Many Peaks Minerals (ASX:MPK) has begun diamond drilling at the Ferké gold project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Diamond drilling follows completion of 6,756m of auger drilling at Ferké, and 8,089m of air core drilling at the Odienné gold project. Assay results are pending for both Odienné air core drilling and Ferké auger drilling programs.
At Ferké, the current campaign of diamond drilling is focused on better defining the geologic controls to high grade gold intercepts in previous drilling, where results included 45.3m @ 3.16g/t gold from 45.9m (FNDC001) and 39.7m @ 3.54g/t gold from 51.4m.
Ferké auger drilling covered the southern-most 9km extent of the more than 16km long Leraba gold trend, targeting extension to the high-grade gold intercepts in previous drilling. Diamond and auger results from these initial drill tests by Many Peaks will be integrated over the coming months to prioritise multiple targets at Ferké focused on extending the footprint of gold mineralisation in planned follow-up drill programs.
At Odienné, project air core drilling targeted multiple gold anomalies across over 16km of strike extent prioritised in recent auger results (refer to ASX release dated 20 August 2024). The priority targets are located within the same high-strain corridor that hosts Predictive Discovery’s 5.4Moz Au Bankan deposit in neighbouring Guinea, and recent gold-copper discoveries by Awalé Resources/Newmont joint venture permits located immediately to the south of Odienné on adjoining land holdings.
Located in northern Cote d’Ivoire the Ferké Gold Project (Ferké) is 300 sq. km land holding located approximately 40km east of Ferkessédougou, and 90km east of Korhogo, which is serviced by daily flights from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s largest city.
Many Peaks completed its initial auger drilling campaign in the December quarter, drilling 6,756m of auger and extending the auger sampling coverage at Ferké by 9km along the southern extent of the Leraba trend that overlaps the Ouarigue South prospect.
The shallow auger drilling (3 to 15m drill depth) is completed to sample in-situ clay weathered material located beneath a shallow horizon of either transported, and/or indurated material that is predominantly depleted (leached) of gold.
Soils and shallow trenching can be an ineffective test of the tenor and continuity of mineralisation in the near surface environment and pending auger results are anticipated to refine and provide a more cost-effective approach to exploration at Ferké. Results of auger drilling are expected in the coming weeks.
Success in initial RC drill tests was followed up with additional trenching and diamond drilling in 2019 and 2020, which identified an outcropping intrusion body associated with gold mineralisation extending over 250m in extent along a north-south trend and included results from channel sampling of 114m @ 2.50g/t gold, including 78m @ 3.52g/t gold at surface in trench FNTR035.
Follow-up diamond drilling has intercepted 18m @ 3.38 g/t gold within 40.4m @ 1.88g/t gold from 105.6m drill depth followed by 19m @ 1.19g/t gold from 160m and 13.65m @ 2.13 g/t gold from 194m in hole FNDC018.
Diamond drilling is currently in progress with a minimum of five holes planned for over 1,000m, with both the auger and diamond programmes focused on identifying extensions to high-grade gold mineralisation at Ouarigue South.
