Mako Gold Ltd (ASX:MKG) has intersected high-grade gold in reverse circulation (RC) drilling of new high-priority auger targets outside the existing 868,000-ounce resource at the Napié Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
The company has confirmed new mineralised zones both north and west of the existing Napié resource with a number of high-grade intersections.
A highlight is the 1-metre at 44.86 g/t gold intersection from only 6 metres at Tchaga North prospect.
At Tchaga West, wide and high-grade gold was intersected, including 6 metres at 6.03 g/t gold, which includes 1-metre at 15.16 g/t.
The emergence of these new mineralised gold zones demonstrates strong potential for resource expansion at the Napié Project.
Moving forward, Mako will kick off a diamond drilling program in the coming weeks to follow up on these positive RC results.
Potential for further gold zones
Mako managing director Peter Ledwidge said: “We are very excited to have discovered high-grade gold on several new prospect areas which were identified as high-priority targets following our recent 25,000-metre auger drilling program.
“Considering the very wide-spaced drilling with spacing of drill fences at 400 metres, intersecting gold mineralisation on one or more sections is highly encouraging.
“We also see great potential for further gold zones to be found at Napié, given the result reported today represents only four out of 15 targets identified from our recent auger drilling.
“Our next step is to commence a diamond drilling program, which is set to kick off within the coming weeks, to follow up the mineralised trends on sections which returned positive results.
“The drilling has the potential to extend mineralisation at depth (maximum 120 metres vertical) and to assist with interpretation between sections.
“This will allow for future drilling along strike to close the 400-metre gap between fences and is viewed as the next logical step to expand our current 868,000-ounce maiden resource at Napié.
“We are also looking forward to receiving the gold and the manganese assays in the coming weeks from our recent RC drill program on our new discovery on the Korhogo Project.”
Forward plan
Mako’s diamond drilling will begin shortly to target high-grade extensions of new gold mineralisation identified in this drilling program and to collect structural data.
Future RC drilling is planned to close the 400-metre gap between fences as the company looks to expand its 868,000-ounce resource at Napié.
Meanwhile, at Korhogo, samples from the recent RC drilling at the Korhogo manganese discovery have been sent off for gold and manganese analysis.
Results for gold samples are expected in the coming weeks and thereafter results for the manganese samples, which had to be shipped to South Africa for analysis.