Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc press release
Montage Gold Provides Exploration Update on the Sissédougou Trend at Its Koné Project in Côte d'Ivoire
NYSE - New York Stock Exchange · Jersey
Montage Gold Provides Exploration Update on the Sissédougou Trend at Its Koné Project in Côte d’Ivoire
HIGHLIGHTS:
Koné project comprises 7 mineralised trends hosting 52 identified targets with mineralization confirmed at all 23 targets drill-tested so far in 2024 and 2025, whilst scout drilling continues to identify more targets This year’s ongoing 120,000-meter drill programme has focused on the Gbongogo–Koroutou and Sissédougou trends, representing respectively 45% and 27% of the 87,595 meters already drilled in YTD-2025 The Sissédougou trend is emerging as another highly prospective area, in addition to the recently announced success on the Gbongogo–Koroutou trend where 5 satellite deposits were already delineated with a further 19 targets identified The Sissédougou trend, extending over 10km in strike length, hosts the ANV deposit and other prospective targets Indicated and Inferred Resources have both more than doubled to respectively 129koz at 1.06 g/t Au and 85koz at 1.1 g/t Au, with further growth expected as mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike over two parallel trends High grade mineralisation has been intercepted at the Kagon Main, Kagon NE, ANIII and ANV West targets Intensive target definition programme is underway, specifically targeting the multiple gold-in-saprolite anomalies that have been identified over an approximately 5 km 2 area north of the ANV deposit
Indicated and Inferred Resources for Koné satellite deposits now stand at respectively 996koz at 1.29 g/t Au and 194koz at 1.09 g/t Au, with further updates across existing and new deposits expected to be published in the coming months Koné project construction continues to rapidly progress on-budget and well on-schedule
ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, Nov. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Montage Gold Corp. (“Montage” or the “Company”) (TSX: MAU, OTCQX: MAUTF) is pleased to report that ongoing exploration at its Koné Project in Côte d’Ivoire demonstrates that the Sissédougou trend is emerging as another highly prospective area, as the resource for the ANV deposit has more than doubled since the starter resource was defined earlier this year, while several additional targets along the trend are advancing towards a maiden resource.
The Koné project comprises 7 mineralised trends hosting 52 identified targets with mineralization confirmed at all 23 targets drill-tested so far. As highlighted in Table 1 below, the 2025 ongoing 120,000-meter drill programme, which was increased from 90,000 meters following the success achieved in H1-2025, has mainly focused on the Gbongogo–Koroutou and Sissédougou trends, representing respectively 45% and 27% of the 87,595 meters drilled this year.
| Table 1: Drill programme for year-to-date 2025 – meterage by trend and target | | | | | Trend Name | Target Name | Drilling (%) | | | Koné | Koné; Petit Yao | 5,214 m | 6% | | Gbongogo-Koroutou | Gbongogo Main; Gbongogo South; Koban North; Sena; Diouma North; Koban Main; Soman 1 & 2; Gbongogo West | 39,518 m | 45% | | Lokolo | Lokolo Main; Lokolo NW; Lokolo South; Lokolo South 2; Lokolo Main North | 10,156 m | 12% | | Bafretou-Niondje | Bafretou 2 | 1,165 m | 1% | | Sissédougou | ANV; ANIII; ANV West; ANV North; Kagon | 23,804 m | 27% | | Yeré | Yere North | 5,668 m | 7% | | TZ | TZ2; TZ4 | 2,070 m | 2% | | Total Meters Drilled | 87,595 m | 100 % | |
The Gbongogo-Koroutou trend hosts 24 identified targets, of which 5 were already delineated to resource stage (Gbongogo Main, Gbongogo South, Koban North, Diouma North and Sena) and are expected to continue to grow given the ongoing drill programme. Furthermore, maiden resources are expected to be delineated as a further 19 targets were identified on the trend, of which 5 were already drill tested and advanced to pre-resource stage earlier this year.
The Sissédougou trend, which extends over 10km in strike length hosting the ANV deposit and other attractive targets, is emerging as another highly prospective area. The exploration programme on the Sissédougou trend has resulted in a further increase to the Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) at the ANV deposit, where Indicated Resources have increased by 72koz to 129koz at 1.06 g/t Au and Inferred Resources have increased by 54koz to 85koz at 1.1 g/t Au. Most notably, exploration results in the vicinity of the ANV deposit demonstrate its upside, as it remains open down dip, along strike, with further potential across parallel lineaments within 150 meters of the existing deposit. Additionally, an approximately 5 km 2 gold-in-saprolite anomaly has been identified through an extensive auger drilling campaign immediately north of the ANV deposit, whilst mineralised intercepts have been identified to the west of ANV on a possible splay of the main Sissédougou structure, indicating further exploration potential. Towards the southern extent of the trend, previously identified targets towards Kagon continue to return higher-grade mineralised intercepts.
