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Many Peaks Minerals Investor Kit
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Many Peaks Minerals
Investor Insight
Significant acquisitions of projects in some of the most prolific gold districts of Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, position Many Peaks for significant discoveries, giving the stock a compelling investment case.
Overview
Many Peaks (ASX:MPK) is an Australia-based mineral exploration company with gold assets in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, and exposure to key energy transition assets in Newfoundland, Canada. With drill-ready targets across its projects, Many Peaks aims to realise growth and value creation through exploration discovery and near-term mineral resource definition.
In West Africa, the company is focused on four recent acquisitions in Côte d’Ivoire totaling 1,919 square kilometres, including the more advanced-stage Odienné and Ferké gold projects with recent gold discoveries and more than US$4 million in previous exploration expenditures.
The company acquired a portfolio of three projects from Turaco Gold Ltd in May 2024, consolidating interests held in the projects by Turaco and Predictive Discovery Ltd. The Company’s establishment into one of the fastest growing gold regions in the world was quickly followed with a binding agreement securing an exclusive option to acquire a 100 percent interest in the Baga gold project, which comprises two permits totaling 644 square kilometres in eastern Côte d’Ivoire.
Many Peaks’ Canadian asset targets the lithium potential in Newfoundland, where an emerging lithium district is strategically positioned with access to both European and North American markets.
A management team with a range of experience throughout the natural resources industry leads the company towards achieving its goals of strengthening shareholder value through exploration.
Company Highlights
- Many Peaks is a mineral exploration company focused on advancing its gold projects in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa: Odienné, Ferké, Baga and Oumé.
- Land holding in West Africa comprises 1,919 sq km within the Birimian Gold Terrain, providing the company a strategic near-term gold resource potential
- Also holds a 100 percent interest in the Aska lithium project in Newfoundland, Canada.
- An expert management team with extensive experience throughout the natural resources industry leads the team toward fully exploring its assets.
Key Projects
Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)
Many Peaks’ assets in Côte d’Ivoire comprise four projects – Odienné, Ferké, Baga and Oumé.
Odienné Gold Project
Located in northwest Côte d’Ivoire, Odienné comprises two granted exploration permits covering a total area of 758 square kilometres. It is situated on the flexure of a regional scale structure zone hosting mineralisation to the northwest in neighbouring Guinea and immediately south along the margin of the Archean-aged Man craton.
Odienné Project location in the context of Siguiri Basin geology compilation and gold project locations regionally
Auger drilling in early 2023 defined coherent gold in saprolite anomalism, which prompted a maiden air core drilling campaign in late 2023.
Many Peaks has followed up 2023 success with aggressive exploration, expanding the project’s auger drilling coverage within weeks of acquisition. Systematic coverage of auger has succesfully defined three prioritised targets extending across more than 16 kilometres of a 30-kilometre gold anomaly.
The company is now well positioned for follow-up air core and diamond drilling campaigns to further define confirmed gold mineralisation on the project over the coming 2024-25 field season.
Ferké Gold Project
Located in northern Côte d’Ivoire, the Ferké gold project covers 300 square kilometres within a single granted exploration licence. Ferké is situated on the eastern margin of the Daloa greenstone belt at the intersection of major regional scale shear zones.
Ferké Gold Project outline with drill collar locations, including the location of the Ouarigue discovery within the >16km Leraba Gold Trend
Initial exploration work conducted at Ferké defined a more than 16-kilometre-long gold-in-soils anomaly on the Leraba Gold Trend. Previous exploration included systematic surface geochemistry, trenching and reconnaissance reverse circulation (RC) drilling across the broader Ferké area. Early success in reconnaissance RC drilling included initial intercepts into the Ouarigue target area, including results of 25 metres @ 3.06 grams per ton (g/t) gold from 64 metres in hole FNRC016.
The success in RC drilling was followed up with trenching and an initial 18 diamond drill holes, which confirmed a significant outcropping mineralised body associated with a granite intrusion, including intercepts from surface of 91.1 metres @ 2.02 g/t gold in hole FNDC008 and 47 metres @ 3.72 g/t gold from surface in hole FNDC012.
Baga Gold Project
Baga and Oumé project locations on generalised regional scale geology interpretation
The Baga gold project is a 644 sq km landholding comprising two granted permits in Côte d’Ivoire. The project is located 150 km east of the city of Bouaké and covers an underexplored region of structural complexity located just 21 km east of a recent greenfields gold discovery by Endeavour Mining, which over the past three years rapidly defined the 4.5 Moz Assafou gold resource estimate within their Tanda-Iguela permit areas.
