TIDMALBA
RNS Number : 4171X
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
29 April 2019
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Alba Mineral Resources plc
("Alba" or the "Company")
Sampling Results Indicate New Areas of Gold Mineralisation at
Clogau
Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA) Alba (AIM: ALBA), the
diversified mineral exploration and development company, is pleased
to report the first set of results from the 2019 soil sampling
campaign being undertaken within the Company's 107 km(2) licence
area in North Wales. Alba's Clogau Gold Project hosts the
high-grade Clogau-St David's gold mine as well as the extensive
regional target known as the Dolgellau Gold Belt.
Highlights
-- Results have been obtained from 525 samples from the ongoing 1,200 sample programme.
-- Multiple gold-in-soil anomalies have been identified away
from the existing mine area and not associated with historic mine
workings, averaging 0.006-0.17 ppm (at a 0.005 ppm cut-off),
including one sample at 0.65 ppm (0.65 g/t).
-- Average grades for two of the new anomalies are well above
the average gold-in soil grades for Clogau-St David's and the other
historic mine areas.
-- Anomalies have been identified across multiple geological
units and outside of the traditional Clogau Shale target.
-- Gold mineralisation has now been confirmed across 4 miles
along the strike extent of the Dolgellau Gold Belt.
-- The current 1,200 sample programme is due for completion in
the next couple of weeks, eventually covering a strike extent of 7
miles along Dolgellau Gold Belt.
-- Thereafter, the soil sampling programme is likely to be
extended over the coming months to cover a number of other
identified regional targets.
-- Rehabilitation work to the Clogau-St David's mine is due to
commence imminently, followed by underground exploration.
-- The pre-application enquiries process has now been initiated
with the local planning authority.
Alba's Executive Chairman, George Frangeskides, commented:
"These results are really exciting. We have identified multiple
gold anomalies along an expanding strike extent of the Dolgellau
Gold Belt, with some of those anomalies occurring in areas where
there are no significant historic mine workings. This is
potentially very significant, in that it supports what we have been
saying since the beginning of our involvement at Clogau, which is
that the Dolgellau Gold Belt is a vastly under-explored region, and
as such there is a strong possibility of unearthing significant new
areas of gold mineralisation, as well as potential extensions to
the areas of previously exploited high-grade mineralisation."
"As for the re-opening of the Clogau-St David's Mine, our work
advances at pace, with rehabilitation work about to start at the
upper level of the mine and then moving to the lower level. We have
also now initiated the formal pre-application enquiry process with
the local planning authority, which is the precursor to the
submission of a full planning application in the coming
months."
Soil Sampling Programme
Ongoing soil sampling and geochemical analysis is being carried
out within the Dolgellau Gold Belt with samples generally collected
at 20 m intervals on lines 200 m apart. This exploration programme
is the first of its kind, utilising modern-day exploration
techniques, that has been undertaken on the Dolgellau Gold Belt
since the first discovery of gold and base metals there during the
18(th) century.
The current field programme complements and expands upon the
orientation programme that was completed in the summer of 2018.
During that orientation programme, soil sampling was undertaken in
the area above and immediately adjacent to the existing Clogau-St
David's mine. This confirmed the presence of an associated
gold-in-soil anomaly and thereby confirmed the validity of the
exploration technique which is now being rolled out across
extensive regional targets within the wider licence area.
The exploration field team is being managed and supervised by
SRK Exploration Services, with support from Alba's technical team.
At each sample location, a sample is being taken from the B soil
horizon (subsoil) by hand auger. The results from the current
programme have been taken from a total of 525 soil samples and were
submitted for assay at the accredited ALS laboratory in Ireland. To
date, including the 130 samples collected in the summer of 2018,
results have been received from a total of 655 submitted samples.
The team is on schedule to complete within the next few weeks the
collection of the planned 1,200 samples in aggregate for this phase
of the regional exploration campaign.
Anomalies 1 to 5 (see Table 1 below) represent new targets in
areas where limited or no mining activities have taken place.
Sampling to date, including those with assays still pending, covers
a strike extent along the Dolgellau Gold Belt of approximately 7
miles.
Gold-in-soil grades are comparable across the areas sampled with
those samples located above the historic workings of the Clogau-St
David's Mine being similar in magnitude to those samples located
away from the historic workings.
