Montage Gold secures 2,100 sq km of gold permits across northern Mauritania

Montage Gold Corp announced on 14 April 2026 that it has acquired five gold exploration permits in Mauritania covering approximately 2,103 sq km, following a tender process and due diligence on the ground. The Canadian company, best known for developing the Koné gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, has allocated an initial $2 million exploration budget for 2026, covering geological mapping, geophysical surveys and soil sampling, with around 15,000 metres of drilling planned for the fourth quarter.

Diversifying beyond Koné

The permits sit in northern Mauritania, in geological settings the company considers favourable for gold mineralisation. For Montage, still in the midst of building Koné toward its targeted late-2026 first gold pour, the Mauritania acquisition represents an early, relatively low-cost bet on a second country rather than a diversion of capital away from its main construction project, given the modest scale of the initial budget relative to Koné's roughly $1 billion build cost.

Why it matters

Mauritania has been actively marketing its gold potential to international explorers beyond Kinross's long-established Tasiast mine, and Montage's entry adds a well-capitalised, already-successful developer to a growing list of companies testing the country's prospectivity, alongside smaller players such as RAMINVEST Holding. A successful Mauritanian discovery would give Montage a second growth option once Koné is in production, extending the company's pipeline beyond a single flagship asset.

What happens next

The fourth-quarter 2026 drilling campaign will be the first real test of whether Montage's ground selection in Mauritania was well judged. Results from that programme, expected in early 2027, will determine whether the company commits further exploration budget to the permits in subsequent years.

Sources

• Financial Afrik: Mauritania: Montage Gold secures over 2,100 km² of gold mining permits, 25 Apr 2026

Photo: A town in the Sahara desert of Mauritania, where Montage Gold holds new exploration permits. John Atherton, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.