Systematic exploration of the 37km long gold trend at Many Peaks Minerals (ASX: MPK) Ferké gold project continues to deliver outstanding mineralisation in terms of both continuity and grade from diamond drilling at the likely million-ounce 1.5km Ouarigue area, while AC and RC drilling is revealing numerous lookalikes along 9km of confirmed strike, and metallurgical testwork has recorded an exceptional 94% average recovery rate for sulphide material. These results have firmly demonstrated the potential for low-capex, low-cost, bulk-tonnage cyanide leach processing, materially de-risked the project that has now had over 59km of drilling since MPK acquired it in mid-2024, and have built on previous standout results of 47m at 3.72g/t Au from surface, 45m at 8.58g/t Au from 104m and 75m at 6.11g/t Au from 427m. MPK counts globally renowned institutional resources investor 1832 Asset Management as a major shareholder, and has just commenced a 15,000m DD and RC campaign – so newsflow will continue to be heavy in the coming months.
Euroz Hartleys just initiated coverage on MPK with a $1.38/share price target, based on there being at least 1Moz at 1.2g/t in the intrusive granodiorite at Ouarigue, which justifies standalone development of a 2.7Mtpa processing plant that would churn out 100kozpa. This still leaves plenty more potential upside to come given mineralisation has extended into the shear zone, and the enormous strike yet to be drilled out. The recent takeover offer of 989koz at 2.5g/t African Gold (ASX: A1G) at around $340/oz has refreshed the market’s expectations for what is possible with deposits of this size, and MPK is currently priced at an EV/Resource around $89/oz with $15.8 million in cash. This is virtually the same price we initiated coverage on in September despite the raft of positive results, while A1G has moved up from $174/oz. Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) has also just come in with a $2.1 billion offer for Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI) – potentially igniting a bidding war with PDI’s current merger partner Robex Resources (ASX: RXR). You can read our initial take on MPK here.
The monumental 21km of diamond drilling from 64 holes that MPK completed between April and October was focused solely on a 1.5km segment of Ferké, across the Ouarigue and Ouarigue South prospects, where emerging high-grade zones continue to be discovered – which will all be factored into the maiden JORC resource in H1 2026. Critical results from the final assays include 55m at 2.85g/t Au from 463m, including 6m at 11.2g/t Au, which was a brilliant extensional drilling intercept 50m South of the known mineralised intrusion body – and was then followed up with another hit 25m South of that, at a similar angle which intersected 35.7m at 3.81g/t Au from 512.3m.
MPK proceeded to vertically drill next to this section to a depth of almost 580m, which hit 10.2m at 2.33g/t Au, 8m at 1.74g/t Au and 21.35m at 0.95g/t Au. Then, 40m South of this, a spectacular intercept of 46.25m at 2.4g/t Au from 556m, including 16m at 3.39g/t Au was hit – leaving mineralisation completely open at depth in a section with fantastic grade and width. Other assays to note from the recent diamond drilling at depth include 31.77m at 3.37g/t Au from 485m, including 4.25m at 16.1g/t Au, 44m at 2.13g/t Au from 476m, including 7m at 5.38g/t gold.
The recent RC drilling targeted both nearby extensions to Ouarigue as well as major distances up to 4km South and 3.5km North of the prospect, and produced extremely encouraging results that have firmed up 9km of strike. These include 24m at 1.33g/t Au from surface, 7m at 3.16g/t Au from 77m, 8m at 1.80g/t Au from 61m, 27m at 0.54g/t Au from 51m including 9m at 0.92g/t Au, 3m at 4.55g/t Au from 114m and 7m at 0.96g/t Au from 27m. This is following a meticulous program of geophysics and AC drilling that has led MPK to these targets, which are now suitable for diamond drilling. Further RC and diamond drilling has already commenced, and will continue throughout the mammoth program that MPK has planned for 2026.
Ferké is an intrusion-hosted orogenic gold system located in northern Côte d’Ivoire, and is notably geologically similar to the Bonikro deposit (also in Côte d’Ivoire), which is interpreted as an intrusion-related gold system overprinted with orogenic mineralisation. It has produced 1.4Moz at 1.63g/t – and still retains 2.5Moz of resources and reserves.
Bonikro has been running 1.07-1.08g/t ore through a 2.5Mtpa processing plant over the past couple of quarters, and has produced at an AISC ranging from US$1,582/oz-US$1,755/oz with recovery rates between 92.8-93.8%. MPK now has bottle roll metallurgical testwork which has surpassed this level of recovery, and the drill bit has been pulling out grades that should put the maiden resource above Bonikro’s current head grade. Getting Ferké production ready for either MPK or a suitable acquirer is the perfect job for COO Mattew Scully – a gold development master who recently led the successful commissioning and operation of the $600 million, 8.4Mtpa Kiaka Gold Mine in Burkina Faso, as well as the $500 million capex Sissingué and Yaouré gold mines in Côte d’Ivoire.
As can be seen below, MPK’s rise in share price over the past year has been built through a journey of consistently hitting impressive assays that have demonstrated continuity of mineralisation at very attractive grades, and mineralised zones that keep getting bigger along strike and at depth:
Source: MPK
This is a cross section of the area 50m South of what was previously considered the main mineralised intrusion, where MPK has been able to trace new mineralisation down dip and successfully hit increasing widths and grades with depth:
Source: MPK
The mineralised corridor of Ouarigue can be seen below, along with the location of previous and current RC and DD holes in the context of near surface anomalism trends identified through auger sampling results, which have proved key geological theories at Ferké. These include there being no structural offset of the mineralised trend to the North, through a shallow step-out hole that hit 13m at 5.94g/t Au from 57m in sheared metasedimentary host rock, and the mineralised shear extending to the South with hits such as 8m at 2.57g/t Au from 140m and 10m at 2.25g/t from 405m – which show increasing grades on the shear above and below the previous hit of 13.35m at 0.8g/t Au from 313m. This is very important for a bulk tonnage operation:
Source: MPK
Below is the same cross section we showed in our initial article, which highlights a very wide section of mineralisation where MPK hit a stellar 75.0m at 6.11g/t Au from 427m, including 7m at 52.9g/t Au – which has since been followed up with 31.77m at 3.37g/t Au from 485m, including 4.25m at 16.1g/t Au:
Source: MPK
Strategically Located and with a Monster 2026 Drilling Plan
Ferké is in an advantageous part of the Ivory Coast, being just 40km away from a major urban hub – Ferkessédougou – which is the second largest city in the Northern part of the country and is placed right on a major arterial road that connects Burkina Faso and Mali. The region is undergoing significant infrastructure investment, most notably right now the US$65 million solar power station which is currently under construction and due to produce 52MW of power upon commissioning in the next couple of months.
MPK has a serious opportunity to take the enormous amount of data that it has compiled over the past 18 months and methodically apply it to the gigantic 521km2 landholding that is Ferké, and hopefully discover one Ouarigue scale deposit after another. Its valuation seems to imply this opportunity isn’t there – despite all the same tell tail signs being present along strike that initially led MPK to define the million ounces that is likely at Ouarigue.
The average 94% gold recovery at a 75micron size from bottle roll testing paves the way for MPK to go full throttle at its recently commenced 15,000m drilling campaign – which will likely be expanded into its biggest ever. With gold trading strongly around US$4,230/oz – the economics of what Ferké is are sure to be extremely exciting.
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