Mako nails down new Cote d’Ivoire gold tenure

Mako Gold has expanded its footprint in Cote d’Ivoire nailing down additional gold tenure after the Ministry of Mines in the west African country granted the company’s new Korhogo Nord permit. Impressively, the new project area covers the same greenstone belt that hosts the world-class Tongon gold mine, which is located 30km to the north of the permit area.

The new tenure adds a second project to Mako’s developing gold portfolio in Cote d’Ivoire with the company’s focus remaining on the Napie project, to the south of Korhogo, where the company has outlined anomalous gold mineralisation over an astounding 30km of strike.

Mako Gold’s Managing Director, Peter Ledwidge said:

“We are pleased to have secured a further 185km² of prospective tenure in Côte d’Ivoire, within the same Birimian greenstone belt as Barrick’s 4.9Moz Tongon Gold Mine. To our knowledge, no previous exploration has been conducted on the Korhogo Nord permit, so we are excited to be launching an exploration program on the permit shortly.”

Mako Gold’s Korhogo Nord and Napie gold projects are located in the north of Cote d’Ivoire. The projects cover strategic positions on the fertile, regional-scale Birimian greenstone belts which host several sizable gold deposits including Barrick’s 4.9Moz Tongon gold deposit, which lies only 30km north of Korhogo Nord and Napie, and Montage Gold’s 1.2Moz Kone gold deposit to the south.

The Korhogo Nord and Napie projects have enviable access to infrastructure, with tarred roads to site and reticulated power available through the region. The project areas are serviced from the regional centre of Korhogo, the fifth largest city in Cote d’Ivoire, around 20 km to the north of the Napie and 15km south of Korhogo Nord.

Korhogo Nord covers 7km of the sheared granite-greenstone contact of the Tongon belt and is considered highly prospective for gold mineralisation. Mako’s geological modelling indicates that a number of cross-cutting fault structures may have acted as regional ‘plumbing’ for mineralising fluids and have potentially also deposited gold into zones of brittle fracture within the basement granitic units - another target for Mako to explore as its development program advances in the coming months.

Mako is currently scheduling its exploration program over its new tenure with initial work likely to include airborne geophysics and geological mapping in addition to soil and rock chip sampling in the led up to drilling. This tried and true methodology has previously been applied by the company with notable success at Napie, outlining the extensive Tchaga Shear and the company’s prospects at Tchaga, Komoro and Gogbala.

The company’s field program in Cote d’Ivoire is currently on hold due to the heavy rains associated with the peak of the equatorial wet season. These conditions are expected to abate early month with the company’s reverse circulation and diamond drilling at Tchaga, expected to get back on track in early to mid-October as the company works towards declaring a maiden resource over the discovery.

The short break in drilling at Tchaga has facilitated ongoing sampling and assaying with a torrent of results expected in the coming weeks.

Aside from the resource drilling at Tchaga, the Napie exploration program is expected to move into high gear next month with an IP geophysical survey scheduled over the 5km long Gogbala prospect, just 6km south of Tchaga, and a second drill rig having been secured to begin drilling a bevy of outlying prospects, including the Tchaga East, Tchaga North and Gogbala targets.

Mr Ledwidge said:

“We are also pleased to be expanding our current program through securing a second drill rig to expedite drilling at a number of highly prospective regional targets surrounding the Tchaga Prospect at the Napié Project. Two of the key prospects have not been drilled since 2018. We look forward to following up positive drilling results from 2018 and now that we are fully funded, we can proceed to drill these exciting targets.”

The limited drilling at Gogbala has already outlined a potential new ore shoot with results including an impressive 12m at 5.39 g/t gold and 2m at 16.87 g/t gold.

Mako has now pinned down two key gold projects in Cote d’Ivoire, and with another sitting the wings, Mako is quickly moving to cement its position surrounding its base at Korhogo.

The company expects an ongoing flow of results from Napie and with the potential of opening up a second front of exploration at Korhogo Nord, could soon have a full dance card as it barrels towards its maiden resource over Tchaga in the coming months.

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