Mako Gold Limited (ASX: MKG) has announced high-grade assay results including 13 metres averaging 20.82 g/t gold from the ongoing 10,000 metre RC and DD program on the Tchaga Prospect within its Napié Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
The company announced that assay results were received for a further 5 RC holes of the 10,000m ongoing drill program. MKG said that very high-grade assays include 13m at 20.82g/t Au from 32m; including 9m at 29.45g/t Au and includes multiple high-grade single metre assays up to 102.5g/t Au.
Mako reported that the geological interpretation of cross-cutting structures indicates the presence of high-grade shoots approximately every 300m along strike. The company said that additional drilling targets have been generated based on this updated geological interpretation.
Napié project
Mako Gold’s Napié Project is located in the north central part of Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa. It is 30km southeast of the city of Korhogo and covers a strike length of 30km over a highly prospective land package of 225km2.
The Napié project is located in West Africa’s prolific Birimian Greenstone Belt, which hosts more than 70 gold deposits of more than 1Moz each.
Mako currently holds a 51% interest in the Napié Project and is the operator, and is earning up to a 75% interest in the Napié Project under a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Occidental Gold SARL, a subsidiary of West African gold miner Perseus Mining Limited.
Significant prospects within the Napié project include the Tchaga Prospect and the Gogbala Prospect.
The Tchaga Prospect is associated with a +40ppb gold soil anomaly coincident with a +30km-long shear zone, thought to be a major control for gold mineralisation.
Drilling at Tchaga prospect
The company had commenced a 10,000 metre reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling (DD) program on the Tchaga Prospect. Mako said that the planned 90-hole RC drill program is scheduled to run through to December 2020.
MKG said that the drill program follows up on positive results received on the Tchaga Prospect in order to advance towards a JORC maiden resource.
High-grade historic results
Previous select drill results received include 36m at 3.09g/t Au from 43m – hole NARC107; 28m at 4.86g/t Au from 83m – hole NARC057; 25m at 3.43g/t Au from 53m – hole NARC017; 14m at 5.46g/t Au from surface – hole NARC124; 18m at 3.25g/t Au from 39m – hole NARC080; 23m at 2.46g/t Au from 15m – hole NARC084; 17m at 2.43g/t Au from 86m – hole NARC055; 30m at 1.16g/t Au from 117m – hole NARC101; 7.7m at 11.65g/t Au from 169.9m – hole NARC058DD; and 4m at 8.24g/t Au from 70m – hole NARC130
Assays received for additional 5 RC holes
Mako announced that assay results have been received for an additional 5 RC drill holes of the planned 90-hole drill program. With this, assays have now been received for 24 of the planned 90 holes.
High-grade results received
MKG reported that highly encouraging results were received from the five RC holes, NARC141, NARC142, NARC143, NARC144, and NARC145.
Very high-grade assays include NARC145: 13m at 20.82g/t Au from 32m; including 9m at 29.45g/t Au, includes multiple high-grade single metre assays up to 102.5g/t Au.
The intervals above 0.5g/t Au cut-off are shown below.
High-grade shoots every ~300m strike
The company said that the increasing geological understanding of the gold mineralisation encountered in drilling at Tchaga indicates the presence of high-grade zones approximately at least every 300m along strike.
MKG said that these high-grade zones, including the high-grade intercept in NARC145, are associated with cross-cutting structures. Mako said that the ongoing drilling will continue to target these zones to test for further high-grade plunging shoots.
The company noted that the Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysical survey is proving to be an extremely useful tool for delineating the overall north-south orientation of the mineralised zones.
Next steps
Mako reported that RC and diamond drilling is planned along strike and at depth to follow up the recent results reported.
Management comments
Mako’s Managing Director, Peter Ledwidge said: “We are very encouraged by our latest drilling results that demonstrate thick and high-grade gold mineralisation within 50 vertical metres of surface and open in multiple directions. This is consistent with our strategy to define significant shallow gold mineralisation within our +30km corridor.
The reported 13m at 20.82g/t Au is not the result of a single high-grade assay with lesser assays spread out over the reported interval, but rather a combination of 1 metre assays which include 102.5g/t Au, 60.51g/t Au, 39.31g/t Au and 24.23g/t Au.
Although most of the mineralisation intersected in drilling to date seems to be associated with the north-south trending shears, it appears that the high-grade encountered in NARC145 is associated with the intersection of one of the many southwest-northeast trending cross structures which may represent dilational zones. It is common to intersect high-grade shoots in these secondary dilational structures.
This has provided us with greater geological insight within our project area and allowed us to define a range of new drill targets. We will be targeting more of these dilational zones in future drilling while also testing along the north-south structures.”