Montage Gold Corp. TSXV:MAU [OTCQX:MAUTF] has said that it is making rapid progress to discover and delineate higher-grade exploration targets at its flagship Koné project in Côte d’Ivoire, with the goal of further improving the production profile from the commencement of exploration operations.
Based on the Feasibility Study published this year, the Koné project ranks as one of the highest quality gold projects in Africa with a long 16-year mine life, low AISC of $998/oz over its life of mine, and sizeable annual production of +300koz of gold over the first 8 years.
Due to historical work conducted on the extensive 2,259 sqkm land package which hosts Montage’s Kone deposit, significant exploration potential has been demonstrated, with over 150km of mineralized structures identified across more than 35 targets within seven mineralized trends.
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In order to prioritize efforts, a first 30,000-meter drill programme, amounting to US$6 million, is currently underway and is expected to be completed in late July 2024, with the goal of testing 15 targets across three mineralized trends. High grade targets in proximity to the Koné and Gbongogo Main deposits, within the proposed mining permit area and near the haul road, are being prioritized during this first drilling campaign.
A total of 21,175 meters have been drilled in H1-2024, with high grade intercepts returned from several targets.
A second 60,000-meter drill programme is expected to be launched in late Q3-2024 with the goal of delineating resources at selected top priority targets, in addition to continuing to drill test other targets.
Martino De Ciccio, CEO of Montage, commented: “We are very pleased with the strong momentum we have built across our business in an aim to rapidly advance our Koné project towards a construction launch while seeking to further unlock value through exploration success. The drill results published today confirm the prospectivity of the Koné area and provide confidence in our ability to quickly add higher grade satellite feed.”
De Ciccio said Montage Gold was making “excellent progress” to advance detailed engineering with the goal of completing this workstream before launching construction to further de-risk the development phase. “We continue to be very pleased with the significant support received from local stakeholders, including numerous government agencies and local communities,” he said.
The environmental permit is already received and the mining permit is in the final approval phase. Montage also reported ongoing engagement with lenders who are expediently working alongside the company.
Silvio Bottero, EVP for exploration at Montage, said: “The Kone project’s significant exploration potential is already supported by the identification of 150km of mineralized structures across more than 35 targets within seven mineralized trends. Furthermore, we believe that we are just scratching the surface given that Koné is one of West Africa’s largest gold projects by land area and is located in a very favorable geological setting, being at the junction of major shearing structures hosting multimillion ounce deposits.”
Given the significant amount of historical drill data available, targets identified, and the extend of the land package, Montage Gold is now currently working on drill testing targets with the goal of completing a comprehensive screening and ranking of the targets to better inform future drill programmes.
