Desert Gold Ventures Inc. announced the start of its auger drill program that will test high priority gold targets proximal to its 412,000 ounce gold Mogoyafara South Zone (Mogo South) in western Mali. Mogo South is situated in the southeast corner of the SMSZ Project and lies proximal to the interpreted location of the Senegal Mali Shear Zone which is the dominant regional feature related to five active gold mines that produced in excess of 1.2 million ounces of gold in2022. The Mogo South zone is located in a structurally unique setting within a much larger area of soil, termite mound and artisanal workings gold anomalism.

The goal of this auger program is to determine the extent to which the gold system at and around Mogo South can be expanded. Desert Gold acquired Mogo South when it was granted the Kolomba concession in November 2021. Previous work included 24,660 metres of drilling in 333 holes by Hyundai with most of the work last completed in 2003.

The current open pit constrained mineral resource estimate comprises 412,800 ounces of gold grading 1.05 g/t gold. Desert Gold completed two RC holes, mapped and prospected the area and completed a detailed ground magnetic survey in 2022. The magnetic survey data indicates that the deposit area lies between two large scale shear zones with additional, highly prospective structures intersecting the southern part of the target area.

The interaction of these structures is interpreted to have created a scenario that may have supported the influx of gold-mineralized fluids into the Mogo South area. The Mogo South deposit has been traced over an area approximately 1.6 km by 0.8 km with the bulk of the drilling testing the zone at less than 100 metres deep. The zone is hosted by sandstone, conglomerate and felsic intrusions.

Pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral related to the gold mineralization. Ground magnetic surveys indicate an excellent correlation between magnetic highs and gold mineralized intercepts. The zone of anomalous magnetism extends for approximately 5 km along strike and is much larger than the area tested by drilling.

As well, gold mineralization, in outcrop, termite mounds and in soils, indicates that there are gold zones associated with less magnetically susceptible rocks, which is a more typical scenario. The initial planned exploration drilling consists of auger drilling (approximately 2,500 metres in 325 holes) to probe the strike extents of the magnetic anomaly trend for gold enrichment, test several large-scale structural targets and validate the proximal, high gold (>200 ppb) in soils and termite mounds. Once the auger results have been received, it is expected that follow-up drilling to further test the deposit and to test new targets, will be recommended.