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Megado eyes visible gold ahead of maiden Chakata exploration
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Special Report: Ethiopian focused gold explorer Megado Gold has uncovered outcropping quartz veins featuring visible gold at its Chakata gold project as it prepares for a maiden drill program.
Megado’s (ASX:MEG) Chakata Project is located on the Adola gold belt in southern Ethiopia, five kilometres south along strike from the country’s largest-producing gold mines Lega Dembi and Sakaro.
The structure which hosts the trend at these projects extends south through Chakata for some nine kilometres, and the company said it was readily identifiable in geophysical imagery.
Megado’s fieldwork has continued to confirm strong evidence of artisanal workings and indications of significant occurrences of primary hard rock gold, while historical trench sampling at the GT Prospect returned results of 47m at 1.55 grams per tonne gold, including 25m at 2.57 g/t gold.
Megado Gold CEO and managing director Michael Gumbley said the company was looking forward to exploring further.
“Our review of the 1990s historical work conducted has already confirmed Chakata as incredibly prospective,” he said.
“Now that the team has been able to commence early works, they report a massive, extensive quartz tourmaline vein to the southwest of the GT Prospect, and we are keen to start testing our high priority targets.
“Artisanal miners are currently excavating the vein in and around the GT Prospect, regularly producing rock chips with gold visible to the naked eye.
“As soon as we have completed the maiden drilling program at Babicho, the drill rig will be deployed to Chakata to immediately test the GT Prospect as well as other compelling targets.”
Golden surrounds
The Adola gold belt has built a rich reputation for gold production.
The granite-greenstone terrane is comparatively underexplored when compared to similar greenstone belts in West Africa, Canada and Western Australia, where modern techniques have successfully delineated numerous deposits.
The belt is characterised by a dominant north-south trending suite of metamorphosed rocks hosting significant occurrences of gold mineralisation, including Ethiopia’s only modern gold mines in Lega Dembi and Sakaro.
Holding land along strike to the north and south of these deposits, and close by to Ethiopia’s next gold mine – the Tulu Kapi deposit held by AIM-listed KEFI Minerals – Megado’s Chakata and Babicho projects are in very good company.
The company’s technical team boasts specific Ethiopian and gold exploration experience, with executive director Dr Chris Bowden having lived for five years as general manager for ASCOM Precious Metals Mining, where he was responsible for the discovery and drill out of the initial 1.5 million ounce Dish Mountain gold deposit in Western Ethiopia.
With strong projects around and experience to match, Megado has reason to be confident as it explores the Ethiopian landscape.
This article was developed in collaboration with Megado 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.
