Broker rates Many Peaks a speculative buy as the explorer hunts gold in elephant country

Many Peaks Minerals rated a speculative buy by stockbroker Lodge Partners
Large scale of Côte d’Ivoire gold projects as well as early drill successes fuel 40c valuation
Further upside from drilling results and initial results on pipeline of earlier stage projects

Special Report: Following in the footsteps of giants, Many Peaks Minerals’ early successes across its gold projects in Côte d’Ivoire have earned it a speculative buy recommendation from stockbroker Lodge Partners.

The company holds the Ferké, Odienné, Baga and Oumé projects which cover a total area of ~1919km2 in a country known for its well-established gold mining sector, many large mines and low sovereign risk compared to some of its neighbours.

Cote d’Ivoire’s attractive mining regime also features a four-year tax holiday on mining activities, low government royalties pegged to the gold price and an effective tax rate of 30%.

Many Peaks is now following up on previous work at Ferké and Odienné with an aggregate 10,000m of auger and air core drilling activity commenced in the current quarter.

Previous exploration activities at the 300km2 Ferké project had returned multiple intercepts from surface such as 47m at 3.72g/t gold and 91.1m at 2.02g/t along with somewhat deeper intercepts of 77.6m at 2.33g/t from 45.9m and 38.2m at 3.66g/t from 51.4m.

This work had outlined an outcropping zone of gold mineralisation, which extends to a vertical depth of over 140m, including sections of true widths up to 30m where the mineralisation transects a granite intrusion.

Notably, the exploration highlighted open-ended mineralisation ready for follow-up work within an extensive corridor that remains largely untested where Many Peaks is currently advancing a 5000m auger drilling program.

The Ferké drilling commenced last month targets undrilled extensions to mineralisation along a 9km stretch of the already defined north-south gold anomaly with less than 1.5km of its 12.5km strike drilled to date.

Odienné comprises two permits covering 758km2 in a largely unexplored region bordering Guinea and is located in the same high-strain corridor as Predictive Discovery’s (ASX:PDI) 5.4Moz Bankan gold deposit and contiguous with the Awalé-Newmont joint venture ground along trend to the south.

Reconnaissance drilling conducted by Many Peak Minerals (ASX:MPK) earlier in 2024 at Odienné defined three zones of anomalous gold.

The 5000m air core program at Odienné targets all three zones, including extensions to gold mineralisation confirmed in 2023 air core drilling along with initial air core tests over significant auger anomalies prioritised in Many Peaks results reported in August this year.

Valuation and upside potential

Lodge Partners notes that it has valued MPK at 40c – almost double the current price of 20.5c – by comparing it to a basket of other gold explorers that have yet to define resources.

It said the large scale of its gold tenements in Cote d’Ivoire provided additional upside while previous exploration activities at Ferké and Odienné have shown promising potential for a gold system.

Lodge adds the upcoming drill program should see a re-rating as the confidence level grows and that further drill results could potentially add to the valuation.

This article was developed in collaboration with Many Peaks Minerals, 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.