Montage Gold Corp. reported that construction at its flagship Koné gold project in Côte d’Ivoire is running on-budget and ahead of schedule for a first gold pour in the fourth quarter of 2026 through the oxide circuit. The company has committed $714.4 million to date, representing approximately 81% of total upfront capital expenditure, with dry commissioning of the oxide circuit now underway following grid-power connection.

The company completed the acquisition of African Gold Limited on April 29, 2026, adding the resource-stage Didievi project in Côte d’Ivoire to its portfolio. Montage has now entered into binding agreements to increase its interest in Didievi from 80% to 95.5% and repurchase a 1.5% net smelter return royalty for total consideration of approximately $57.7 million. To fund the transaction and accelerate development, Montage secured a $75 million unsecured term loan from Macquarie Bank with a two-year term.

Exploration momentum has also prompted Montage to increase its 2026 drilling program at Koné from 90,000 meters to 130,000 meters, following resource updates that expanded higher-grade satellite deposits. Measured and Indicated resources for higher-grade satellite deposits at Koné increased by 1.1 million ounces to 1.7 million ounces at 1.51 g/t gold, compared to 520,000 ounces at 1.48 g/t gold from the 2024 Updated Feasibility Study. Furthermore, the overall Koné project Measured and Indicated resource grew by 1.4 million ounces to 6.3 million ounces, with average grade rising 27% to 0.80 g/t gold against the feasibility study baseline.

We have achieved significant construction milestones at our flagship Koné project, in Côte d’Ivoire, which are the culmination of nearly 13 million people hours worked on the project since its commencement. Construction of all major infrastructure and equipment necessary for the oxide circuit start-up has been completed including the oxide sizer, ball mill, classification areas, thickeners, CIL trains and services area. As such, we have started dry commissioning of the oxide circuit while mining activities are commencing. We are therefore well on track to pour first gold during Q4-2026, while remaining on budget.

On the exploration front, given the success of the programme at the Koné project, which continues to add higher grade satellite resources, we have increased this year’s programme by 40,000 meters to 130,000 meters for the year, with approximately 90,000 meters already completed by mid-year. At Didievi, which is poised to be our next development asset, we have launched a new 60,000-meter programme, which will bring total meters drilled this year to 85,000 meters and is expected to underpin an updated mineral resource estimate. At our Wendé advanced greenfield exploration property, we are very excited with the first drill results recently published which confirmed the prospectivity of the property and increased our confidence to rapidly delineate a maiden resource through upcoming drill programmes while leveraging approximately 60,000 meters of drilling conducted on the property by previous owners.

— Martino De Ciccio, Chief Executive Officer

Construction on the hard-rock comminution circuit at Koné continues on schedule for completion in the second quarter of 2027. Meanwhile, an updated resource estimate for Didievi is expected to emerge from the ongoing 85,000-meter drilling campaign across that project during 2026.

Read the full announcement: Montage Gold reports on its Q2-2026 activities