Martino De Ciccio, CEO of Montage commented: “We are very pleased with the rapid progress being made to unlock value at our Koné project in Côte d’Ivoire where exploration efforts continue to yield strong results while construction continues to rapidly advance on-budget and well on-schedule.
We are encouraged by the growing prospectivity of the 7 mineralised trends on the property, including the Sissédougou trend, where we have drill tested nearly half of the 50+ targets identified, and all targets drill tested to date have returned positive mineralized intercepts. The project now hosts 8 higher grade satellite deposits for an aggregate of 1.0 million ounces of Indicated Resources at a grade of 1.29 g/t Au, with all deposits expected to grow alongside maiden resources at new deposits. The progress aligns with our strategic objective of integrating higher-grade material from the onset of production and thereby representing a significant return on our exploration investment.
On the construction front, we are making strong progress with some key work packages tracking up to three months ahead of schedule. In the processing plant area, we have completed all seven tanks on the first CIL train and major foundation pours have been completed. We are also pleased with the progress being made on the oxide circuit construction as its early completion may allow us to bring forward our first gold pour.
Our rapid construction progress, ongoing initiatives and exploration success continues to position us to deliver on our strategy of creating a premier African gold producer and delivering value for all our stakeholders.”
Silvia Bottero, EVP Exploration of Montage commented: “We continue to be very excited about the exploration potential at our Koné Project in Côte d’Ivoire, driven by the ongoing success of our exploration program. Our 2025 program is advancing along three parallel tracks: infill and step-out drilling of previously delineated deposits, progressing advanced targets toward maiden resource status, and testing new targets through regional scout drilling.
Following the successful mid-year resource updates at the Gbongogo South and Koban North deposits along the Gbongogo–Koroutou trend, we are pleased to now deliver a resource update at the ANV deposit on the Sissédougou Trend, where we have more than doubled both the Indicated and Inferred Resources. Mineralization remains open along strike and at depth, with large adjacent soil and gold-in-saprolite anomalies along the trend’s 10km strike yet to be tested, and we plan to continue testing these extensions through a broader, systematic step-out drilling campaign.
We anticipate further growth as drilling continues across multiple deposits and targets, whilst our results to date underscores both the quality of our land package and the effectiveness of our disciplined, results-driven exploration programme.”
ABOUT THE EXPLORATION PROGRAMME The Koné project is endowed with significant exploration potential across a 1,318km 2 existing land package where the Company has, to date, identified a total of 52 exploration targets across 7 mineralised trends (including the Koné deposit), as shown in Figure 1 below. The Company has a further 458km 2 of additional adjacent exploration properties currently under permit application, which would increase its total land package to 1,776km 2 .
Figure 1: Koné project geological trend and exploration target map
The Company utilises its well-established and tested exploration methodology that is based on a systematic approach to prioritise exploration efforts by weighing geological prospectivity against potential operational and economic parameters along with strategic considerations. Given the extensive land package, the approach undertaken is to systematically drill test best selected targets to confirm their potential and define starter resources to validate their high-grade content before undertaking larger step-out drilling campaigns. As such, 18 targets were drill tested last year, which successfully delineated starter resources for 7 higher grade satellite deposits, while another 6 targets were advanced to the pre-resource definition stage, as published in the press release dated April 8, 2025.
The 2025 ongoing 120,000-meter drill programme, which was increased from 90,000 meters following the success achieved in H1-2025, is mainly focused on the Gbongogo–Koroutou and Sissédougou trends, representing respectively 45% and 27% of the 87,595 meters over the first nine months of the year.
ABOUT THE SISSÉDOUGOU TREND
The Sissédougou Trend is a highly prospective southwest-northeast mineralised corridor extending over 10km in strike length, supported by lithostructural mapping, geophysics, soil anomalies and scout drilling. The identified exploration targets correlate to a major southwest-northeast structure, interpreted from airborne geophysics surveys. The trend hosts several lithologies, dominated by Birimian sedimentary rocks composed of interbedded sandstones, greywackes and conglomerates, intruded by felsic rocks and mafic dykes.
_Figure 2: Sissédougou __trend exploration targets and geophysical layers _
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To date, 6 targets (including the ANV west and north target areas) have been identified on the trend through an extensive soil and saprolite auger sampling and target definition programme, with further target definition underway and showing promising results. The ANV target is the most advanced target on the Sissédougou Trend, due to historical drill workings, and to date Mineral Resources has been defined over a 1.2km strike length that remains open at depth and along strike over two parallel trends. Advanced targets under investigation include Kagon Main and ANIII. Target definition programmes through shallow exploratory drilling are underway at Kagon NE, ANV West and ANV North areas. All targets tested on the trend to date have returned positive mineralised intercepts.
