Compass Gold Corporation reported that it has launched its previously announced follow-up drilling program on the Tarabala Trend, which consists of reverse circulation drilling at the Tarabala artisanal workings on its Sikasso Property in Southern Mali. Results from Previous Drilling and Sampling: Air Core (AC) drilling on the Tarabala Trend first identified bedrock gold at the Tarabala prospect in April 2020. Subsequent drilling identified shallow gold mineralization at Massala West.

This confirmed the presence of a 4-km-long mineralized zone between Tarabala and Massala West. To date, a total of 106 AC holes (4,972 m), 5 RC holes (530 m), and 5 diamond holes (563.6 m) have been drilled at Tarabala over a distance of 1.5 km. An additional 102 AC holes (6,047 m) and 11 RC holes (1,056 m) have been completed at Massala West over 3 km.

The deepest drilling has only tested the mineralized zone to a depth of 80 m from surface. AC results at Tarabala included wide intervals of up to 16 m @ 1.51 g/t Au (from 16 m; SAAC02) and 17 m @ 0.73 g/t Au (from 18 m; SAAC109), and included higher grade sub-intervals such as 4 m @ 5.20 g/t Au (from 26 m; SAAC02) and 1 m @ 12.99 g/t Au (from 33 m; SAAC36). Follow-up RC drilling at Tarabala indicated that the mineralization continued at depth, but it was not tested deeper than 60 m. The widest intercepts from the RC driller were 26 m @ 0.47 g/t Au (from 45 m; SARC001) and 25 m @ 0.58 g/t Au (from 67 m; SARC003).

The best mineralization was identified in a 1-km-section of the 2.2 km-long mineralized Tarabala Fault. Two kilometers further north, AC drilling identified two discrete mineralized zones greater than 550 m at Massala West. The northernmost zone contained the widest mineralized interval and the highest grade.

Drill hole SAAC123 contained 24 m @ 2.35 g/t Au (from 18 m), which included 1 m @ 26.80 g/t Au (from 35 m). RC drilling in the two zones identified several mineralized intervals including the widest zone of 6 m @ 1.02 g/t Au (from 43 m; SARC010). Owing to difficult drilling conditions caused by a higher than expected water table, the subsequent RC drilling conducted at Massala West was unable to target the main vein system at a depth of 80 m. A resampling program of historic Compass RC chips (see Compass press release, December 21, 2022) indicated that coarse-grained ("nuggety") gold was likely present at Tarabala.

The nugget effect was evidenced by the presence of higher grade mineralized intervals, e.g., 7 m at 14.13 g/t Au (inc. 1 m @ 97.34 g/t Au), compared to an earlier result of 0.42 g/t Au, and previously barren intervals containing gold, e.g., 1 m @ 0.92 g/t Au, compared to 0.01 g/t Au. The latest drilling will specifically address the nugget effect by employing two assay techniques. Next Steps: The 800-m-RC drilling program at the Tarabala prospect began on March 7. Drilling is focussing on determining the nature of the gold-bearing quartz veins (width, grade, orientation, and mineralogy) at depths of 50 to 155 m from surface.

The results will be used to plan further deeper drilling in May. It is hoped that the information gleaned from these programs will enable preparation for a potential resource definitional drilling program later in 2023. Two types of gold assaying will be performed on the RC chip samples.

The first is a cyanide-leach ('LeachWELL') assay that will quickly determine gold content over the entire length of the hole. Any gold mineralized zones identified will be further tested by metallic screen fire assay. This technique is designed specifically to ensure all coarse-grained gold is identified and analysed.

These assay techniques will accurately determine whether nuggety gold is present in new drilling samples, and which technique will be the most reliable as the technical team moves forward with additional exploration and resource definition drilling. Technical Details: All RC holes at Tarabala are being drilled on an azimuth of 270° (towards the west), at dips of 55°. Hole lengths vary from 120 m to 200 m. Drilling is being performed by FTE Drilling, a Canadian company with a Malian subsidiary.

All samples will be prepared by Compass staff and an appropriate number of standards, duplicates and blanks will be included when the samples are submitted for cyanide leach (LeachWELL) analysis at ALS (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), and later metallic screen fire assay at SGS (Bamako, Mali).