Alba Mineral makes “Great Progress” at Clogau Gold Project
(AIM:ALBA ) has drilled four holes for a total depth of 252 metres as part of its drilling and bulk sampling programme at the Clogau Gold Project in Wales.
The group said that it will resume drilling in the first half of October for a further 2-3 weeks, targeting the balance of the underground targets that are yet to be drilled.
Based on drilling rates to date, Alba said it expects to have completed around 400-450 metres of drilling in total by the end of this underground drilling campaign.
To date, Alba's mining team has collected 12 tonnes of material from four targets.
Underground drilling (Sep 2020), completed holes shown by white arrows.
A decision will be made shortly as to whether to continue bulk sampling during October 2020, or to focus solely on further underground drilling, and will update investors on the resumption of work activities later this month.
The mineral exploration and development firm has also obtained a permitting extension which will enable the company to continue underground drilling until the end of October.
This should then enable Alba to swing directly into the first phase of its surface drilling programme, the notification for which has been submitted to the local planning authority.
This will include up to 1,500m of diamond drilling during the first phase of the planned 5,000m surface drilling programme, targeting a start date in the first half of November 2020.
Location of proposed Phase 1 Surface Drilling Programme shown in red. Existing mine workings shown in black
The programme has been designed to target mineralisation below the existing mine workings at the Llechfraith mine area, testing the continuation of mineralisation at depth.
This programme is the first phase of a longer-term drilling to test areas of interest that cannot be easily or safely accessed from underground.
In addition, and as previously referred to in an announcement back in July 2020, the Company will be establishing its own pilot processing plant at or close to the mine site.
Alba has placed an order with Appropriate Process Technologies (“APT”) a mining equipment manufacturer in South Africa for the remaining capital items required for the pilot.
Shares in Alba Mineral Resources have continued to rise over the past three months. Shares were trading 7.61% lower at 0.425p this morning following the announcement.
The group expects the pilot plant to be fully operational sometime in Q4 2020 subject to the regulatory approvals and delivery.
Alba's Executive Chairman, George Frangeskides, who describes the company’s programme of works at Clogau-St David as “multifaceted”, commented: “As well as drilling and bulk sampling we are pushing forward our plans to dewater the Llechfraith mine section, one of our most promising targets, to sample the historical waste tip for gold and to carry out surface trenching and sampling of the first of the many regional gold targets which have been identified by our team."
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