Alba Mineral Resources identifies three principal targets at Limerick Base Metals Project
(ALBA ) has identified three principal target areas within the Company’s Limerick Base Metals Project in Ireland following a detailed structural review.
The Group underttook a structural review of the project, or PL 3824, (Figure 1) using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, Tellus aeromagnetic and EM data, Geological Survey of Ireland geological map data, DIAS gravity data and historic exploration data provided by Alba.
The review identified three exploration target areas at PL 3824, each exhibiting several of the structural and geological features found in Zinc-Lead deposits in the Irish Zinc Ore Field.
Figure 1: Alba’s PL 3824 licence area shown in purple outline. The three target areas are coloured orange and labelled 1-3. Historic drill holes are marked in green and labelled either “TC-xxxx-xxx” (denoting drill holes drilled by Teck Resources in joint venture with Alba) or “10/19-xxxx-xx” (denoting drill holes sole-drilled by Alba).
(Source: Alba Mineral Resources)
As a result of the Group’s structural review and target generation exercise, which support Alba’s decision to renew PL 3824 and to recommence exploration activities at the Project, Alba said that it intends to assay a selection of the historic drill core for zinc mineralization.
It said all targets exhibit characteristics “which are favourable for zinc-lead mineralisation and provide renewed focus and impetus to our exploration activities in Ireland.”
Its technical team will now assimilate the results of the review and move thereafter to the detailed planning of a field programme encompassing the three exploration targets.
Figure 2: Location of Alba’s Limerick Base Metals Project (licence area PL 3824) and its proximity to other significant mines in the Irish Zinc Ore Field
(Source: Alba Mineral Resources)
Commenting on the results of the review, George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman, said:
“The Limerick Basin has been the site of notable exploration successes of late, such as the drilling last December of the Carricklittle Project, some 10 km or so from our licence area, which included drill intercepts of 7 metres at 30% zinc-lead combined, 5 metres at 14% zinc-lead combined and 3 metres at 10.8% zinc-lead combined.”
He added that, “The detailed structural review we have now completed of our Limerick Base Metals Project area, pulling together all the latest geophysical and satellite data, has enabled the identification of three principal target areas within our licence.”
These latest results received from the Limerick Base Metals Project in Ireland support the Group’s decision to renew PL 3824 and to recommence exploration activities at the Project.
Reasons to ALBA
Alba Mineral Resources is a well-diversified mineral 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.
Limerick Base Metals Project
Historically, only eight drillholes have been completed within Alba’s Project area of the Limerick Base Metals Project, the most recent being the three holes drilled in Q2 of 2019.
Alba said these low levels of drilling are unusual in the Irish context and, for this reason, the area is considered under-explored. Alba has previously identified a number of attractive targets that have never been drilled before.
Alba’s current technical team, led by Mark Austin, Alba’s COO and Senior Geologist, will undertake a comprehensive review of the licence area before determining the next phase of planned exploration activities.
The expenditure conditions attaching to the renewal of PL 3824 require Alba to incur expenditure of €15,732 by 26 May 2021 with a further €50,000 to be spent by 26 May 2022.
JORC Resource expected at St David’s Clogau Gold Mine
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.
Alba said its mining projects remain on ‘a sound footing’, with JORC resources at both Thule Black Sands and Melville Bay, and plans to drill a maiden JORC resource at Amitsoq in 2021.
Amitsoq
In recent weeks, Alba said an independent testwork programme at the Group’s Amitsoq graphite project in southern Greenland has confirmed ‘very high carbon content.’
Due to the high carbon content, the product would offer ‘a significant advantage, as no purification would be needed to achieve that level,’ the Company explained to investors.
Accordingly, subject to certain follow-up testwork which the Group said is recommended, the testwork successfully indicates the suitability of Amitsoq graphite as feed material for Lithium-Ion Batteries ("LIBs"), the fastest growing market for flake graphite globally.
‘This finding that the concentrate appears to be suitable for LIBs is significant, as the market for LIBs is the fastest growing market for flake graphite, with massive growth rates forecast for the next decade due to the expected demand for LIBs in electric vehicles,’ Alba outlined.
Transition from Exploration to Production in Greenland and Wales
Other ‘significant’ progress has also been made in recent years towards Alba’s ultimate goal of achieving commercial production at one or more of its sites, including at the Thule Black Sands in Greenland, the Amitsoq project in Greenland and the Horse Hill well in Surrey.
In 2020, Alba has announced that surface trenching activities would kick-start over the first of the group’s 10 regional gold targets over the Dolgellau Gold Field.
The trenching will target the first of 10 separate new gold targets over the Dolgellau Gold Field which have previously been identified by Alba.
Alba said up to eight trenches have been planned in this first phase, each varying in length from 40-90m for a total of 575m, with each trench being 1m wide and up to 2m deep.
Once exposed, the quartz veining and other structures from the trenches, those of which are pictured below, will be sampled, and those samples sent to a laboratory for assaying.
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