Mako is hoping for a big payoff with the start of drilling on two parallel 7km-long manganese units at its Korhogo project that had delivered up to 33% manganese in rock chip sampling.

The 10-hole reverse circulation program totalling 500m will be carried out at very wide 1km spacing to test for subsurface manganese mineralisation on both units, which are located along strike of Shiloh Mining’s Lagnonkaha manganese mine.

Mako Gold (ASX:MKG) plans to drill holes at or near recent rock chip sampling locations to leverage the success of the earlier exploration, which saw all 22 rock chips return significant manganese values averaging about 22%.

With manganese seeing increasing use in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, a major find at Korhogo will open up significant opportunities for the company.

“We are pleased to be starting a maiden drilling program at the Korhogo Project less than a month after the announcement of this very exciting manganese discovery on the Ouangolodougou Permit contained within the Korhogo Project,” managing director Peter Ledwidge said.

“The very wide-spaced drill program is designed to test for subsurface manganese mineralisation in order to assess the strike extent and grade of manganese along the two parallel 7km-long manganese-rich units discovered by our recent rock chip sampling program.

“Having three drills turning on our projects in Côte d’Ivoire will provide a steady stream of news flow over the coming months.”

Drilling is expected to take less than a week so as not to detract from the company’s focus on gold resource expansion at its flagship Napié project.

 

Potentially major find

Côte d’Ivoire has four manganese mines operated by private companies, the nearest of which – Lagnonkaha – is located about 70km along strike to the southwest of Mako’s manganese discovery in the same lithological unit.

Where it gets really interesting is that while the total strike extent of Lagnonkaha is 1.6km, the two parallel units at the Ouangolodougou Permit effectively have a combined strike length of 14km.

As such a successful discovery could have the potential to unlock a world-class manganese resource.

Samples from the drilling will be shipped to ALS labs in South Africa for analysis though results are expected to take longer than the 3-4 week turnaround that the company is accustomed to for gold assays, as manganese samples need to be shipped out of the country for analysis.

Should this yield positive results, Mako plans to carry out preliminary metallurgical testing to evaluate potential end-uses of the manganese.

 

 

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.

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