Highlights included 105m at 1.39g/t gold, within 183m at 0.98g/t.

Montage started the month with C$28 million and said it was fully funded for this year's business plan.

This included the current 35,000m drilling programme, a preliminary economic assessment due next month, a resource update in the third quarter and a feasibility study by year-end.

"The infill program is all about resource conversion from inferred to indicated and the results received to date continue to reinforce our expectation of very high resource conversion due to the simplicity of the orebody, the consistent nature of the mineralisation and the conservatism of our resource modelling," CEO Hugh Stuart said.

Stuart has followed the project since his time as VP exploration for Red Back Mining, which was acquired by Kinross Gold for US$7 billion in 2010.

Kone has an inferred 123 million tonne resource grading 0.8g/t for 3.16 million ounces, using a 0.4g/t cut-off.

Montage said the infill programme was 60% complete.

It was also mobilising an eighth rig this week, to the Petit Yao target 8km from Kone, to test near-surface high-grade mineralisation.

The company formed in 2019, as part of Orca Gold and Avant Minerals' exploration merger, and completed its C$30 million IPO priced at $1.10 per share in October.

Its shares (TSXV: MAU) have since spanned $1.27-65c.

They closed up 2.8% to 72c yesterday, capitalising it about $75 million (US$60 million).