History
Xtra-Gold drilled its way from a halted Ghana mining operation to a TSX listing and, by November 2012, a first formal gold resource at Kibi.
2008-2009: A halted mine and a new target
In October 2008 Xtra-Gold stopped production at its Kibi Gold Trend operation in Ghana after local farmers demanded more crop compensation than had been agreed. Diamond drilling carried on. By November the company had finished its 2008 program of 18 holes and 3,001 meters, while mining stayed halted. Management used the downtime to design a mobile version of its processing plant to cut trucking costs, with about 200,000 ounces of mineralized material still to mine.
In January 2009 the remaining ten holes returned strong results, including 4.83 g/t (grams of gold per tonne of rock) over 7 meters and 2.11 g/t over 25.4 meters. A week later trenching at a second target, the Ankaase Gold Trend 19 km away, traced an "Ashanti"-style shear-zone gold system over 1.4 km, including 6.52 g/t over 4 meters.
2009-2010: Drilling success and new financing
From September 2009 the company reported results from a 50-hole reverse-circulation program at Kibi's Zone 2. The first 15 results included 6.29 g/t over 23 meters. In October came its standout hit: 39 meters at 9.23 g/t, including 10 meters at 33.15 g/t.
The company paid for this work through private placements, mostly sold through Haywood Securities. In November 2009 it announced a larger raising of up to $3 million, at $1.00 per unit. In February 2010, step-out drilling 700 meters southwest found a new Zone 3 system, including 30 meters at 3.52 g/t.
2010: The Toronto listing
In November 2010 Xtra-Gold completed a Canadian initial public offering, raising CAD$10.925 million by selling 8.09 million shares at CAD$1.35 through a Haywood-led group. It began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, a step up from the OTC Bulletin Board alone. In December it reported drilling results from the Central Granitoid body of Zone 2, including 27 meters at 4.03 g/t.
2011-2012: From drill holes to a resource
The record for 2011 and most of 2012 is quiet. In September 2012 the company set a 16 November special meeting for shareholders, with a 10 October record date, in connection with a reorganization from a Nevada company into a British Virgin Islands one. The same document reported 2012 drilling of 53 diamond core holes over 8,810 meters across the Double 19 shoot, South Ridge and the Kibi Old Mine prospect.
On 8 November 2012 Xtra-Gold published its first formal NI 43-101 resource estimate (a standardized, independently checked measure of what a deposit holds) for Kibi: 278,000 ounces Indicated and 147,000 ounces Inferred across five deposits, Big Bend, East Dyke, Mushroom, South Ridge and Double 19. At that date, Ankaase had not been shown as drilled, and the beats do not say whether mining at Kibi had resumed.
Written from the 12 story beats below (2008 to 8 Nov 2012), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.