S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock West African Resources Ltd (ASX: WAF) is racing ahead of the benchmark today.
West African shares closed yesterday trading for $2.49. In morning trade on Thursday, shares are changing hands for $2.56 apiece, up 2.8%. That sees the gold miner's share price up 71.8% since this time last year.
For some context, the ASX 200 is down 0.8% today and has gained 6.0% in a year.
Today's outperformance follows on a gold exploration update, released before market open.
ASX 200 gold stock hits high grades
Investors are bidding up West African Resources shares today after the ASX 200 gold stock announced it had intersected high grade gold mineralisation.
The results come from the miner's recent resource definition diamond drilling within the M1 South Main Deeps Resource at its Sanbrado Gold Operations, located in Burkina Faso.
The ASX 200 gold stock said it had discovered wide zones of high-grade mineralisation beneath the current known ore reserves at the project, noting that the results from infill drilling have exceeded expectations.
Significant results from resource definition drilling at M1S Main Deeps included:
- 44 metres at 25.8 grams of gold per tonne
- 5 metres at 17.1 g/t Au
- 5 metres at 17.4 g/t Au
- 5 metres at 24 g/t Au
The miner said it will incorporate the results from the drilling program into its updated Mineral Resource Estimate and Ore Reserves. Investors can expect that to be released in the third quarter of 2025.
What did management say?
Commenting on the drill results that look set to boost the ASX 200 gold stock's resource and reserve estimates, West African chairman Richard Hyde said:
Resource definition drilling below M1 South reserves has returned strong results including 44 metres at 25.8 g/t gold and 44.5 metres at 17.1 g/t gold confirming the underground operation will continue to be a high-margin long-life asset.
Results from the recent drilling are expected to deliver an increase in both tonnes and contained gold in comparison to the 2024 resource model. Updated Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and a new 10-year production outlook are planned for release in Q3 2025.
Looking to what's ahead for the ASX 200 gold stock, Hyde added, "With the Kiaka build nearing completion, WAF is on the cusp of having two long-life, unhedged, low-cost gold production centres in operation in 2025."
In what the company labelled "an aspirational statement" that it does not yet have reasonable grounds to believe will be achieved, Hyde concluded, "These quality operations underpin our goal of flying to 500,000 ounces per annum gold production by 2030."
