Mako chasing Côte d’lvoire gold targets ‘several times larger’ than 868,000oz Tchaga and Gogbala deposits

A successful auger drilling program has shown Mako Gold’s dominant 30km land position on the Napié Shear could host a slew of prospects equal to or “several times larger” than its major Tchaga and Gogbala deposits in a major boost for the West African gold explorer.

The Tchaga and Gogbala deposits in Côte d’lvoire already host 868,000oz of precious gold in resource.

But results from a recent Phase-2 auger program designed to vector on multi-kilometre-long gold anomalies identified in Phase-1 have identified 15 significant targets for RC and diamond drilling by Mako Gold (ASX:MKG).

Many are considered more prospective than Tchaga or Gogbala, with a new mineral trend identified heading north-west across Napié in auger and confirmed by artisanal mining.

A report from structural consultants to help plan the next drill program is due shortly, with infill Auger results including several over 0.5g/t and up to 4.8g/t, 1.1g/t and 0.8g/t Au coming in well above levels normally seen in auger drilling.

It bodes well for future programs given just 13% of the 30km long Napié Shear had been systematically drill tested until the recent auger programs began.

“We are extremely pleased that Phase-2 of the auger program has confirmed and enhanced the anomalies identified in Phase-1,” Mako managing director Peter Ledwidge said.

“The complete auger program has provided 15 significant drill targets along the 30km Napié shear. The auger has narrowed down the wide soil anomalies and pin-pointed precise targets for resource expansion at Napié which is likely to reduce the discovery cost per ounce.

“In Phase-2 we focussed on the extensive multi-kilometre mineralised trends identified at Tchaga North and Gogbala in Phase-1, to generate a multitude of high priority drill targets.

“We plan on following up Phase-1 auger results elsewhere on the permit in the future. Napié is showing strong potential to host multiple deposits within the permit.”

Drill ready

While the original Phase-1 auger drilling was conducted on a 400m by 100m grid, the second phase reduced that spacing to 200m by 50m in high priority areas, narrowing down the original anomalies to a drill ready stage.

A total of 791 holes for 6723m were drilled, though Mako also identified ‘significant gold anomalies’ in sites where historic artisanal mining took place.

Artisanal miners can only mine gold they can visibly see without the aid of a hand lens.

Previously artisanal miners have extracted gold from a large quartz vein heading north-west, corroborating the new north-west trend identified by Mako in auger sampling.

Auger anomalies at Tchaga show Mako can possibly grow its 545,000oz resource to the west, north and north-west, all untested by RC of diamond drilling, the primary methods of outlining gold resources.

Mako also thinks two parallel anomalies immediately west of the central portion of the Tchaga resource have the potential to host significant new gold lodes.

Meanwhile at Gogbala and Gogbala South an anomaly south of the eastern part of the Gogbala resource has grown to a width of 250m and length of 2km with the identification of two parallel anomalies.

The auger and an artisanal mining site have confirmed the gold trend, with prospective drill targets where no previous drilling has taken place.

Infill auger also picked up a north-west trending anomaly to the west of Gogbala similar to anomalies at Tchaga and Tchaga North.

This article was developed in collaboration with Mako Gold, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

The post Mako chasing Côte d’lvoire gold targets ‘several times larger’ than 868,000oz Tchaga and Gogbala deposits appeared first on Stockhead.

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