TIDMALBA
RNS Number : 0279B
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
05 October 2020
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Alba Mineral Resources plc
("Alba" or the "Company")
Update on Work Activities at the
Clogau-St David's Gold Mine
Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to provide an
update on the Company's work activities at the Clogau-St David's
Gold Mine.
Key Points
-- Underground drilling
o Four drill holes so far completed for a total of 252
metres
o Permitting extension obtained to enable underground drilling
to continue until end October
o Contractors appointed to refurbish circa 600 metres of
existing pipework within Llechfraith adit to provide pressurised
air for drilling and future development
-- Underground bulk sampling
o Four bulk samples collected for a total of 12 tonnes of
material
-- Surface drilling
o Notification submitted to the local planning authority for the
first (up to 1500 metre) phase of drilling of the planned up to
5,000 metre surface drilling programme (targeting a start date in
the first half of November 2020)
-- Pilot processing plant
o Gold concentrator and impact crusher ordered from South
Africa
-- All other work activities and studies at Clogau progressing well
Alba's Executive Chairman, George Frangeskides, commented:
"Our team has so far made great progress in our underground
drilling and bulk sampling programme at Clogau. We are delighted to
have secured an extension to our permits meaning we will be able to
continue drilling underground into October. That should then enable
us to swing directly into the first phase of our surface drilling
programme, the notification for which has been submitted to the
local planning authority. We have also ordered from APT in South
Africa the remaining items of plant that we need to complete our
pilot gold processing plant."
"Our programme of works at Clogau-St David's is multi-faceted,
so 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."
Underground Drilling
Alba's drilling contractors, MED Limited, have so far completed
four drill holes to date, as shown in Figure 1 in the PDF version
of this announcement, which also shows the length of each completed
hole.
The Company has obtained permission to continue drilling into
October 2020. Drilling is currently paused but will resume in the
first half of October for 2-3 weeks, targeting the balance of the
underground targets that are yet to be drilled. Based on drilling
rates to date, Alba expects to have completed around 400-450 metres
of drilling in total by the end of this underground drilling
campaign.
The Company has appointed Matt Durbin Associates (MDA), a highly
experienced confined space engineering firm who have carried out
all the in-mine rehabilitation and safety works for Alba at the
Clogau Mine, to undertake the rehabilitation of approximately 600
metres of existing pipework at the Llechfraith Adit level. The
rehabilitation of this pipework will be invaluable in providing
pressurised air throughout the Mine, to support not only the
Company's underground drilling but also its future development of
the Mine.
Bulk Sampling Programme
Alba's team has collected 12 tonnes of material from four
targets.
A decision will be made as to whether to continue bulk sampling
during October 2020, or to focus solely on further underground
drilling, and will be advised on resumption of work activities
later this month.
Surface Drilling
Notification has been formally made to the local planning
authority for a diamond drilling campaign of up to 1,500 metres in
total that will be carried out from surface. The drill programme
has been designed to target mineralisation below the existing mine
workings at the Llechfraith mine area (see location map at Figure 3
in the PDF version of this announcement), thus testing the
continuation of mineralisation at depth.
This programme of up to 1,500 metres is the first phase of a
longer-term drilling programme of up to 5,000 metres to test areas
of interest that cannot be easily or safely accessed from
underground. The balance of this proposed 5,000 metre programme
will be the subject of separate notification to the local planning
authority in due course.
Figure 4 in the PDF version of this announcement displays the
workings below the Llechfraith Adit entrance, where gold
mineralisation was mined as recently as the 1980s. The red lines
mark the extent and trend of mined structures from compiled
records, with the potential depth extension highlighted by the
dashed segments.
This phase of the drill programme will target the potential
depth extensions of the historically worked lodes (or veins) below
the old workings at the Llechfraith mine area. The strike and dips
of these structures are highlighted by the underground workings,
and the plunges of potential ore shoots have been inferred through
the spatial connection of historic areas of mining on the section
plan. These boreholes are designed to test such observations and
identify currently undeveloped potential.
This zone was previously successfully targeted during Alba's
drilling in November 2019. As reported in the Company's RNS of 28
January 2020, both main drill holes completed in that programme,
GMOW002 and GMOW003, intersected a sequence of intrusive
greenstones or microdiorite followed by a shear zone dominated by
intermixed Clogau shale and quartz veining, this being the known
gold-bearing geological setting at the Llechfraith mine area. This
is significant as it has confirmed that the gold-bearing geology
continues down dip of the deepest worked level, being the No.4
Level. See Figure 5 in the PDF version of this announcement, which
shows the location and orientation of the November 2019
drilling.
