High priority targets confirmed at MPK’s Odienne project

Auger results highlight existing high priority targets at MPK’s Odienné project
Additional new targets have also been identified within the high strain Archean margin
The combined results mark a significant step towards a discovery at the Odienné South permit

Special report: An auger sampling and diamond drilling program has delineated priority targets at MPK’s Odienné South permit, which covers a 30km extent of the Sassandra Fault that hosts Predictive Discovery’s 5.4Moz Bankan gold deposit.

Many Peaks Minerals (ASX:MPK) moved into Côte d’Ivoire back in March with the acquisition of the Ferke project, which hosts Ouarigue South gold discovery, and Odienne.

With both assets already boasting systematic geochemical coverage, the acquisition provided MPK with a solid foundation of exploration success and the potential to build significant high-grade ounces in the near term.

Odienne South is located on the Sassandra regional scale shear corridor, which hosts Predictive Discovery’s (ASX:PDI) Bankan discovery along with several other gold occurrences in Guinea.

Touted as a potential top-20 West African gold mine, Bankan recently drew ASX gold beast Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) in as a major shareholder at PDI, highlighting the potential to identify a company making discovery in the corridor.

TSXV-listed explorer Awale Resources, within close proximity to MPK’s Odienne, recently turned up 45.7 g/t gold over 32m from a new breccia pipe at their project of the same name.

The company at the time said the project produced very high-grade mineralisation since it had started drilling and felt that some special things would come as they continued their work.

Despite hosting comparable stratigraphy to Guinea’s Siguiri basin, the Odienne region remains largely unexplored, though recent exploration success on the Cote d’Ivoire extent of the Sassandra shear includes Centamin Mining’s 2.2Moz ABC gold discovery which is located along strike to the south.

Over 30km of geochemical anomalies have been previously defined in recent work by Turaco from a combination of permit wide infill soil geochemical sampling and high-resolution airborne geophysics comprised of magnetic and radiometric datasets.

Exploration and drilling results

MPK has been busy following up the work carried out by previous explorers across the extensive anomalies with 7741m of auger sampling and 1069m of diamond drilling.

Auger drilling has delineated priority targets within zones A, B and C totalling >16km of the shear zone within the corridor for staged follow-up exploration.

With receipt of additional auger assays pending, MPK plans to carry out aircore drilling over Q4 post the wet season.

Concurrently, a reconnaissance diamond drill test targeted a favourable structural contact between igneous and sedimentary units identified in previous results.

Although maiden drilling only confirmed low-level gold results throughout the 800m extent drilled within the 6km Zone A target zones, visually the core indicates the targeted igneous body is a late intrusive into the existing structure and is now interpreted to post-date a gold mineralising event.

A newly defined 4km gold anomaly has been identified at Zone C on the southern margin of the Sassandra Fault zone that is peripheral to previous gold-in-soil anomalism.

MPK says the results have refined targets within the extensive halo of surface gold anomalism at each zone, prioritising discrete 60 to 150m wide gold targets for drill testing within the 400m to 2000m wide corridor of gold in soil anomalism.

Continuity of mineralisation

“We are encouraged to see continuity of mineralisation through multiple lines of auger drilling,” MPK executive chairman Travis Schwertfeger said.

“This further highlights the discovery potential at Odienné as the company consistently vectors in on more discrete targets with each step in the exploration process.

“While the diamond assay results are not high grade, they are significant, and the combined results from auger and diamond drilling mark a significant step towards a discovery at the Odienné South permit.”

What’s coming up?

MPK’s exploration team has initiated field reconnaissance and field logistics in support of exploration and drilling activities planned to commence next quarter comprising auger drilling and follow-on air core and diamond drilling campaigns.

The auger campaign will be similar in scope and objective to the reported Odienné auger, focused on defining discrete drill targets within the extensive corridor of surface gold anomalism, and identifying potential extensions to the previously reported diamond results at the Ouarigue prospect.

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.