The assay results for the gold-in-soil predominantly show grades
in the region of 0.004 to 0.01 ppm with a restricted dispersion
halo away from the predicted targets. Given the limited weathering
and thin soil profile above bedrock, the anomalous values are
considered likely to be close to source and the sampling highlights
that low gold-in-soil levels can be significant anomaly indicators
given the fact that we have previously confirmed the presence of a
low-grade anomaly associated with the Clogau-St David's mine, which
mine we know to have historically produced a significant amount of
high-grade gold and which we consider to be prospective for
additional gold mineralisation.
The results show that gold-in-soil grades above the detection
limit occur at multiple locations within the areas sampled to date.
Elevated values correspond with the known mine areas as well as
multiple locations that appear to be unaffected by mining
activities, thus some appear to represent potential bedrock sources
of gold rather than being due to contamination. This includes a
sample returning an assay of 0.65 g/t Au that lies within the
Gamlan Formation and is associated with an igneous intrusive body
that may represent an ore-controlling feature at the Clogau Mine.
This is an area which will undergo further investigation.
Ground verification of the areas of elevated gold values has
been undertaken by Mr Chris Lambert, Exploration Geologist of SRK
Exploration Services, and Mr Howard Baker, Alba's Technical
Director (Mining).
The results obtained to date also highlight multiple anomalies
across a range of geological features. This is not surprising given
the historic mining in the region targeted gold and base metals
from various lithological units. Traditionally, however, gold was
mined from within the Clogau Shale and it is clear from the results
obtained that a continuous anomaly is present within this unit.
However, elevated gold values are also now observed at contacts
between the Clogau Shale / Maentwrog boundary and within the Gamlan
Formation that do not appear to have been the focus for most of the
historic mining activities.
A series of anomalies also lie to the north of the Llechfraith
area within a fold hinge of the Clogau Shale unit with a feature
lying sub-parallel to the Llechfraith adit also becoming prominent.
This suggests that extensions to the mine may exist, as limited
mining was undertaken along the Llechfraith Adit and no known cross
cuts were completed to assess the material lying north or south of
the Adit.
If the samples collected within the preliminary target
boundaries of a grade equal to or above 0.005 ppm (the "new
anomalies" referred to in Table 1 below) are compared with those
samples of that same grade which were taken within the "historic"
anomaly boundaries (the "historic anomalies" referred to in Table 1
below), it is clear that the average grade of the samples from the
new anomalies is very comparable to the average grade of the
samples from the "historic" anomalies. Indeed, at the current level
of investigation, the average grades for new anomalies 2 and 3 are
well above the averages for Clogau-St David's and the other
historic mine areas.
Table 1: Comparison of average grades of samples equal to or
above 0.005 ppm.
Anomaly No. of Samples Min (ppm) Max (ppm) Average (ppm)
New Anomalies
1 17 0.005 0.060 0.012
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
2 6 0.005 0.279 0.056
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
3 4 0.006 0.648 0.170
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
4 6 0.005 0.009 0.007
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
5 2 0.005 0.007 0.006
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
Historic Anomalies
Clogau-St
David's 10 0.005 0.013 0.008
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
Garthgell 14 0.005 0.022 0.008
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
Old Clogau 2 0.013 0.014 0.014
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
Vigra 4 0.014 0.026 0.019
--------------- ---------- ---------- --------------
Mine Rehabilitation, Exploration and Planning
The Company is now in receipt of all required permits to enable
the commencement of rehabilitation works at the Clogau-St David's
mine, which accordingly will commence imminently. Part of this work
will involve safety works to certain parts of the mine in order to
allow exploration activities to commence within the mine during the
summer months. The objective of the underground exploration will be
to identify as yet unexploited areas of mineralisation.
The Company has also now initiated the formal pre-application
enquiries process with the local planning authority, the Snowdonia
National Park Authority (SNPA), detailing the proposed scheme for
re-opening the mine. This will form the basis of discussions to be
held with the SNPA in the coming weeks and will, in turn, inform
the contents of the formal planning application which the Company
will submit thereafter.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Competent Person Declaration
The information in this release that relates to Exploration
Results has been reviewed by Mr Howard Baker, Technical Director of
Alba Mineral Resources Plc. Mr Baker is a Chartered Professional
Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
(Membership Number 224239) and a Competent Person as defined by the
rules of International Reporting Codes that are aligned with
CRIRSCO. Howard Baker has sufficient experience that is relevant to
the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration
and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent
Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for
Reporting of Exploration targets, Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves', also known as the JORC Code. The JORC
code is a national reporting organisation that is aligned with
CRIRSCO. Howard Baker consents to the inclusion in the announcement
of the matters based on his information in the form and context in
which they appear.