ANV DEPOSIT ON THE SISSÉDOUGOU TREND
Geology and mineralization Lithologies at the ANV deposit comprise moderately dipping Birimian detrital sediments, including poorly sorted, matrix-supported polymictic conglomerates locally containing sulphides (pyrite, pyrrhotite and traces of chalcopyrite) and medium to coarse-grained sandstone. Deformation is characterized by steeply dipping foliations (70°-80°) and shearing, both striking southwest-northeast (25°-30°). Conglomerate pebbles and sulphides are stretched.
Gold mineralization is hosted in conglomerates within a brittle-ductile sheared corridor, southwest-northeast striking, controlled by two early reverse faults, interpreted to have been re-activated during gold deposition. Mineralisation occurs as different types of quartz veins (± carbonate, ± sulphide, ± tourmaline), forming an anastomosing network crosscutting the conglomerate host rock. These veins display variable orientations: sub-horizontal, moderately dipping to the southwest, and steeply dipping parallel to the foliation (70-80° to the southeast). Quartz-tourmaline veins are often associated with elevated gold concentrations and also visible gold.
Figure 3: ANV deposit plan view showing optimal pit shell and drilling intercept highlights
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Drilling programme The 2025 drilling programme has successfully extended the ANV Mineral Resource along strike and at depth, whilst demonstrating a high conversion of Inferred Resources to Indicated Resources. Mineralisation has been demonstrated to exhibit continuity along strike, with both down-dip and along strike extensions remaining open. As shown in Figure 3 above, a second parallel structure has been identified, located approximately 150 meters to the southeast of the main mineralised structure, and open towards the northeast. The two main deformation (ductile-brittle shearing) corridors, presented in Figure 4 below, are continuing to be drilled in 2025 with step out drilling towards the northeast concurrent to the targeted extensions of the existing pit shell.
A total of 12,219 meters have been drilled on the ANV deposit year-to-date in 2025, completed across 122 holes, which comprised 9 DD holes for 1,798 meters, 108 RC holes for 9,790 meters, and 5 RC-DD for 631 meters, targeting both resource conversions and extensions.
High grade ore shoots have been identified across the deposit, with notable intercepts from the ongoing 2025 drilling programme including:
SDRC204: 29.0 meters at 3.55 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 38.27 g/t Au, and 1 meter at 43.04 g/t Au) and 20.0 meters at 13.10 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 76.57 g/t Au, 1 meter at 129.30 g/t Au, 1 meter at 13.01 g/t Au, and 1 meter at 10.88 g/t Au) SDRC146: 16.0 meters at 5.78 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 27.92 g/t Au, 1 meter at 20.53 g/t Au, and 1 meter at 28.32 g/t Au) SDRC207: 18.0 meters at 4.24 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 38.82 g/t Au) and 14.0 meters at 4.24 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 47.70 g/t Au)
High grade intercepts in the vicinity of ANV, and showing upside potential towards the north and ANV west areas, include:
RSDRC134: 8 meters 8.13 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 18.85 g/t Au, 1 meter at 11.46 g/t Au and 1 meter at 28.32 g/t Au) RSDRC109: 6 meters at 8.46 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 12.73 g/t Au, 1 meter at 22.2 g/t Au and 1 meter at 11.97 g/t Au) RSDRC124: 4 meters at 4.94 g/t Au (incl. 1 meter at 15.00 g/t Au)
Figure 4: ANV Deposit cross-section
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ANV upside potential A systematic auger drilling campaign was conducted during the first nine months of 2025 on the Sissédougou trend, which comprised 316 auger drilling holes for 2,282 meters. The objective of the programme was to test a north-south trending structure, located approximately 2.5km north of the ANV deposit, identified through interpretation of airborne geophysical data. Auger assays in saprolite highlighted multiple north-northeast striking gold anomalies with isocontours > 50 ppb spreading over a 2.8km strike length and covering an area of approximately 5 km 2 , as shown in Figure 5 below. The new area, referred to as ANV North, is under a target definition programme and will be subject to an initial drill testing, whilst further drilling is scheduled at ANV West area where higher-grade mineralised intercepts have been identified (8.0 meters at 8.13 g/t Au and 3.0 meters at 3.29 g/t Au in RSDRC134; 4.0 meters at 4.94 g/t Au in RSDRC124) will seek to test the potential of additional mineralised structures.
