Hello, I’m Ricki Lee, and this is The Capital Compass. Today we’re heading to South America to explore a region with deep gold history and growing modern discovery potential — Suriname, where Sranan Gold (CSE:SRAN) is advancing its flagship project surrounded by decades of artisanal mining activity.
Recent sampling and drilling has confirmed the presence of high-grade gold near surface, including standout intervals and strong grades released over the past few weeks. With another batch of assays expected shortly, it’s an exciting moment for the company’s exploration story.
Joining me now with an update on the geology, the drill programme, and what’s next is Oscar Louzada, CEO and Rayiez Bhoelan, VP of Exploration at Sranan Gold. Welcome to the Capital Compass.
Oscar: Morning Ricki. Thank
Rayiez: Thank you Ricki.
Ricki: It’s lovely to have you here. So, Oscar, for viewers who may be new to Sranan Gold, can you start with an overview of the company and the opportunity you see at your project in Suriname?
Oscar: Absolutely. So, Surname is one of the most under explored countries in South America. It’s currently seeing a huge boom in junior explorers coming in. We’ve got three or four other companies close to us. It’s got two existing mines, Newmont in the north of the country, and IAMGOLD was in the country. They recently sold their Rosebel mine to Zijin. 29,000 hectares, close to other explorers with lots of success. And we started drilling about six, seven weeks ago. And the initial results do look very, very promising.
Ricki: Amazing. And your project area has seen artisanal mining for many years, like you just alluded to. So what has that historical activity revealed about the geology and how has it helped guide your modern exploration work?
Rayiez: As you know, Ricki, when the small scale miners expose the saprolite here or the bedrock, this gives us valuable lithological and structural information, and we need that in orogenic gold settings because you want to point your drill in the optimal direction. So, the activities that they do basically exposes a lot that is normally not exposed because we’re in a humid tropical country, and all these pits and excavations give us structural and lithological information that you wouldn’t have known otherwise. And that is so crucial for us to be able to pinpoint where and in what direction to put the drill in.
Ricki: Amazing. And you’re now well into your current drill program. So where do things stand today and what have you learned so far from drilling on the ground?
Rayiez: Right now, we’ve drilled almost north of 3,000 meters. We have intercepted shear structure at considerable width in a couple of holes now. And we are seeing that the potential for extension in both directions and at depth. So, after the first initial hit, especially in drill hole four, we are working our way north and south to kind of build volume and extend the strike extensions northward and southward. That’s the current plan and right now we are headed to drill under the Randy’s Pit.
Ricki: And you’ve released some compelling results recently, including wide mineralized zones and strong grades. So, what do these results tell you about the emerging structure and scale of the system?
Rayiez: As you know, the Randy Poeketi trend, the potential or the surface expression of gold mining is somewhere along the four and a half kilometer strike length. Right now, what we’re doing is we have tangible drill core that tells us what that structure is. And we have incredible oriented core data and the width that we’re seeing, it gives us an idea that the potential for this could be similar to projects in the area. What we need to do now is systematically understand the high grade ore shoots and work our way up with the drilling in both directions to try and hit the structure at the sweet spots most of the time and build confidence and slowly de-risk what we know of the geology there as we try to build a little bit of strike length.
Ricki: Great. And so, Oscar, with more results expected shortly what’s the timing for the next batch of assays and what key milestones should investors be watching as the program continues?
Oscar: So, we’re in a 10,000 meter program and we’re currently in hole 15 at the Randy site. The next batch of results should be coming out shortly. There are still assays pending from the lab. We will look to start up our second drill in the new year to start drilling at Poeketi, which is on the other side of the river. So, on average we’re currently drilling about 90 to a 100 meters a day. That should continue on the other side at Poeketi. So, over the next couple of months assay results from both sides of the river. So, Randy and Poeketi.
Ricki: Amazing. Well, thank you both so much, Oscar and Rayiez for joining us and sharing these updates from Sranan Gold.
Rayiez: Thank you, Ricki.
Oscar: Thank you.
It’s been a pleasure to have you here today. Once more that’s Oscar Louzada, CEO and Rayiez Bhoelan, VP of Exploration at Sranan Gold. For more information, visit sranangold.com. I’m Ricki Lee, and this has been The Capital Compass. Thanks for watching — and I’ll see you next time.
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