Manus Resources confirms presence of large IP anomalies at Mbengué gold project
Ground surveys by Manus Resources have confirmed the presence of large IP anomalies indicating the potential for kilometre-scale mineralised zones at its West African gold project.
A series of ground geophysical surveys by Manus Resources (ASX: MSR) at the Mbengué gold project in West Africa has confirmed the presence of large IP anomalies associated with discoveries made in the region earlier this year.
Surveys were conducted over the Far West, North West, Le Vieux and Madala targets of the project to build on numerous large gold-in-soil discoveries made in June over untested areas of the Côte d’Ivoire licence close to previously-drilled bedrock gold occurrences.
Past drilling at Madala by previous explorer Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) confirmed the presence of a mineralised structure with a best drill intercept of 7m grading 7.54 grams per tonne gold from 46m.
The gold mineralisation is believed to be controlled by mineralised quartz veining and disseminated sulphides.
Perseus also drilled the nearby Turaco prospect, with best results of 9m at 5.05g/t gold from 60m and 21m at 2.11g/t gold from 6m.
Madala and Turaco are located 1.7km apart, within 10km of Barrick Gold’s Tongon mine plant, and lie on strike within a substantial soil anomaly more than 9km long and striking strikes northeast to southwest.
Encouraging results
Manas said it was “highly encouraged” by the IP survey results which indicate the potential for kilometre-scale mineralised zones in the three areas outlying the main geochemical anomaly and current drilled area.
A program of auger drilling has been planned to follow up on the IP anomalies, and should be conducted after the rainy season in October and November.
Earn-in agreement
The Mbengué project is located in northern Côte d’Ivoire, in the same region as the 4.5 million-ounce Tongon gold mine, Teranga Gold Corporation’s 2.5Moz Wahgnion mine and Perseus’ 1Moz Sissingué gold mine.
The Mbengué permit covers a 300 square kilometre area of the highly-prospective Senoufo greenstone belt and is held by Perseus subsidiary Occidental Gold SARL.
Manas has an agreement with Perseus whereby it can earn a 70% stake in Mbengué by spending US$2 million on exploration across the project over two years.
In its June quarterly, the company said the exploration potential at the Mbengué permit is “considered to be very good” with numerous high-quality targets still to be tested.
At mid-afternoon, shares in Manas Resources were steady at $0.004.