Within weeks of securing the option to acquire a 100 percent interest in Baga, Many Peaks has completed the first surface geochemical campaign covering the project area.
The permits are situated where the southern extent of the Duango-Fitini shear zone in Côte d’Ivoire’s north forms a flexure or structural splay into the Oumé-Fetekro parallel shears within Birimian metasediments and metavolcanics. At this change of orientation in structures within the Birimian terrane the Baga project area also covers the intersection, or truncation of the Bui Belt structural trend which hosts Tarkwaiian sediments and conglomerate units extending east and northeast into central Ghana. Baga Gold represents a highly prospective area to advance exploration activity by Many Peaks.
Oumé Gold Project
The Oumé project is an early-stage exploration asset located in south-central Côte D’Ivoire. It comprises a single exploration permit (the Beriaboukro licence) and is situated on the Oumé-Fetekro belt, historically one of Côte d’Ivoire’s most productive greenstone belts. The area is host to Allied Gold’s 2.5 million-ounce (Moz) Bonikro, the 1.9 Moz Agbaou gold deposit and Endeavour’s 3 Moz Lafigué gold project.
Newfoundland (Canada)
Aska Lithium
Many Peaks’ 100-percent-owned Aska project is approximately 45 kilometres east of Cape Ray, Newfoundland. The project covers 193 square kilometres in proven lithium terrane and is situated in a growing lithium district known to host lithium-caesium-tantalum type pegmatites.
Management Team
Travis Schwertfeger - Executive Chairman
Travis Schwertfeger is a geologist with over 25 years of global industry experience primarily in gold and copper projects across Africa, Australia, Africa and the Americas. Schwertfeger has previously held several technical roles in exploration and production, including over seven years operating in West Africa with Newmont Mining and other ASX-listed explorers. He has prior experience as a director of ASX-listed mineral resource companies through previous roles, including a former role with Exore Resources (acquired by Perseus in September 2020 for ~A$80m).
Ben Phillips - Non-executive Director
Ben Phillips has more than 15 years of experience in commercial negotiations and has worked in several industries, including oil and gas, resource, technology and defence. He provides advice on a wide range of operational aspects, from R&D and exploration to production, commercialization and sales. Phillips is the executive chairman of Norfolk Metals (ASX:NFL), was previously a non-executive director at Bronson Group (ASX:BGR) and, subsequently, Mandrake Resources (ASX:MAN). He is currently a corporate executive at Ironside, focused on sourcing, structuring, funding, and management requirements for public and private small-cap companies.
Marcus Harden - Independent Non-executive Director
Marcus Harden is a geologist with extensive gold and base metals exploration and management experience throughout Australia, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Harden's more recent roles include chief geologist of AuTECO Minerals, head of regional exploration for Bellevue Gold, chief geologist of Alicanto Minerals Ltd, and other senior exploration roles with Gryphon Minerals and First Quantum Minerals. He has played key roles in the discovery and definition of several gold deposits globally with ASX-listed junior companies. Among previous projects with contributions to discovery, three are currently operating mines and one is in development. He is also a member of The Australian Institute of Geoscientists.
Aaron Bertolatti - Company Secretary
Aaron Bertolatti is a chartered accountant and company secretary with more than 10 years of experience in the mining industry and accounting profession. Bertolatti has significant experience in the administration of ASX-listed companies, corporate governance and corporate finance.
Gold Price 2024 Year-End Review
Read on for more on what factors moved the gold price in Q4, followed by a look back at the entire year.
Gold price in Q4
The gold price began Q4 at US$2,660.30, but quickly saw a retraction to US$2,608.40 on October 9. However, the decline didn't last, and gold again rose, setting a new record high of US$2,785.40 on October 30.
The surge upward was fueled by a weaker-than-expected September US consumer price index report, which showed annual inflation of 2.4 percent and monthly inflation of 0.2 percent. These numbers were higher than analysts' forecasts of 2.3 and 0.1 percent, raising expectations that the Fed would cut rates at its November meeting.
Gold was in retreat to start November, dropping to US$2,664 on November 6 after Trump’s victory. The next day, it briefly surged above the US$2,700 mark as the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points on November 7.
By November 15, the price of gold had fallen to its quarterly low of US$2,562.50.
The end of the month saw gold leap to US$2,715.80 on November 22. Following this peak, gold entered December below the US$2,700 mark, closing at US$2,660.50 on December 9.
Gold price, Q4 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
Geopolitical impacts have been important to gold in Q4.
