Montage expands West Africa presence with new Mauritania exploration permits

Montage Gold (TSX: MAU) is expanding its presence in West Africa after securing new exploration tenements in Mauritania.

On Tuesday, Montage announced that it has been awarded five greenfield exploration permits covering over 2,100 km² in two “highly prospective” regions of northern Mauritania following a competitive tender process.

Four of the tenements have been secured in the Sfariat exploration block, where the permits were directly awarded to the company. A further permit was secured within the Zednes exploration block, which Montage has 80% rights to. Both blocks, according to Montage, are underexplored.

The receipt of these tenements is “another step towards executing our strategy of creating a premier multi-asset African gold producer,” CEO Martino De Ciccio stated in a press release.

The company’s main focus has been the Koné project in Côte d’Ivoire, which is scheduled for first gold pour by year-end and expected to deliver over 300,000 oz. in its first eight years of operation. Montage also holds several other assets in the West African country, with the Didievi project acquired late last year being next closest to production.

Expanded portfolio

The newly awarded blocks mark Montage’s first entrance into Mauritania, host to gold operations such as Kinross’ (TSX: K) Tasiast and First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX: FM) Guelb Moghrein.

“We are pleased to be expanding our exploration portfolio into Mauritania, in a geologically exciting context, where we have been granted our top priority selected tenements following an in-depth review of existing geophysical, geochemical and geological mapping data,” EVP exploration Silvia Bottero said.

Montage Gold shares rose as much as 3.3% to C$16.83 apiece on the latest update, near its all-time high of C$17.02. The Canadian-based miner has a market capitalization of approximately C$6.1 billion ($4.4 billion).