The new licence (PR0857) has been granted for an initial term of 4 years, with two 3-year extensions
KORE Mining has announced results from H2 2019 exploration programs at the Long Valley gold project. (Credit: Pixabay/Steve Bidmead)
Australia-based gold mining firm Manas Resources has secured a new 347km2 exploration licence near its Mbengué gold project, in Côte d’Ivoire.
The new licence increases the project area from 300km2 to over 647km2.
Named Dielle, the new licence (PR0857) has been granted for an initial term of 4 years, with two 3-year extensions possible under the Ivorian mining code.
Manas stated that the new licence area contains the continuation of geochemical and geochemical anomalies on the existing licence area, including the 12km strike length Mbengué Shear Zone and the 25km strike length Tongon Shear Zone.
PR0857 will be covered with regional soil geochemical sampling to identify targets for follow up drilling.
Mbengué gold project is located in highly potential Senoufo greenstone belt
The project is located 6km north of Barrick Gold’s Tongon mine and 40km southeast of Resolute Mining’s Syama mine in the highly potential Senoufo greenstone belt.
Manas had carried out soil geochemistry, drilling campaigns and geophysical surveys on the Mbengué permit (PR272), identifying several bedrock gold occurrences including the 9km long Madala-Turaco target.
Since 2018, the existing licence area is held by Perseus Mining’s subsidiary Occidental Gold.
The company stated that it can earn a 70% stake in the permit through sole-funding exploration activities.
Manas chairman Alan Campbell said: “We are delighted to have increased the size of the MGP project in Cote d’Ivoire. Manas has been systematically exploring at Mbengué and our activities have already identified a number of major structures with potential to host significant gold deposits.
“The Company has been diligently trying to expand its footprint in the area during the course of 2019. The newly expanded MGP project area is well located close to existing mine infrastructures in an underexplored portion of the highly-prospective Senoufo greenstone belt.
“With its strong cash position and low burn rate, the Company is ideally placed to take advantage of any exploration success as our activities progress through 2020.”
Manas is a gold explorer with a focus on early-stage exploration acquisitions and project generation in West Africa.