TIDMALBA
RNS Number : 3438T
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
14 November 2019
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Alba Mineral Resources plc
("Alba" or the "Company")
Commencement of Maiden Drilling Programme
at Clogau Gold Mine
Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA), the diversified mineral
exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that
the Company's drilling contractors have mobilised to site at the
Clogau Gold Mine in north Wales. What is believed to be the first
ever exploration diamond drilling programme at the historic Clogau
Gold Mine will therefore commence imminently.
Highlights
-- Alba is about to commence the first ever exploration diamond
drilling campaign at the Clogau-St David's Gold Mine, to the best
of the Company's knowledge.
-- Historic mining at Clogau-St David's was limited to the mining of visible gold.
-- Alba is employing modern exploration techniques at Clogau,
designed to maximise the prospects for unearthing new zones of
economic gold mineralisation and extensions to existing mine
workings.
-- This first drilling campaign will focus on one of the high
priority gold targets, being the Llechfraith Mine area where mining
last occurred in the 1980s and where three potential gold shoots
and areas of visible gold were reported.
-- Given the anticline fold structure present at Llechfraith,
the Clogau shale within this area is potentially up to 200m thick
and is considered a high priority target area for future mining
activities.
-- The primary drilling objective is to test for structure at
Llechfraith, in order to confirm the geological model and provide
support for follow-up infill drilling and future mining activities
targeting these gold-bearing structures.
George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman, commented:
"I am very pleased to announce the start of a diamond drilling
programme at the Clogau Gold Mine, which to the best of our
knowledge is the first such programme in the long and illustrious
history of the Mine."
"During the previous periods of operation, the Clogau Mine
owners limited their efforts to chasing and mining out visible
gold-bearing quartz veins within the host Clogau shales. By
contrast, Alba's approach is multi-faceted, and the Llechfraith
Mine area is a prime example of this. It was last mined in the
1980s, and visible gold has been reported in two out of three ore
shoots within the Mine area. This, when added to the results of our
soil sampling programme which confirmed a strong gold anomaly above
the Llechfraith workings, marks out Llechfraith as a strong
prospect for the discovery of unexploited gold zones."
"While this is a fairly short drilling programme, primarily
designed to test the structural model, if that model is confirmed
it will provide us with the necessary support to then move onto
infill drilling and bulk sampling and processing at
Llechfraith."
"The strong recovery in the gold price, which recently hit a
five-year high of more than US$1500 per ounce, allied to the
premium prices which Welsh gold fetches on the open market,
underpins our belief in the Clogau Gold Mine as a key prospect for
significant future revenue generation."
Drilling Programme
The maiden drilling programme at the Clogau Gold Mine will
target extensions to the Llechfraith Mine area. The Llechfraith
Mine area is reported to have first been opened in 1862, ceasing
production in 1865. Most recently, limited mining was undertaken
between 1983 and 1987 with visible gold being reported adjacent to
westerly-dipping greenstone intrusives along the lowest No. 4
Level, which is approximately 30 metres below the main Llechfraith
Adit entrance.
Note that the Llechfraith Mine area is separate from the
Clogau-St David's Mine area which is accessed via the Llechfraith
and Tyn Y Cornel adits, albeit that both Mine areas are connected
via the Llechfraith Level (or adit). See Figure 1 in the PDF
version of this announcement. The Llechfraith Level (or adit) is
now open following the recent rehabilitation works carried out
earlier this year by Alba.
A total of three gold shoots were recorded in the 1980s, as
shown in the long section through the Llechfraith Mine area in
Figure 2 of the PDF version of this announcement. The No. 1 Shoot,
which was mined between 1984 and 1987, is reported to have been
traceable from surface to 40 metres down-dip to the No. 4 Level,
being the deepest level of the Llechfraith Mine. Visible gold, by
its nature being high-grade, was reported within the No. 4 Level.
