ASX-listed West Africa gold explorer, Mako Gold has started the new year with a bevy of more bonanza gold drill hits at the Tchaga prospect as part of its flagship Napie gold project in Côte d’Ivoire. The latest set of assays from the company’s continuing 10,000-metre RC and diamond drilling blitz were punctuated by a cracking 41 metres going 4.51 grams per tonne gold from 17m depth and 1m at 107 g/t from 71m.
Brisbane-based Mako was also buoyed by 46 of the latest batch of 51 RC and two diamond holes drilled at Tchaga – for which it recently received assay results – intersecting gold mineralisation, with 17 registering intercepts of more than 10 gram-metres.
Multiple broad gold intersections containing high-grade intervals were returned from the stacked mineralised zones within the company’s maiden resource target area on the Tchaga prospect.
The Tchaga RC drill intercept of 41m at 4.51 g/t – the widest, high-grade drill hit at the prospect so far – included 3m at 8.16 g/t from 17m, 6m at 9.4 g/t from 43m and 3m at 16.34 g/t from 53m, while the spectacular 1m at 107 g/t was secreted within a 5m at 21.99 g/t from 70m RC intercept.
Additional new high-grade assays among a host of encouraging drill results were a diamond hole that returned 7.9m grading 4.63 g/t from 122.8m including 1m at 27.61 g/t from 126m, and RC hits of 21m at 2.26 g/t from 71m including 1m at 16.85 g/t from 72m, and 1m at 19.5 g/t from 95m.
Other stand-out intersections were 5m at 3.8 g/t from 11m including 2m at 8.36 g/t from 11m, 5m at 3.19 g/t from 80m including 1m at 9.01 g/t from 81m, 5m at 3.18 g/t from 89m including 1m at 10.76 g/t from 89m, 3m at 4.04 g/t from 87m including 1m at 9.74 g/t from 88m, and 3m at 3.59 g/t from 37m including 1m at 9.53 g/t from 38m.
Investors liked the sound of the Tchaga drilling numbers, pushing Mako’s shares up 19 per cent by the end of trading today.
Mako Gold Managing Director, Peter Ledwidge said: “These drill results confirm continuity of mineralisation along strike and at depth as we move towards a maiden resource. We have outlined multiple areas at Tchaga that host high-grade cores within broader mineralised envelopes which validates our exploration strategy of targeting broad zones of gold mineralisation and then vectoring in on the high-grade zones.”
“We are also pleased to have commenced drilling on Tchaga East, which is a high-priority regional prospect (about 2km east of Tchaga) that has not been drilled since 2018. In addition, we anticipate a second drill rig to arrive on site imminently to begin drilling on the exciting Gogbala prospect to follow up highly encouraging 2018 reconnaissance drilling results and targets generated from the recently completed IP survey.”
The recent drilling at Tchaga has encountered high-grade mineralisation within broader lower-grade mineralised envelopes. The company explains that auriferous zones with a higher density of stockwork veins yield higher-grade values within the altered mineralised envelope.
In addition, drilling to date has generally been relatively shallow with not many holes testing for gold mineralisation below 100m vertical depth. A much deeper RC and diamond drill hole is planned.
Mako says it continues to adopt the targeting strategy of drilling between or along strike of lower-grade drill holes to try to sniff out the high-grade cores within the mineralised zone.
Due to the nature of Birimian shear-hosted orogenic gold mineralisation in the region, the company expects gold grades to vary from one drill hole to the next.
Highlighting the phenomenon was one of the two latest diamond drill holes that went 12.75m at 1.8 g/t gold from 48.1m including 0.75m at 15.86 g/t from 60.1m, and an intriguing 15m at 2.02 g/t from 105m including 0.7m at 19.07 g/t from 109.7m and 0.5m at 16.96 g/t from112.4m.
Mako points out, however, that overall Tchaga mineralisation appears to be “robust and continuous”.
The company hopes to turn the drilling success at Tchaga into a mineral resource this year. It has previously indicated it was aiming to release the maiden resource estimate in the current quarter.
Mako currently holds a 51 per cent stake in the Napie project, which is located in the very fertile West African Birimian greenstone belts that play host to more than 70 one-million-ounce-plus gold deposits.
It entered into a farm-in and joint venture agreement over the Napie permit with a subsidiary of ASX-listed and Perth-based West African gold producer, Perseus Mining, and can increase its interest in the project to 75 per cent by delivering a feasibility study.
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By Matt Birney
