Desert Metals (ASX:DM1) has commenced 2,000 metres of phase one aircore (AC) drilling at the Tiogo gold prospect within the Tengrela South project in northern Côte d’Ivoire, with the forty-hole program set up to target an untested 900-metre mineralised corridor between high-grade AC intercepts.
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A previous aircore drilling program at Tiogo had once returned high-grade results of 12 metres at 4.20 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and eight metres at 6.47 g/t gold, in holes 900 metres apart, with no drilling between them.
MD, Stephen Ross, said the new program forms part of a larger 120-hole, 6000m AC drilling program planned across the Tiogo and Kakologo prospects in 2026.
“This first phase is specifically designed to close the gap between these two high-grade intercepts and further test the compelling IP and soil geochemistry anomalies highlighted by our recent ground geophysics,” Mr Ross said.
A subsequent gradient array induced polarisation (GAIP) survey confirmed that the high-grade intercepts sit on the margin of a four-kilometre anomaly.
The current drilling program is also designed to further test the IP anomalies located coincident with gold-in-soil anomalies, as identified by the GAIP ground geophysics survey.
Drilling is also designed to define mineralised corridor(s) ahead of a potential maiden resource RC drill-out. Notably, Tiogo is only 30km on-strike from Perseus Mining’s operating Sissingué gold mine, with the Tengrela South permit sitting on the southern border of that mine licence.
The project target area is also strategically located directly between the Sissingué licence and Aurum Resources’ (ASX:AUE) Boundiali permit.
“Perseus has recently invested $23.69 million in Aurum Resources via an equity placement, with the majority of the funds to be used to drill the Boundiali project,” Mr Ross told shareholders today.
Meanwhile, Desert has completed permit-wide stream sediment sampling with 256 samples collected across the 228 sq. km Adzope gold project in southern Côte d’Ivoire.
First results are expected in the second half of April CY26 for a program designed to evaluate the prospectivity of the broader Adzope permit beyond the lead King Kong prospect and develop a pipeline of new exploration targets.
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