ASX-listed West Africa gold explorer, Mako Gold, has taken significant strides towards delivering a maiden mineral resource estimate for its joint-ventured flagship Napie gold project in Cote d’Ivoire in the first half of next year following yet another clutch of encouraging high-grade and broad gold drill intercepts at the exciting Tchaga prospect.
The Brisbane-based company returned further notable intersections within the resource target area from its massive, ongoing 10,000m RC and diamond drilling campaign that continue to support previous sterling drill hits. Better drill results received for eight RC holes and 13 diamond holes – which do not comprise the whole program – at Tchaga resource central were 10.26m going 4.76 grams per tonne gold from 76.5m including 1m at 32.49 g/t or more than one ounce to the tonne from 79m, and 38m at 1.64 g/t from 5m.
Other impressive recent drill intercepts were 5m at 2.0 g/t from 41m including 1.75m at 4.48 g/t from 44.25m, 18.2m at 1.89 g/t from 67.8m including 0.8m at 14.94 g/t from 77m, 6m at 4.56 g/t from 73m, and 4m at 4.56 g/t from 42m.
The results come on the back of the previous notable intersections that included 13m at 20.82 g/t from 32m, 36m at 3.09 g/t from 43m, 28m at 4.86 g/t from 83m, 25m at 3.43 g/t from 53m, 14m at 5.46 g/t from surface, 18m at 3.25 g/t from 39m, 7.7m at 11.65 g/t from 169m, and 4m at 8.24 g/t from 70m.
Data for the latest batch of drilling for Tchaga have been trickling in due to delays relating to the equatorial wet season and the country’s elections held a few days ago.
The company says geological analysis of the diamond drill core has led to a revised gold mineralisation model, which in turn has been incorporated into the continuing 10,000m drilling program.
Gold mineralisation is described as being hosted within broad altered quartz stockwork zones with veins in multiple orientations.
Recent structural studies and 3D modelling based on the diamond drill core have indicated there are at least three sets of veins that form a stockwork of veins at Tchaga, according to Mako.
As a result, the direction of its drilling has been changed to northwest-southeast, which has been determined to be the optimum direction to intersect the various vein orientations.
Importantly, most of the latest holes the company received assays for were drilled in the former west-east direction.
Mako points out that the stockwork of vein systems explains the very wide zones of gold mineralisation encountered in the drilling to date.
NARC107DD, an RC hole that returned 36m at 3.09 g/t from 43m and was extended with diamond drilling, encountered multiple wide zones of gold mineralisation, with the combined intercepts averaging a true width of 80m at 1.6 g/t gold.
Mako Gold Managing Director, Peter Ledwidge said: “Disruptions due to heavy rains and the elections in Côte d’lvoire delayed receipt of the current assay results. We are confident that we will now be able to maintain a steadier news flow for assays.”
“The diamond drill holes … have increased our understanding of the controls on gold mineralisation at the Tchaga prospect. Only a few of the holes reported on were drilled in our adjusted SW direction. NADD012 which returned 10.26m at 4.76 g/t gold confirms that adjusting our drilling direction from W-E to NW-SE was the right decision, which effectively allows us to intersect both the N-S trending and SW-NE trending gold mineralisation.”
Mako’s current resource definition drilling has been focused on infilling shallow, high-grade mineralisation and extensions to the same in the southern part of the Tchaga prospect. The company intends peppering the northern section in the quest to further grow the Tchaga resource once a maiden gold resource estimate has been established.
In addition to the resource target area drilling, Mako drilled 11 RC holes and one diamond hole to test new conceptual exploration targets outside the resource target area at Tchaga, with one hole returning 3m at 4.54 g/t gold from 92m. Follow-up drilling is on the horizon.
The company is also eyeing rounds of follow-up drilling and other exploration work at a plethora of high-priority Napie regional prospects in the vicinity of Tchaga including the Gogbala, Tchaga East and Tchaga North prospects.
Geophysical surveying is on track to commence at Gogbala next week and planned to run over a soil anomaly that is coincident with the 30km-long shear crossing the entire Napie project.
Mako holds a 51 per cent interest in Napie and can increase its ownership stake to 75 per cent by progressing the project through to the completion of a feasibility study. It entered into the farm-in and joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of ASX-listed and Perth-based West African gold producer, Perseus Mining.
The world-class West African Birimian greenstone belts play host to more than 70 gold resources in excess of one million ounces apiece and also contain the company’s 224-square-kilometre Napie project.
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By Matt Birney
