April, the Company completed 310 m of shallow air core (AC) drilling over 175 m of artisanal workings at Sodala on the western side of the Sankarani East permit.  This was the first drilling on the prospect, and focused on artisanal workings occurring within a 270-m-wide shear-zone, and cut by NE-trending faults that appear to control mineralization.  The latest drilling comprised 377 m of AC and 90 m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling. The purpose of the drilling was to determine the grade, width, and orientation of mineralization recorded at the artisanal workings, and to use this information to identify the mineralized structures responsible for some exceptionally high shallow soil samples collected in 2018.  The high-grade samples were collected within 700 m of the artisanal workings and the five highest recorded soil grades were 31.3, 10.1, 2.49, 1.29 and 0.50 g/t Au.

Previous drilling on the prospect identified three narrow, near-surface, mineralized structures with 1 m @ 0.78 g/t Au (from 1 m, SAAC29), 1 m @ 2.71 g/t Au (from 16  m, SAAC31), and 1 m @ 0.82 g/t Au (from 8 m, , SAAC32).  All of mineralization was associated with a small hydrothermally altered felsic unit.  The current drilling was planned to test the same mineralization in order to determine the precise orientation and dip of the veins.

The best mineralization occurred in drill holes SAAC60, where five mineralized intervals were recorded over the 52m length of the hole, and SAAC64, where four mineralized intervals were recorded.  The longest mineralized intercept was 4 m @ 0.61 g/t Au (from 8 m, SAAC60).  Grades were typically between 0.20 and 0.70 g/t Au, with higher grades up to 2.45 g/t Au (from 33 m) present in SAAC64. Drilling revealed the veins were present within a graphite-rich shear zone, and determined that the veins dip between 40 and 75°and trend to the northwest (325°).  All this information is consistent with geological mapping in the area, and interpretation of the ground geophysical surveys.

All AC drill holes in this campaign (SAAC57-64) were drilled on an azimuth of 255° (towards the west-southwest), at dips of 55°, with lengths varying from 48 m to 54 m.  The fence was planned to cut the main artisanal workings at Sodala at the intersection between the main north-south trending Sodala shear-zone and a northeast-trending splay fault.  The site of the workings is also coincident with an interpreted highly-altered felsic intrusion and proximal to an exceptionally high shallow soil gold anomaly with assays up to 31.30 g/t Au.  This is the highest grade of 6,749 soil samples collected on the Sankarani and Sankarani East permits by Compass.  Soil samples greater than 0.5 g/t Au are present up to 750 m from the workings, and appear to correlated closely with a second northeast-trending splay fault with a 1000 m strike length.  This area will be the primary focus of additional drilling in the coming months.

Drilling was primarily performed by AC methods, but in areas of abundant quartz veins it was necessary to complete the planned holes using RC equipment.  The technical team, which is only awaiting infill shallow soil assay results from Massala (Sankarani permit), is interpreting the results from all recent exploration programs, and placing them in a geological framework.  These latest drilling results will help to determine the precise location for follow-up drilling on the identified target structures at Tarabala, Sodala and Samagouela.  This drilling will start when weather conditions permit after the cessation of the rainy season, normally in October.  Gradient IP surveys are also being planned in areas containing strong gold in shallow soil anomalism coincident with regional target structures.