The gold was hit underneath an earlier 4m drill intercept grading 157 grams per tonne gold at the southern end of Bella Tondi, with Vital saying this emerging high grade southern zone "appears to extend for at least 200m".

Vital managing director Mark Strizek has been effusive in his assessment of the ground.

"In 2016, more than 20,000 artisanal miners were chasing high-grade gold at Bella Tondi (and) when Isaw the visible gold in the core I understand why," Strizek told the market.

"The upside at the Bouli project looks fantastic with high-grade gold at Bella Tondi, and our new aeromagnetic data looks to have opened a veritable Aladdin's cave of targets with the new structural interpretation identifying more than 20 targets having a combined strike length of over 20km."

Assay results from three core holes are expected in the second half of the month, while assays of other holes could be seen a further 4-8 weeks beyond that.

Vital started April with A$932,000 cash, and had budgeted to spend $750,000 in the current quarter.

However, early last month it agreed to sell its Watershed tungsten project in Queensland for $15 million cash.

The binding deal was expected to close early next months.

Shares in Vital were up 11% to 1c in Friday trade, capitalising the company at $16.5 million.