For more detailed technical information on the Koné Gold Project, please see the Technical Reports section of the website. For more up-to-date information on the Koné Gold Project, please download the latest Corporate Presentation.
Overview
The Koné Gold Project (“KGP”, or the “Project”) is located approximately 350 kilometres north-west of Yamoussoukro, the political capital of Côte d’Ivoire, and approximately 600 kilometres north-west of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the country.
The original land package included the 300 km2 Koné Exploration Permit (PR 262), the 362 km2 Faradougou Exploration Permit (PR 748) and three exploration permit applications totalling 780km2. In June 2022, Montage announced the acquisition of the Mankono property package, adding 893km2 to the land package for a consolidated land position of 2,259km2. The addition permits contain at least 14 drill-ready targets, including the high-grade Gbongogo prospect. See press releases dated June 8, 2022, and September 8, 2022, for more detail.
Montage believes the Koné deposit has the potential to become the centre of gravity in new gold district with the potential to exploit numerous small, higher-grade satellite deposits the effect of which will be to further improve Project economics.
The Project is ideally situated near existing infrastructure and is accessible year-round via asphalt road and has access to ample water resources.
The Koné Exploration Permit hosts the Koné deposit which currently comprises an Indicated Mineral Resource of 225Mt grading 0.59g/t for 4.27Moz (at a 0.20g/t cut-off) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 22Mt grading 0.45g/t for 0.32Moz (at a 0.20g/t cut-off) (the “August 2021 MRE”).
August 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate
| Cut-off Grade | Indicated | Inferred | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Au g/t | Mt | Au g/t | Au Moz | Mt | Au g/t | Au Moz |
| 0.1 | 278 | 0.51 | 4.56 | 32 | 0.35 | 0.36 |
| 0.2 | 225 | 0.59 | 4.27 | 22 | 0.45 | 0.32 |
| 0.3 | 168 | 0.70 | 3.78 | 14 | 0.56 | 0.25 |
| 0.4 | 128 | 0.82 | 3.37 | 9.0 | 0.69 | 0.20 |
| 0.5 | 99.1 | 0.92 | 2.93 | 5.9 | 0.81 | 0.16 |
| 0.6 | 76.9 | 1.03 | 2.55 | 3.9 | 0.95 | 0.12 |
| 0.7 | 59.9 | 1.14 | 2.20 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.10 |
| 0.8 | 46.8 | 1.25 | 1.88 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.07 |
Notes:
- Indicated Mineral Resources and Inferred Mineral Resources are reported in accordance with NI 43-101 with an effective date of the 12th of August 2021, for the Koné deposit within the KGP.
- The updated MRE is reported on a 100% basis and is constrained within an optimal pit shell generated at a gold price of US$1,500/ounce.
- The identified Mineral Resources are classified according to the “CIM” definitions of Indicated Mineral Resources and Inferred Mineral Resources.
- The updated MRE was prepared by Mr. Jonathon Abbott of MPR Geological Consultants of Perth, Australia who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
- The estimates at 0.2g/t cut-off grade represent the base case or preferred scenario.
- Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
History
Over the last 12 years exploration on the Koné Gold Project (formally the Morondo Gold Project) has been run by the same local team working for a number of different companies but throughout under the direction of Montage CEO, Hugh Stuart.
The application for the Koné Exploration Permit was made by Red Back Mining in 2008 with soil sampling and trenching leading to the first shallow drilling by Red Back in 2010 just prior to the company’s acquisition by Kinross.
In 2013, Sirocco Gold, run by the ex-Red Back Management optioned the permit from Kinross and completed follow up shallow RC drilling defining the extents of the Koné deposit.
In 2017, Orca Gold, again run by the same ex-Red Back management acquired the full permit package from Kinross for stock and the pace of exploration increased with the first deeper RC drilling, 528m of core drilling to provide samples for initial metallurgical test work and following positive results a 13,360m RC program leading to the Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate in October 2018 (the “October 2018 MRE”).
Exploration completed by Montage from its formation in August 2019 up to the point of its initial public offering (“IPO”) in October 2020 focussed on expanding the knowledge of the Koné deposit at depth and extending surface geochemistry across previously unsampled eastern part of the permit.
Upon completion of the Company’s IPO, Montage first conducted a 20,000m expansion drill program during Q4 2020, targeting resource expansion below the depth extent of the October 2018 MRE. This drilling was successful in delineating a 4.00Moz Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate in January 2021 (the “January 2021 MRE”).
From January 2021 through July 2021, Montage completed approximately 60,000m of infill drilling to convert the Inferred Mineral Resource to the Indicated category. The outcome of the infill program was the initial Indicated Mineral Resource reported in the August 2021 MRE. The drilling was not only successful in converting effectively 100% of the January 2021 Inferred Mineral Resource, but also resulted in overall growth of the Koné deposit.
Geology & Mineralization
The Koné Gold Project lies over the southern part of the Birrimian aged Boundiali Basin and covers the extensions of the regional scale and highly prospective Tongon and Syama shear systems.
The mineralization at Koné is hosted within a 150-330m wide complex quartz diorite package which dips 45-50° west and strikes north-south, and is interpreted as a series of intrusions rather than a single coherent intrusion. The diorite package is intruded into folded mafic volcaniclastic country rocks. Metamorphic grade in the area is upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies. A foliation striking north-south and dipping 45-50° to the west is consistent throughout the area.
The hanging wall contact of the diorite package with the overlying volcaniclastic package is well defined by current drilling and is marked by thin dykes of diorite and a 10-20m thick, barren diorite body.
In the footwall, mafic volcaniclastic rocks dominate the geology and are also intruded by thin, foliation parallel diorite dykes which have weak gold values associated with their contacts. Folds observed in the volcaniclastic rocks typically plunge between 10-40° towards the southwest.
The diorites are coarse to fine-grained, grey in colour and composed of domains of plagioclase ± quartz and domains of mafic minerals – dominantly biotite. Grain size variations are common and coarse grained and fine-grained variations are captured by the core logging and often have sharp, measurable contacts which suggest the diorite is a polyphase composite intrusive with multiple pulses of diorite (of the same composition and appearance) intruding into each other. However, the coarse and fine components of the package can also have soft gradational contacts and grade into one another progressively.
Mineralization
Mineralization at Koné is characterized by mineralized true widths of between 170 and 330m at average grades of between 0.5g/t and 1.2g/t.
The diorite intrusion is consistently mineralized with gold associated with 1-3% fine, disseminated pyrite with elevated gold grades related to an increase in the frequency of 1-5mm quartz + calcite + pyrite veinlets which are oriented north-south and dipping 45-50° west, consistent with the foliation.
Hydrothermal alteration is weak and dominated by biotite. Silicification is rare.
The cross section below illustrates the resource shells from the January 2021 MRE, the August 2021 MRE and the May 2021 PEA. The section clearly demonstrates the remarkable continuity of mineralization across extreme widths, the natural dip of the deposit as well the presence of higher-grade portions within the resource. It is these attributes of the Koné deposit that position the KGP to be a low-cost, large scale open pit as demonstrated by the results of the May 2021 PEA.
