Mako is proving up its two highly-prospective gold and manganese projects simultaneously. Pic via Getty Images.
Hard drilling Mako is proving up an 870,000oz-and-growing gold project and emerging manganese discovery at the same time
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- Drilling at 868,000oz Napié project has indicated gold mineralisation goes deeper than previously thought
- Northern Côte d’Ivoire is mineral-rich with high-grade gold and manganese deposits
- Exploration at the Korhogo manganese discovery is in full swing
While an impressive manganese discovery at Mako Gold’s Korhogo project has stolen the limelight lately, the explorer is still churning out impressive exploration results from its flagship Napié gold project.
West African nation Côte d’Ivoire is a significant gold producer, with annual output up 14% (yoy) in 2022 to a record 48 tonnes.
There are several big hitters in the country including Barrick Gold, Endeavour, Fortuna Silver, Perseus and West Africa’s newest ASX-listed gold producer, Tietto.
The country is also a major producer of manganese with 929,700t pulled out of the ground last year.
Mako Gold (ASX:MKG) is hunting both gold and manganese across its Napié and Korhogo projects, close to existing mines in the nation’s north.
Drilling at Napié: road to a multimillion-ounce resource
At the Napié gold project the aim is the grow the maiden resource of 22.45Mt @ 1.2g/t for 868,000oz gold which comes from two major deposits, Tchaga and Gogbala.
New assays received for an 800m diamond drilling campaign at Napié successfully confirms gold mineralisation persists at depth at the Gogbala South prospect.
Eight diamond drill holes – five of which were diamond tails to existing RC holes which intercepted gold at depths of up to 153m at Gogbala – indicate further mineralisation may be deeper down and open where a possible “pinch and swell” effect has been clearly demonstrated.
“To test for mineralisation below the possible ‘pinch and swell’, a hole is planned to drill under NADD021 to test for mineralisation to a vertical depth of 150m,” Mako MD Peter Ledwidge says.
“The structural interpretation delivered by our consultants, combined with our recent diamond drilling, has greatly increased our understanding of the controls on gold mineralisation at the Napié project.
“Diamond drilling has yielded valuable structural information which will be used to target further mineralisation in upcoming drilling programs.”
More RC drilling is planned at Gogbala South and Tchaga West to target high-grade gold intersections and auger drilling is planned to pinpoint targets at the new Komboro prospect.
Korhogo: In full swing to unearth Africa’s next big manganese deposit
The Korhogo discovery is an exciting early-stage project with a lot of upside potential – it’s 70km along strike from Shiloh Mining’s Lagnonkaha mine, which produced 360,000t last year.
Mako reckons it might have a huge manganese endowment at Korhogo after intersecting wide zones of mineralisation from eight out of 10 shallow hole recon RC holes which returned grades of up to 19% manganese.
Rock chip sampling is under way at Korhogo with several teams on the ground to identify areas of greatest potential along its twin 7km manganese enriches zones that were confirmed in a maiden drill program.
Mako is planning to undertake IP surveys following the rock chip sampling. The survey is to take place over a 1km strike area identified by recent sampling and “should clearly outline the manganese deposit at depths of up to 100m”.
Metallurgical tests will be conducted once the survey is complete to evaluate economic recoveries before a wide-spaced RC drilling program looks to prove up mineralisation.
“Detailed geological mapping and rock chip sampling is in full swing on the manganese discovery at the Korhogo project, in anticipation of our first round of metallurgical test work to evaluate the potential for economic recoveries of coarse manganese at saleable grade for steel production,” Ledwidge says.
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.
