June is nearly passed and I can't believe it's half way through the year! Another 4 weeks have been spent down in Mali, mostly in Bamako this time, and I have just the 1 more trip down there before the end of my contract. It's certainly a different life in Bamako, not needing to get up at 5:30 to get out to the drill rig, no rice and goat stew for lunch. We've been staying at The Sleeping Camel, a nice little hostel run by an Australian guy. I've not seen so much rugby since I left NZ...awesome!

Work has been ticking along, this month with a couple of trips into Guinea to check out the ground there. Although it has been a little behind the rest of West Africa when it comes to mineral development it is starting to get it's act together. There are 3 gold mines in the northern part, plus diamond mines closer down to the Sierra Leone border, and still has plenty left to offer I'm sure.

Close to the Mali border the ground is much the same as Mali, dry and dusty at this time of the year. The people are the same also, coming from the Maliki tribe. Further south the landscape changes, getting higher and with a change in climate to a tropical one. The temp dropped 10deg from Mali and the humidity increased by heaps! Made it nice when doing nothing, but as soon as we started walking the sweats started. And we had a good walk around. Looked at a few local alluvial workings and geology in general, was great to get a good look at another area. The people here are (like Mali) really friendly and loved to have their photo taken, standing completely still when you produce a camera. The little kids get so excited when they see their image on the screen, so cute.