Mako Gold (ASX:MKG) reports it has commenced a multi-rig, 25,000m auger drill program on the company’s flagship Napie Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
The company says Napie hosts a soil anomaly over 23km and coincident 30km long Napie shear, and historic auger drilling on certain portions of the permit have outlined anomalies associated with shears and faults at Napie.
It also states orientation auger drilling on the Tchaga and Gogbala deposits which form the basis of the maiden 868,000oz Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) will highlight the auger signature of these deposits.
Once the orientation drilling is complete on the Tchaga and Gogbala deposits, all drill rigs will be mobilised to sequentially complete each planned auger grid.
Phase one of the program will commence with 400m spaced lines with samples collected every 100m, and the phase two infill program will consist of 200m spaced lines with samples collected every 50m from prospective areas identified in phase one.
Mako Gold Managing Director Peter Ledwidge said the company is pleased exploration has recommenced on the Napie Project after a long wet season.
“The large multi-rig program will provide a very useful tool to narrow down the large soil anomalies at Napie for further resource drilling and should help to unlock the district scale multi-million ounce potential of the Napie Project.
At certain locations the soil anomalies are up to 2km wide and auguring is more cost effective when compared with a fence of RC drillholes across such widths.
“The object of the auger program is to find footprints of other deposits similar to Tchaga and Gogbala on the permit”
The object of the auger program is to find footprints of other deposits similar to Tchaga and Gogbala on the permit. Auger drilling will then proceed on selected grids to identify the sweet spot for future RC resource drilling.
The auger program will require supervision from one geologist, which will allow us to deploy the rest of our geology team to map the granites on the Napie and Korhogo projects, and the object of that program will be to map and rock chip sample the greenstone and granite contact and to look for pegmatite associated with the granites.”
Mako reports the purpose of the program is to demonstrate the multi-million ounce gold potential of Napie by identifying several footprints equal or larger than Tchaga and Gogbala along the 30km shear and associated faults, and a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program will be planned on the best auger anomalies to prioritise the next resource drill targets.
According to the company, the auger program will reduce the number of RC and diamond drillholes required to expand the current MRE, which will expedite resource expansion and reduce RC and diamond drilling costs for future resource updates.
Mako geologists are currently on the ground mapping and rock chip sampling the greenstone and granite contacts of the Napie and Korhogo projects, and the geologists will also map and rock chip samples all granites at Napie and Korhogo to search for pegmatites associated with the granites in order to evaluate the potential for critical minerals.
Mako Gold is an Australian-based exploration company focused on advancing its flagship Napie Gold Project in Cote d’Ivoire located in the West African Birimian Greenstone Belts.
Images: Mako Gold Ltd
