Volta Resources Inc.


Golden opportunity
Volta Resources Inc. is celebrating its recent acquisition of the Kiaka Gold Project. Chief operations officer Victor King talked to Jayne Flannery about the most exciting development to date in the companyÔÇÖs history of mineral exploration.
Volta Resources is the result of a merger in 2008 between two experienced exploration companies focused on West Africa, one of the world's most exciting gold exploration regions. Birim Goldfields contributed an enviable property portfolio in Ghana, while Goldcrest Resources disposed of its assets in Australia to focus on West Africa, bringing several prospective exploration properties in Burkina Faso to the relationship.

ÔÇ£We were active in exploration in West Africa as two distinct companies for many years,ÔÇØ explains Victor King, chief operations officer with Volta Resources. ÔÇ£The merger enabled us to realise the synergies resulting from our collective experience in exploration and mining projects. As a consequence of coming together, we can now point to a combined portfolio of 20 properties in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali.ÔÇØ What makes this portfolio so special is that all the properties are located on highly prospective Birimian gold belts, similar to those that have delivered world-class gold mines in other parts of West Africa over the last 15 years.
The merger has also given Volta the capability and resources to advance projects much more quickly. ÔÇ£It provided a solid foundation from which we could evaluate opportunities to acquire more advanced projects in our region of choice, which takes in Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso. We looked at many potentially available projects in the last 18 months, but nothing caught our eye in the same way as Kiaka,ÔÇØ says King.
The Kiaka Gold Project lies at the intersection of the Tenkodogo greenstone belt and the north striking Markoye fault corridor, along which some of the largest gold resources in Burkina Faso have been found to date. Formerly, the exploration permit was held by Randgold, a major West African mining company, which had already defined two major mineralised zonesÔÇöthe Kiaka Main Zone (KMZ) and the Kiaka Hangingwall South Zone (KHZ).
King and the management team at Volta were delighted when Randgold approached the company to continue with the work. ÔÇ£Randgold is one of the leading mining companies in West Africa and we were delighted by their approach. Although we obviously are much smaller, our senior executives could offer a long and successful track record in the region. Randgold realised we also had a well established infrastructure in place, including experienced exploration teams already in the country, so we were able to hit the ground running. Kiaka is very significant to us and represents the biggest step forward in our development to date,ÔÇØ he states.
VoltaÔÇÖs primary aim since the merger has been to establish a leadership position in the identification, acquisition and exploration of gold properties in West Africa. The acquisition of Kiaka brings this goal much closer to realisation. ÔÇ£It is unusual for a smaller company to take over from a bigger player in this way,ÔÇØ King comments. ÔÇ£However, RandgoldÔÇÖs enviable success means that they are very fast-growing and are occupied with a host of other projects, including expansions to their existing mining operations in Mali, development of new mines based on their exploration success in Cote dÔÇÖIvoire and Senegal and the acquisition in the DRC of arguably the largest undeveloped gold project in Africa.ÔÇØ┬á
The nature of the Kiaka acquisition, by a shares issue, has given Randgold a 20 per cent stake in Volta Resources and King is very happy with the new relationship. ÔÇ£For Randgold, it means they still have a very significant interest in Kiaka, but donÔÇÖt need to devote their own management time or resources to advancing it,ÔÇØ he adds.
Volta is now poised to commence an aggressive drilling programme of more than 150 holes, comprising 22,000 metres at Kiaka. The company is determined that decisions on the future development of the area will be made as quickly as possible.
Randgold has already 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. So far, results from limited metallurgical test work are promising. Indications are that the gold is not refractory, giving recovery rates that range from 80 to 98 per cent, with the majority of samples demonstrating recovery rates of more than 90 per cent. 
King maintains great faith in the long-term market outlook for the prized yellow metal. He is convinced that the price of gold will remain high, but this does not mean that successful exploration companies can count on ever-expanding margins. ÔÇ£I believe gold will become increasingly important to investors as a safe haven in these tumultuous times. However, the inputs required to produce gold are increasing all the time and large or easily accessible deposits are not regularly identified,ÔÇØ he says.
The importance of exploration projects such as Kiaka is highlighted by the decline evidenced in gold production in other parts of Africa. South Africa, for example, was once the worldÔÇÖs leading producer, but has now been relegated to fourth place. The race is on to identify new, viable reserves elsewhere.
However, it is very important to Volta that the project is developed in a responsible and sustainable manner. King believes that legislation put in place over recent years by governments across West Africa ensures that the people of Burkina Faso will derive benefit from the mineral resources contained within the earth of their country, while still allowing for investing companies to extract a reasonable return commensurate with the investment risks.
ÔÇ£Kiaka has implications which extend far beyond our own growth and shareholdersÔÇÖ interests,ÔÇØ he states. ÔÇ£It potentially represents a very significant resource for a developing country like Burkina Faso. Successful execution of this project gives us an opportunity to benefit the economy at all levels. Locally, for example, we will be bringing in new transport and utilities infrastructure, as well as creating employment. Numerous studies have shown that there is an important multiplier effect as these benefits impact in turn on other areas of the economy. We hope this project will ultimately contribute to help fuel the countryÔÇÖs development.ÔÇØ