Alba Mineral Resources (ALBA ) unveiled to investors that it has identified indicators of possible high gold grades at the company’s Clogau-St David's gold mine in Wales.
To date, ten holes intersecting the Main Lode Extension have been drilled for 1,475.6 metres as part of the Phase 2 surface drilling at Clogau which started back in April 2021.
Phase 2 was designed to confirm the continuity of the westerly, potential 550-metre extension of the Main Lode which Alba identified in underground drilling in October 2020.
‘The significance of such a discovery is that the Main Lode is the source of most historic production at the Mine and if the continuity of the Main Lode Extension could be confirmed, this would become a primary zone for underground development and extraction,’ Alba said.
Following the drilling, the Main Lode Extension is now projected to have a strike extent of 585 metres, and a depth extent of 63 metres below surface at its widest point (Figure 1)
Figure 1: The current modelling of the Main Lode Extension and auxiliary targets based on holes JW001-4.
(Source: Alba Mineral Resources)
The mineral also known ass ‘galena’ was identified in the intercept in JW008, which is an indicator for gold- bearing veins and in the past has been associated with high gold grades in the John Hughes lode, an offshoot from the Main Lode/Jack Williams target structure.
“The key objective of this second phase of surface drilling at Clogau-St David's was to prove up the continuity of the Main Lode Extension we had identified during the drilling at the end of last year.
We have now delivered emphatically on that aim, by intersecting the Main Lode Extension on every one of the 10 holes we have drilled in this phase. We are now projecting the Main Lode Extension to have a strike extent of 585 m and a depth extent of up to 63 m. This is shaping up to be a significant target,” said Executive Chairman, George Frangeskides.
He added, ‘As we approach the end of this phase of drilling, we will be focusing next on a detailed technical and engineering evaluation of the most efficient access routes to the key gold targets we have identified through our drilling, namely the Llechfraith Lode, Main Lode Extension, Grandfathers Extension and 7-10 Extension."
Alba has applied to the regulator, Natural Resources Wales, for permission to divert the drainage water from the current Llechfraith drainage adit and to dewater the lower workings in the Llechfraith Shaft to undertake underground drilling and bulk sampling from that zone.
Alba said it is confident that the application process for the Discharge and Transfer Permits will be concluded shortly and the permits issued. As and when the permits are issued, it is expected that the dewatering of the Llechfraith Shaft will take around two weeks, after which Alba's technical team will be able to access the lower levels and assess the exposed lode.
The Company regards the Llechfraith Lode, which incorporates the Llechfraith Shaft, as ‘a key target’ for future mining operations. At its deepest point, the Phase 1 drilling intersected the Llechfraith Lode structure 122 metres below the existing Llechfraith mine workings.
Alba's initial geological modelling also indicates that the total tonnage estimation for this newly identified lode structure is between 24,000 to 27,000 tonnes in the Lower Lode alone.
Looking ahead, Alba said it remains focused on integrating the Phase 2 results into its geological model for Clogau, as well as cutting and assaying the core for gold content.
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Last week, Alba confirmed to investors that it had received all assay results on bulk sample concentrates produced at its pilot processing plant at Clogau with the final batch of results significantly exceeding results from the previous results announced back in May 2021.
These results returned grades up to 461 g/t, with concentrates produced from the Grandfathers Stope ranging from 86.8 g/t Au to 461 g/t Au with an average of 187 g/t Au.
The Company highlighted that these results ‘significantly exceed’ the assay results of bulk sample concentrates announced in May which had returned grades of 20.4 to 165.5 g/t Au.
Shares in Alba Mineral Resources have increased in value by over 12% in the past month. The stock was trading 3.30% higher this morning at 0.28p following the announcement.
Reasons to ALBA
Alba Mineral Resources is a well-diversified exploration and development company which owns and operates mining projects in Greenland, Wales and Ireland. Its strategy is to identify and secure undervalued assets with a diversified commodity mix where there is potential for discovering further unexploited resources alongside the existing mine site.
JORC Resources expected at Clogau
Despite losing field time to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alba said it is in a position to execute one of the most significant underground work programmes seen for several decades at its Clogau gold mine in Wales, just as the commodity is reaching all-time highs in value.
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