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AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR PReVIeW

Mako on the attack

ako Gold Ltd’s decision to restructure of the project. was in discussions with the local Ivorian
Mthe ownership of its Napie project Mako had been earning up to 75% of entity which holds the remaining 10% of
struck an immediate chord with investors, Napie via a farm-in and JV agreement Napie and was confident a deal could be
with the Ivorian explorer attracting corner- with Perseus subsidiary Occidental Gold struck to land full project ownership in due
stone support in a $10 million equity rais- SARL but managing director Peter Led- course.
ing which all but guarantees a maiden re- widge said that arrangement was proving Post raising, Mako will boast a cash po-
source will be delivered before the end of too complicated for investors and a “clean- sition of circa $15 million to pour into ongo-
the year. er” ownership structure was required. ing exploration work which will support the
North American resource fund Dundee “People were saying to us ‘yeah but you upcoming maiden resource.
Goodman Merchant Partners and Ger- only own 51%’ and so a lot of time was Ledwidge said his company had flirted
man-based institutions Delphi Unterneh- spent talking about the structure of the with the idea of reporting the resource
mensberatung AG and Sparta AG contrib- farm-in JV and how we were working up to estimate as it stood earlier this year, but
uted $6.3 million to the placement which 75%,” Ledwidge told Paydirt. decided more drilling was needed for the
strengthens Mako’s balance sheet for “We just thought it’s cleaner this way and announcement to properly resonate with
accelerated exploration and drilling pro- the benefits for us now are twofold. We’re investors.
grammes at the flagship Tchaga prospect getting 90% of our project, so there’s no Mako has been aggressively drilling at
and other opportunities on the Napie prop- more confusion about that, and it shows Tchaga since the start of the year with Led-
erty. the endorsement in Mako with Perseus widge estimating the company has been
Pending shareholder approval later becoming a shareholder. putting about $1 million into the ground
this month, Dundee is set to emerge with “It not only endorses us for what we’ve on a monthly basis. Some of the recent
a 9.9% stake in Mako while Delphi and done on Napie, but the upside to Perseus results which will be incorporated into the
Sparta will collectively hold 12.7%. Estab- is they now get exposure to our Korhogo maiden resource include 3m @ 2.79 g/t
lished West African gold producer Perseus project which we’re hoping to drill in the gold from 20m (including 1m @ 6.73 g/t
Mining Ltd (5.1%) is another notable addi- next few months and it also exposes Per- from 21m) and 1m @ 9.04 g/t from 73m.
tion to the company’s share register after seus to any other projects that we may get “When we get money, we spend if fast,”
agreeing to sell its remaining 39% interest in the future.” Ledwidge said. “We don’t worry about
in Napie to Mako which will now own 90% Ledwidge also revealed the company whether I’ll have a salary three years from

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