ASX-listed West Africa gold explorer, Mako Gold, continues to be rewarded with encouraging gold hits stemming from a recently implemented change in drilling orientation at the Tchaga gold prospect at its flagship Napie project in Côte d’Ivoire.
The Brisbane-based company chalked up another cluster of broad, shallow, high-grade gold intersections from a further 27 RC holes as part of its ongoing 10,000m RC and diamond drilling campaign.
Latest stand-out assays from Tchaga were 26m at an average grade of 4.34 grams per tonne gold from surface including 2m at 16.19 g/t from surface and 3m at 13.58 g/t from 21m, and 26m at 2.02 g/t from 51m including 1m at 29.57 g/t from 72m.
Other notable intercepts were 7m going 2.83 g/t from 80m including 1m at 12.48 g/t from 81m, 30m at 2.1 g/t from 1m including 11m at 3.27 g/t from 10m, 24m at 1.78 g/t from 19m including 10m at 2.89 g/t from 23m, and 24m at 1.78 g/t from 19m including 10m at 2.89 g/t from 23m.
Mako Gold Managing Director, Peter Ledwidge said: “Our confidence in the structural controls and continuity of mineralisation is being validated through results such as these, which demonstrate thick and high-grade gold intercepts. We are highly encouraged when we repeatedly intersect broad mineralised zones in drilling, which often contain one or more high-grade zones, as we move towards a maiden resource.”
The multiple wide intersections containing high-grade intervals were returned from the stacked mineralised lodes within the resource target area on the Tchaga prospect.
All Tchaga holes were drilled in the revised south-east orientation, after Mako adjusted the direction of its drilling in the wake of recent structural studies and 3D modelling.
The company says south-east is now considered the optimal direction to intersect all vein orientations, which is significant in terms of tracking the extent and grade of the Tchaga deposit given its gold-bearing veins are not large quartz veins but rather a stockwork system of small veins and stringers.
Mako’s drilling direction pivot at Tchaga also paid handsome dividends last month when it revealed spectacular gold intersections from four RC holes of 32m at 7.1 g/t gold from 13m including 9m at 22.73 g/t from 36m, 4m at 14.26 g/t from 33m including 1m at 51.11 g/t from 33m, and 15m at 3.59 g/t from 16m including 1m at 31.66 g/t from 26m.
Ledwidge commented previously: “Much of our previous west to east drilling in this zone would have only grazed the mineralisation or missed it altogether. When you consider that we have multiple prospects to the north, south and east with previously reported high gold-bearing intercepts, we consider that the Tchaga prospect has the makings of a significant gold discovery.”
Mako says it expects to receive the next batch of assays from a stream of additional drill samples – currently being sent to or processed at the assay laboratory – early in the new year.
The company plans to convert the swathe of results from its drilling offensive into a maiden mineral resource estimate for Tchaga, which is targeted for some time in the March quarter next year.
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