Mineralisation controls in this area are not certain but No. 1
Shoot is reported to plunge to the south-east at a dip of 65 to
70deg with a pitch to the south-west. No.1 Shoot is thought to
relate to a split in the lode with gold mineralisation reported to
lie within the hinge of the split.
The recent infill soil sampling programme completed by Alba
included a line of samples traversing the Llechfraith mine area
with the soil line orientated along the axis of the dominant
anticline fold within the area (see Figure 3 in the PDF version of
this announcement). A strong anomaly can be observed above the
Llechfraith workings, as shown by the series of purple dots running
parallel to the anticline axis on Figure 3 (as aforesaid). Twelve
samples above 0.005 g/t Au averaged 0.023 g/t Au, with the highest
grade being 0.13 g/t Au (see Figure 3, as aforesaid). It should be
borne in mind that as these are gold-in-soil grades, by their very
nature these grades are not expected to be high-grade. The
significance of the presence of low-grade gold anomalism in the
soils is that it is a marker for possible significant gold
deposition in the hard rock structures situated immediately beneath
the soils.
Given the anticline fold structure present at Llechfraith, the
Clogau shale within this area is potentially up to 200m thick and
is considered a high priority target area for future mining
activities. This, together with the fact that access to this target
is good, is why this target has been selected for the maiden
drilling campaign at Clogau.
At present, 3-4 diamond drill holes are planned, targeting
extensions to the reported Llechfraith ore shoots, for 200-300
metres of drilling. All holes will be drilled from within the
Company's freehold land situated close to the Company's mine sheds
and the Llechfraith Adit entrance.
The primary objective of the drilling will be to collect
important geological and structural data to improve the
understanding of this particular target area. Given the nature of
the geological setting at Clogau, where gold has previously been
found within narrow quartz veins at the contact with greenstones,
combined with the modest amount of drilling that is planned to test
the structure at Llechfraith, it is not expected that the drilling
will necessarily intersect gold mineralisation. The primary
objective of this short drilling campaign will be to ascertain
whether the known gold-bearing setting, as described above, is
present within the Llechfraith Mine area, as this will increase
confidence in the Llechfraith Mine as a potential economic source
of future gold production.
As the Llechfraith Mine is flooded from the No. 2 Level down,
should the Company decide to include the Llechfraith Mine area as
part of the overall mine plan at Clogau, the Llechfraith Mine will
be dewatered prior to the commencement of mining operations.
The Company's drilling contractors have now mobilised their
diamond drill rig and personnel to site. Drilling will take
approximately two weeks to complete. Figure 4 in the PDF version of
this announcement shows the potential site and orientation of the
drill holes in relation to the underground workings at Llechfraith
(shown in red) and the target zone (shown in blue). The precise
siting and orientation of the drill holes will be subject to
possible further revisions during the programme.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating
to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results
that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market
and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the
regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation,
uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans,
uncertainties resulting from working in a new political
jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration,
uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting
rights, uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's
ability to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence
of unexpected events. Actual results achieved may vary from the
information provided herein as a result of numerous known and
unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors.
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.
Glossary
Anticline: A fold, closing in any direction, in which the older
rocks occupy the core.
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.
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.
Pitch: The orientation of a line, measured as an angle from the
horizontal, in a specified non-vertical plane.
Plunge: The angle between a linear and a vertical plane.
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 3907 4297
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)
Sarah Hollins/Harriet Jackson/Henry
Wilkinson
alba@yellowjerseypr.com +44 20 3004 9512
Alba's Project and Investment Portfolio
Project (commodity) Location Ownership
Mining Projects
Amitsoq (graphite) Greenland 90%
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Clogau (gold) Wales 90%
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Inglefield (copper, cobalt,
gold) Greenland 100%
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Limerick (zinc-lead) Ireland 100%
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Melville Bay (iron ore) Greenland 51%
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TBS (ilmenite) Greenland 100%
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Oil & Gas Investments
Brockham (oil) England 5%
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Horse Hill (oil) England 11.765%
----------- ----------
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London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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