Figure 5: ANV North soil sampling results
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ANV MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE UPDATE Drilling during 2025 has resulted in the ANV deposit increasing in size, with Indicated and Inferred Resources more than doubling, as shown in Table 2 below. Indicated Resources have increased by 72koz to 129koz t 1.06 g/t Au, with Inferred Resources increasing by 54koz to 85koz at 1.1 g/t Au. The ANV deposit is expected to continue to grow as drilling continues given that mineralisation remains open both at depth and along strike, whilst parallel lineaments are subject to further evaluation. Continuity of gold mineralisation is to be tested between the ANV deposit and the gold-in-saprolite anomalies towards the north of the ANV deposit.
| Table 2: ANV Mineral Resource Estimate Variance | | | | | | | | | | | | PREVIOUS RESOURCE ESTIMATE 1 | | UPDATED RESOURCE ESTIMATE 2 | | | | | | | | Resources shown on a | Tonnage | Grade | Content | | Tonnage | Grade | Content | | Variance | | 100% basis | (Mt) | (Au g/t) | (Au koz) | | (Mt) | (Au g/t) | (Au koz) | | (Au koz) | | ANV Deposit | | | | | | | | | | | Indicated Resources | 1.6 | 1.10 | 57 | | 3.8 | 1.06 | 129 | | + 72 | | Inferred Resources | 0.88 | 1.1 | 31 | | 2.4 | 1.1 | 85 | | + 54 | | _ 1) Previous Resource Estimate as disclosed in the Company’s press release dated April 8, 2025, available on Montage’s website and on SEDAR+. 2) Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for ANV (the “Updated ANV MRE”) is reported in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). The effective date of the estimate is August 31, 2025. The Updated ANV MRE follows the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and have been completed in accordance with NI 43-101. The Updated ANV MRE was undertaken by Mr. Jonathon Abbott of Matrix Resource Consultants of Perth, Australia, who is considered to be independent of Montage Gold and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Updated ANV MRE is reported on a 100% basis and is constrained within an optimal pit shell generated at a gold price of US$2,000/ounce. The estimate is reported at gold cut-off grades of 0.60 g/t. Rounding errors are apparent. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. No Measured Resources have been estimated. See “Technical Disclosure” below for additional details. _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
As demonstrated in Figure 6 below, the pit constrained Updated ANV MRE is predominately supported by Indicated Resources, with Inferred Resources at depth. The pit shell is currently data constrained at depth and along strike, for which the ongoing drilling programme will seek to test potential down dip and along strike extensions.
_Figure 6: ANV deposit long-section highlight Mineral Resource categories _
Table 3 below presents the Updated ANV MRE across a range of cut-off grades, with a 0.60 g/t Au cut-off considered as the base case scenario.
| Table 3: ANV Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate by Cut-Off Grade | | | | | | | | Cut off | INDICATED | INFERRED | | | | | | Au g/t | Tonnage (Mt) | Grade (Au g/t) | Content (Au koz) | Tonnage (Mt) | Grade (Au g/t) | Content (Au koz) | | 0.20 | 9.1 | 0.65 | 190 | 6.0 | 0.7 | 135 | | 0.30 | 7.2 | 0.76 | 176 | 4.7 | 0.8 | 121 | | 0.40 | 5.8 | 0.86 | 160 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 113 | | 0.50 | 4.7 | 0.96 | 145 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 100 | | 0.60 | 3.8 | 1.06 | 129 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 85 | | 0.70 | 3.0 | 1.16 | 112 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 77 | | 0.80 | 2.4 | 1.27 | 98 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 67 | | For details regarding the Updated ANV MRE, including data verification, QA/QC, interpretation of exploration data, and assumptions and parameters used, and methods employed, in making such estimate, see the notes to Table 2 and “Technical Disclosure” below. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Following the increase in Mineral Resources at the ANV deposit the overall Koné project Mineral Resource Estimate (the “Updated 2025 Mineral Resource Estimate”) now stands as 5.49Moz of Indicated Resources at a grade of 0.63 g/t Au and 704koz of Inferred Resources at a grade of 0.51 g/t Au. The update represents a 626koz, or 13%, increase in the project’s Indicated Resources, and a 304koz, or 76%, increase in the Project’s Inferred Resources, at a grade of 0.63 g/t Au and 0.51 g/t Au, respectively, as compared to the Mineral Resource Estimate included in the 2024 Updated Feasibility Study, shown in Table 4 below.
Since exploration began last year, Indicated Resources for higher grade satellite deposits have grown by 476koz to 996koz at 1.29 g/t Au, with an additional 194koz at 1.09 g/t Au of Inferred Resources, and with additional deposits expected to be further delineated and updated at year-end.