The information in this release that relates to Exploration
Results has also been reviewed by Mr. Christopher Barrett,
Principal Exploration Geologist of SRK Exploration Services Ltd. Mr
Barrett is a Chartered Geologist (CGeol) with the Geological
Society of London (Fellowship number 1003738) and also has
sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of
mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the
activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as
defined in the 2012 Edition of the JORC Code. Based on the review,
Mr. Barrett consents to the statements and images in the release in
the form and context in which they appear.
Glossary
B soil horizon: Commonly referred to as "subsoil" and typically
consists of clay or minerals such as iron or aluminium oxides and
minor organic material. Plant roots penetrate through this layer,
but it has very little humus.
Clogau Shale: A dark-grey or black-banded carbonaceous mudstone
and silty mudstone.
Geochemical: Relates to the chemical composition of the Earth
and its rocks and minerals.
Geophysics: The application of the methods and techniques of
physics to the study of the earth and the processes affecting
it.
Hand Auger: A hand tool with a long blade that resembles a
screw, which drills narrow diameter holes when turned.
Intrusives: An igneous rock formed from magma forced into older
rocks at depth within the Earth's crust, which then typically
slowly solidifies below the Earth's surface.
Lithological Units: The lithology of a rock unit is a
description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in
hand or core samples or with low magnification microscopy, such as
colour, texture, grain size, and mineral composition.
Lithological Contacts: The contact between two lithologies of
differing characteristics.
Mineralisation: Economically important metals that can occur at
a variety of scales from small disseminations through to large
zones or ore bodies.
Pathfinder Elements: In geochemical exploration, an element that
occurs in close association with an element or commodity being
sought, but one can be more easily identified because it forms a
broader halo or can be detected more readily by analytical
methods.
Quartz Veins: A distinct sheet-like body dominantly composed of
quartz hosted within a rock formation.
Strike Length: The direction and length of a geological feature
(for example, a vein or rock formation) measured on a horizontal
surface.
Structural Architecture: The three-dimensional distribution of
bodies of rock, as controlled by geological structures.
Weathering Profile: A vertical assemblage of weathering zones
(subsurface zones of alteration differing physically, chemically or
mineralogically from adjacent zones) from the surface soil to the
unaltered bedrock.
For further information, please contact:
Alba Mineral Resources plc
George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman +44 20 7264 4366
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
James Caithie / Liam Murray +44 20 7213 0880
First Equity Limited (Broker)
Jason Robertson +44 20 7374 2212
Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR/ IR)
Tim Thompson / Harriet Jackson / Henry Wilkinson +44 77 1071 8649
alba@yellowjerseypr.com
Alba's Project & Investment Portfolio
Mining
Amitsoq (Graphite, Greenland): Alba owns a 90 per cent interest
in the Amitsoq Graphite Project in Southern Greenland and has an
option over the remaining 10 per cent.
Clogau (Gold, Wales): Alba owns a 90 per cent interest in Gold
Mines of Wales Limited ("GMOW"), the ultimate owner of the Clogau
Gold project situated in the Dolgellau Gold Belt in Wales.
Inglefield Land (Copper, Cobalt, Gold): Alba owns 100 per cent
of mineral exploration licence ("MEL") 2017/40 and 2018/25 in
north-west Greenland.
Limerick (Base Metals, Ireland): Alba owns 100 per cent of the
Limerick base metal project in the Republic of Ireland.
Melville Bay (Iron Ore, Greenland): Alba is entitled to a 51 per
cent interest in MEL 2017/41 in Melville Bay, north-west Greenland.
The licence area benefits from an existing inferred JORC resource
of 67 Mt @ 31.4% Fe.
Thule Black Sands (Ilmenite, Greenland): Alba owns 100 per cent
of MEL 2017/29 in the Thule region, north-west Greenland.
Oil & Gas
Brockham (Oil & Gas, UK): Alba has a direct 5 per cent
interest in Production Licence 235, which comprises the previously
producing onshore Brockham Oil Field.
Horse Hill (Oil & Gas, UK): Alba holds an 11.765 per cent
effective interest in the Horse Hill oil and gas project (licences
PEDL 137 and PEDL 246 covering a total area of 142.9 km(2)) in the
UK Weald Basin.
Web: www.albamineralresources.com
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END
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