According to a report on Mining News.net, diamond drilling at the Ouarigue South prospect within the Ferke gold project in north-east the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, operated by Many Peaks Minerals (MPM), has revealed an expansion of the orebody.
The second phase of drilling included five holes with a total footage of 2,306 meters. Partial results from three holes indicate a thick orebody with mineralization starting from the surface and apparently extending at depth.
The most significant intersection was 201 meters from the surface, with a gold grade of 1.12 g/t. Within this, a 19-meter intersection at 72 meters depth had a grade of 3.72 g/t, including a 6-meter section with a grade of 10 g/t.
The second hole extended the down-dip orebody at Ouarigue South, intersecting 72 meters of ore at 234 meters depth with a gold grade of 2.1 g/t, including a 31-meter section with a grade of 3.9 g/t.
Another hole intersected ore from the surface, with the final hole not penetrating the orebody. Partial samples indicate a 79-meter intersection at 29 meters depth with a gold grade of 1.233 g/t, including a 4.5-meter section with a grade of 5.05 g/t.
The deepest hole visually inspected to date encountered a 217-meter felsic intrusive body between 230 and 448 meters, further extending the orebody downward by 188 meters.
MPM is still attempting to understand the orientation of the Ouarigue South fault and vein trends and will need to test additional drill hole orientations to better understand the shape and width of the orebody at depth.
Despite this, MPM manager Travis Schwertfeger stated that the felsic intrusive body increases in size downward, with gold grades also rising.
High-grade feeder structures were intersected outside the intrusive body, as predicted.
MPM has a significant amount of data pending. In addition to samples from eight diamond core drill holes, there are 5,774 meters of air core samples.
Work at Ferke will involve 6,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling, with an additional 4,000 meters of diamond drilling. A second diamond drill rig will be mobilized to the site to expedite drilling efforts.
The Ouarigue deposit extends at least 1.4 kilometers along strike and is associated with a regional shear zone.
Schwertfeger stated that if MPM hopes to make an initial resource estimate for Ferke, it will need to accelerate exploration based on the success of the past four months.
Additionally, the company has commenced reverse circulation drilling following the completion of the first air core program at its Odienne project in north-west the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.
The target area at Odienne is along the Sassandra Fault Zone, with gold deposits in neighboring Guinea to the west, including Predictive Discovery's Bankan gold project.