In addition to Trump's re-election, which has caused turmoil in various forms, on November 17 the US authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS long-range missiles to attack targets deeper into Russian territory. The UK and France mirrored this move, giving Ukraine the green light to use long-range missiles in the ongoing conflict.
Tensions continued to ratchet up in the days following as Russia announced it was lowering the threshold for nuclear retaliation to include conventional attacks from countries backed by nuclear nations. In a demonstration of its capabilities, Russia launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile for the first time on November 21. While the missile appeared only to carry inert warheads, it is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear armaments.
The threat of a significant escalation has bolstered gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset and store of value.
How did gold perform for the rest of the year?
Gold price in Q1
Gold set its first record price of the year at US$2,251.37 on March 31.
Central bank buying, notably China's purchase of 22 metric tons of gold in the first two months of the year, supported the price. Turkey, Kazakhstan and India also significantly increased their holdings at the start of the year.
Further momentum came from Chinese wholesale demand, which jumped to 271 metric tons in January, the strongest ever recorded. Investors were turning to the yellow metal as a defense against falling real estate and stock prices. At that time, the country's stocks had lost nearly US$5 trillion in value over the past three years.
Gold price, Q1 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
“As central banks continue to be significant buyers and geopolitical risks and global uncertainties drive investors towards the perceived safety of gold, the current environment underscores gold’s importance as a strategic asset for portfolio diversification and risk mitigation. Therefore, while there may have been a perception of western disinterest in gold, recent developments indicate a sustained and broad-based demand for the precious metal,” Joe Cavatoni, market strategist, Americas, told the Investing News Network (INN) in an email at the time.
Gold price in Q2
The gold price saw increasing momentum in Q2, setting a new all-time of US$2,450.05 on May 20.
Gains through the quarter were influenced by strong central bank demand. Investor sentiment toward the yellow metal also shifted, with outflows from western exchange-traded funds starting to slow.
Although European funds still saw significant declines, it wasn’t all bad news — the US-based SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD), the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE:PHYS), Ireland’s Royal Mint Responsibly Sourced Physical Gold ETC (LSE:RMAU) and Switzerland’s UBS ETF Gold (SWX:AUUSI) all saw increases.
Gold price, Q2 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
In a May interview with INN, Jeff Clark, editor of Paydirt Prospector, noted several other market dynamics that caused the price of gold to rise dramatically. He said the real starting point for the precious metal's gains was the end of February, when the Fed indicated it was expecting three or four rate cuts in 2024.
“All of a sudden, gold was off to the races. It jumped so high that suddenly, you had some short covering that needed to happen then as well. So you had short covering, which means they’re buying. And then you had momentum chasers and traders jumping all in. That was a pretty good spike ... that's what kind of started all of this,” he said.
Gold price in Q3
Gold set another record price during the third quarter, reaching US$2,672.51 on September 26.
The high came just a week after the conclusion of the Fed's September meeting, when it announced a jumbo 50 basis point cut to the federal funds rate. While the People’s Bank of China maintained its pause on gold purchases in the third quarter, it granted several regional banks new import quotas in August.
Gold price, Q3 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
David Barrett, CEO of the UK division of global brokerage firm EBC Financial Group, suggested at the time that Fed rate cuts were less of a factor for gold than central bank buying. “I still see the global central bank buying as the main driver — as it has been over the last 15 years. This demand removes supply from the market. They are the ultimate buy-and-hold participants and have been buying massive amounts,” he told INN via email.
The quarter also saw significant merger and acquisition activity, with South Africa-based Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI,JSE:GFI) announcing plans to acquire Canada’s Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) for C$2.16 billion, and South African gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) agreeing to purchase UK-based Centamin (TSX:CEE,LSE:CEY) for US$2.5 billion.
Investor takeaway
Overall, uncertainty has been a key driver for gold in 2024.
Central banks have continued to increase their physical holdings against an increasingly polarized political landscape. The most recent data from the World Gold Council shows that they added 186 metric tons of gold to their coffers during the third quarter, with the National Bank of Poland leading the way with 42 metric tons.
The World Gold Council notes that on a rolling four-quarter basis, central bank buying has slowed to 909 metric tons — that's compared to 1,215 metric tons one year ago.
Investors also began returning to the precious metal throughout 2024 as geopolitical tensions and fragile economies pushed them toward gold as a safe haven to help shield their portfolios from volatility.
With the world’s largest economy set to welcome Trump back to the White House in 2025, there are many unknowns. His economic policies could cause inflation to begin creeping up. In contrast, his foreign policies could create new ripples through global trade and financial markets given that he campaigned on more protectionist policies.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
Many Peaks Minerals Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects