A year and a half of meticulous and aggressive drilling has led to an outstanding maiden resource publication at Many Peaks Minerals’ (ASX: MPK) Ferké project, defining a 1.323Moz at 1.54g/t Au deposit, 1.3Moz of which can be open-pit mined and with 83% in the Measured and Indicated categories – while 45% of the contained ounces are located in the upper 250m section of the resource, presenting a very low strip ratio production opportunity in early years of mining. The resource is reported inside a pit shell at a 0.38g/t cut-off grade, using a US$2,400/oz gold price, conservative 56° pit slopes and a 90% recovery assumption, even though MPK’s preliminary metallurgy averaged 94%. SCP has initiated coverage with a $2.60 price target and have modelled a 116kozpa mine that produces at an AISC of US$1,683/oz based on the current resource – equating to US$330 million annual pre-tax, undiscounted cashflow at the current gold price of US$4,530/oz. The resource is contained within 1.5km of strike, down to a depth of 600m and at a true width of mostly 55-70m. There is high grade material at the bottom of the pit with zones that average 4g/t Au, and MPK sees potential to extend this down another 400-500m into an underground zone – which could almost double the resource. 

The mineralised corridor at Ferké is at least 37km, and gold mineralisation has been intersected on every line of wide-spaced reconnaissance drilling in the northern permit through 5,447m of aircore drilling across 172 holes, and an initial 6,673m of RC drilling across 58 holes, which MPK is well funded to continue exploring with a $9.6 million cash balance. With the deposit at Ouarigue having reached critical mass, MPK is now in an advantageous position to simultaneously commence development studies and drill out Ferké with the target of a multi-million ounce resource – of which a PFS is currently in progress and expansion drilling has already commenced. Growth opportunities outside of the current resource are outlined in research coverage from SCP and Canaccord that highlight the potential to achieve over 2.5Moz. 

MPK immediately followed up the resource announcement with assays that bolster its confidence and extend its parameters, having just last week released intercepts such as 106.7m at 2.52g/t Au from 154.75m including 17.95m at 8.21g/t Au, as well as 95m at 2.28g/t Au from 253m including 8m at 9.29g/t Au and 8.6m at 8.83g/t Au. These follow the standout assays from the maiden resource which include 47m at 3.72g/t Au from surface, 45m at 8.58g/t Au from 104m including 25m at 14.8g/t Au from 116m, 84.8m at 3.01g/t Au from 295.8m, including 7.5m at 9.27g/t Au, as well as 75.0m at 6.11g/t Au from 427m, including 7m at 52.9g/t Au. The MRE incorporates 193 DD and RC holes for 39,109m, including 141 drill holes for 33,617m drilled by MPK since 2025 – so with 2 drill rigs on site and another RC rig being mobilised, the company could definitely have increased output in 2026.

There is extensive research coverage on MPK, and the company exceeded expectations of all of the previous estimates that were speculated. Most of the reports also have exciting forecasts on development and production potential, and MPK’s current $1.01 share price is well below all price targets. Morgan’s had a $1.92/share price target before the MRE, based on a 1Moz at 1.1g/t deposit and an initial 7.5-year operation producing 110kozpa at an AISC of $2,525/oz. Morgans subsequently jacked its target price up to $2.48/share – implying 134% upside from MPK’s current share price.

SCP initiated coverage after the MRE publication with a $2.60/share price target, based on a 116kozpa mine with an NPV of US$829 million at US$3,600/oz gold price, which would grow to US$1.4 billion at US$4,800/oz. SCP also sees potential for Ferké to get to 3Moz. It had internally modelled a 1.03Moz at 1.83g/t Au resource that extended down to 500m vertical depth before the resource was released, but MPK was able to take the pit down to just over 600m and add metasediment-hosted ounces along the shear zone that met forecast production thresholds. 

