Mako Gold Ltd (ASX:MKG) has completed a drilling program at the Napié Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire just as the wet season started and expects to receive assay results in the coming weeks.
This reverse circulation (RC) program comprised 27 holes for a total of 4,141 metres, exceeding the originally planned 3,600 metres.
The company’s geology team is still on the ground finalising the splitting and sampling of drill samples to submit to the laboratory for assay.
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Managing director Peter Ledwidge and general manager exploration Ann Ledwidge were on-site during the drilling program.
Peter Ledwidge said: “We are pleased to have completed our RC drilling on the Napié Project in Côte d’lvoire ahead of the wet season, which has already started.
“The timely execution of the extended drill program prior to the wet season is due to the hard work and dedication of our team on the ground.
“Mako looks forward to providing assay results of the drilling program shortly.”
The purpose of the program was to follow-up previous results in strategic locations.
Drilling focused primarily on Tchaga prospect with limited drilling also completed to regionally test between the Tchaga and Gogbala prospects.
Previous intersections from Tchaga include 8 metres at 8.53 g/t from 31 metres and 28 metres at 4.86 g/t from 83 metres while best result from Gogbala was 12 metres at 5.39 g/t from 11 metres.
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The most recent campaign at Tchaga resulted in 24 RC holes for 3,664 metres, exceeding the planned 2,700 metres.
This drilling tested 1.4 kilometres of strike length to infill and extend the 500-metre-long broad zones of gold mineralisation identified to date, which represents a small part of the plus-17-kilometre shear zone.
Based on geological evidence observed during this program, additional sections were drilled in order to better test the extent of mineralisation.
This decision was made because the company believes it is the best approach to progress towards a JORC-compliant resource.
Regional program
Mako also completed three RC holes for 447 metres to test the interpreted shear in an undrilled area between Tchaga and Gogbala.
It appears that mineralisation intersected at both prospects is part of the same system and both lie along the recently interpreted 17km-long shear zone.
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The three holes tested one area with fewer holes drilled than originally planned 900 metres due to the extra drilling at Tchaga.
Management deemed it to be better value to try to advance the Tchaga prospect quickly rather than focus on regional exploration at this stage.
Niou drilling rescheduled
The additional Tchaga drilling also caused delays for a planned drilling program at the Niou project in Burkina Faso.
With the onset of the rain, this drilling has been rescheduled until after the wet season, which usually ends in late October to early November.
Mako Gold has a farm-in and JV agreement with Occidental Gold SARL, a subsidiary of West African gold miner Perseus Mining Limited (ASX:PRU) to earn up to 75% of the Napié permit conditional on achieving certain milestones.