Mako has mobilised a diamond rig to accelerate Napié drilling. Pic: Getty
Mako speeds up Ivoirian drilling as its maiden gold resource looms
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Ongoing drilling at Mako’s Gogbala prospect has already returned high-grade gold hits, so it’s unsurprising a diamond rig is en-route to accelerate its work program.
The rig will carry out a 1,500m program to test Gogbala mineralisation at depth and gain valuable structural and geological data to enhance the company’s understanding of the deposit.
It supplements the ongoing – and relatively shallow – reverse circulation drilling that has defined wide and high-grade gold mineralisation over 2km within a broader +4km mineralised system at Gogbala. Mako aims to deliver a maiden resource estimate on the 2km priority MRE zone in the second quarter of this year.
Mako Gold (ASX:MKG) says the diamond drilling will also seek to increase the potential size of the resource at depth by drilling below previous positive results.
Previous drilling had returned results such as 20m grading 3.41 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 19m, 12m at 5.39g/t gold from 11m and 35m at 1.72g/t gold from 43m.
“Our RC drilling to date has been relatively shallow, generally down to about 100m vertical depth,” managing director Peter Ledwidge told Stockhead.
“The DD rig will allow us to test mineralisation at greater depth, in order to show the potential to add ounces to the deposit at depth.
“In addition, the oriented core samples from DD will unlock valuable structural and other geological information to better understand the deposit at Gogbala.”
Regional drilling completed
Ledwidge added that the company has completed over 11,000m of aircore drilling over the Komboro and Tchaga North with the aim of making a new discovery, which will support Mako’s goal of defining a multi-million ounce resource for the Napié project in Cote d’Ivoire.
At Komboro, 5,712m of aircore drilling was completed and samples sent to the lab for assaying while the first phase of drilling totalling 5,715m has been completed at Tchaga North.
The second phase of Tchaga North aircore drilling is expected to begin in mid-April.
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.