Canaccord’s pre-resource price target was $1.85/share based on a maiden MRE of 1.1Moz at 1.3g/t Au, so this will likely be hiked – and the group also sees more than 2.6Moz of potential just in the 17km of strike in the Northern permit of Ferké. At $1.01/share, MPK is currently trading at a $139 million market cap with $9.6 million in cash for a $129.4 million enterprise value. Assuming 76.5% ownership of the Ferké project, this implies a $128/oz EV/Resource ratio – which is well below all of its price targets and relevant peer comparisons – of which West African gold developers trade at an average of $200/oz. You can read all of our coverage on MPK here.

MPK Managing Director Travis Schwertfeger delivered this resource with incredible efficiency, at an all inclusive cost of only $11.25/oz, including all acquisition and discovery expenses. As the company moves into its feasibility and development stages, having Mattew Scully as COO is the perfect set up given he 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. 

This MRE takes Ferké firmly into the territory of being a geological comparison to the Bonikro deposit, which has produced 1.4Moz at 1.63g/t Au, with life of mine resources and reserves estimated at 2.5Moz – and is very profitably producing at an AISC US$1,755/oz with 1.08g/t Au ore and a recovery rate of 93.8%. If MPK discovers another deposit similar to Ouarigue at Ferké, it would be well on its way to becoming the next Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI), which at the time of its October merger announcement with Robex Resources (ASX: RXR) was valued at a $1.2 billion market cap – with a 5.53Moz at 1.66g/t Au resource. The combined value of the West African gold entity at that time was $2.35 billion, with total resources of 9.52Moz at 1.29g/t Au and RXR being in production – but has since surged to $4.5 billion.

What makes the maiden resource extremely impressive is the internal quality of the inventory and the truly widespread, bulk-tonnage nature of the mineralisation. While the resource has been pit constrained, MPK’s grade-tonnage sensitivity shows that increasing the cut-off grade to 0.8g/t Au still results in a 17.6Mt at 2.05g/t Au for 1.16Moz resource, while at 1.0g/t Au it still contains 14.3Mt at 2.32g/t Au for 1.07Moz, and at 1.4g/t Au it still contains 9.6Mt at 2.88g/t Au for 890koz. Stripping back 64% of the tonnage while only losing 33% of the ounces shows the resource is not being held together by marginal tonnes, and it’s worth pointing out the recent takeover of African Gold (ASX: A1G) and its 989koz at 2.5g/t resource. After trading around $174/oz, its acquirer CAD$5.4 billion market cap Montage Gold Corp (TSX: MAU) made an all-scrip bid late last year which initially valued A1G at almost $300/oz, with MAU’s subsequent huge increase in share price moving this up to $534/oz upon closing of the deal last week.

The long section of Ouarigue’s MRE can be seen below, which shows the pit outline and grade dispersion along with many of the standout assays that make up the resource. It also highlights the deposit being widely open at depth – where grades have increased – displaying clear potential for underground production after the pit has been mined:

Source: MPK

Ouarigue can be seen below in the context of the project’s 37km of strike. It shows the standout assays from the MRE, as well as some of the better aircore hits along strike that may very well contain additional resource growth that can be added to the MRE with in-fill drilling. The map also highlights the artisanal workings within the Ferké South application area, where historical mining has taken place and high-grade rock chips up 118g/t Au have been collected along an interpreted intrusion contact that strikes up to 4km – but is yet to be drilled:

Source: MPK

The zoomed-in plan map of Ouarigue’s mineralised corridor factors in the new assays from last week that further demonstrate grade continuity along the mineralised shear and high geological confidence within the mineralised intrusion, with further results including 81.32m at 2.69g/t Au from 28.2m including 2.8m at 11.1g/t Au and 18m at 4.67g/t Au, as well as 70m at 1.54g/t Au from 349m including 10.8m at 5.85g/t Au:

Source: MPK

Two diamond drill rigs are currently spinning at Ferké and RC drilling is expected to get underway in the next week for regional exploration drilling, so newsflow will continue to be heavy as MPK aggressively progresses towards an MRE update later in the year.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and marketing purposes only, and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest. All opinions expressed are our own. We may receive fees or other forms of compensation in connection with the publication of this content, and may own shares in any of the mentioned companies. Please do your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.