By stepping out the drilling so that the drill collar is set
further away from the Mine area, the next phase of drilling at the
Llechfraith mine area is designed to intersect the quartz vein at a
higher, and therefore more favourable, angle to dip. See Figure 6
in the PDF version of this announcement, which shows the location
of the primary drill collar which has been proposed for this next
phase of surface drilling, as well as the location of the November
2019 drilling (which, as can be seen, was considerably closer to
the existing mine workings).
The first three drill holes planned (LL001 - LL003 on said
Figure 6) are to be drilled from a single drill pad, with the
potential to drill at least three further holes from an additional
site close by. The drill holes are each planned to have a maximum
depth of 250 m and a minimum depth of 100 m, although the precise
depth, orientation and dip of each drill hole and the total number
of holes are subject to possible adjustment in the field to take
account of local conditions as well as ongoing results.
Subject to there being no objections raised by the competent
planning authority to the notification that has been lodged by the
Company, and all other third party consents being obtained on a
timely basis, the Company expects to be able to commence this first
phase of surface drilling in the first half of November 2020.
Pilot Gold Processing Plant
As referred to in the Company's announcement of 22 July 2020,
the Company will be establishing its own pilot processing plant at
or close to the Mine site.
The Company has placed a firm order with Appropriate Process
Technologies (APT) of South Africa, leading mining equipment
manufacturers, for the remaining capital items required for the
pilot plant. This includes an impact crusher capable of processing
3 tonnes per hour and a gold concentrator capable of processing 1.5
tonnes per hour.
Given the current lead times for manufacturing and shipping, the
Company now expect the pilot plant to be fully operational sometime
in Q4 2020, this being subject to the timely receipt of regulatory
approvals and no additional delays being encountered in the
shipment of those ordered items.
Other Work in Progress
(1) Underground 3D scanning
Alba's contractor has completed the 3D-scanning of the mine
workings at the Llechfraith level, to enable the Company's existing
3D mine model to be completed. Alba is now awaiting delivery of the
completed product. This work is an important step in the
establishment of geological targets and for mine planning
purposes.
(2) Surface trenching of the Dolgellau Gold Belt ("DGB")
As regards the Company's regional exploration of the DGB, as
previously reported Alba's 2019 regional geochemical soil sampling
programme resulted in 10 significant anomalies being identified
away from all known major mines and gold mineralisation being
confirmed over about a six-mile section of the DGB.
As previously announced, the next phase of work over the DGB
will involve the surface trenching of a selection of those 10 new
gold targets. Eight trenches have been planned in the 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 will be sampled, and those samples
sent to a laboratory for assaying. As reported on 7 September 2020,
planning permission having been granted for this trenching
programme, the Company is working to satisfy the conditions to
planning, the availability of all contractors has been confirmed
and the Company accordingly expects the programme to commence by
November 2020.
Dependent on the results achieved in this first phase of
trenching, further applications will be submitted to the local
planning authority to approve additional phases of trenching over
the other gold targets which Alba has identified in the DGB.
(3) Sampling of the historical waste dump at Clogau
The Company has been progressing its consideration of the
appropriate methodology for the sampling of the historical waste
tip at the Clogau-St David's Mine, and has had initial positive
discussions with the competent regulators in this regard.
(4) Dewatering of the Lower Llechfraith mine area
As reported in the Company's announcement of 22 July 2020, the
Llechfraith mine area has been identified as the one of the best
targets within the existing mine workings and is due to be targeted
during the next phase of surface drilling, as described above.
Only the higher workings at Llechfraith are currently directly
accessible, the levels below Level 2 being flooded. Dewatering the
main Llechfraith shaft would enable the Company to physically
access areas where visible gold has been mapped. Geochemical
monitoring of the water within and adjacent to the workings is
ongoing and continues to indicate that the underground water is
benign and that any contaminants are within acceptable levels.
Initial positive discussions have been held with the competent
regulator in this regard, and the Company's consultant
hydrogeologist is in the process of formulating a detailed
dewatering plan.
All activities and timelines in this announcement are subject to
the timely receipt of regulatory and other third-party consents and
to the timely availability of contractors, plant and equipment.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 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 timing and granting of
regulatory and other third party consents and approvals,
uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's ability
to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of
unexpected events.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing,
uncertainties also exist in connection with the ongoing Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic which may result in further lockdown measures
and restrictions being imposed by Governments and other competent
regulatory bodies and agencies from time to time in response to the
pandemic, which measures and restrictions may prevent or inhibit
the Company from executing its work activities according to the
timelines set out in this announcement or indeed from executing its
work activities at all. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may
also affect the Company's ability to execute its work activities
due to personnel and contractors testing positive for COVID-19 or
otherwise being required to self-isolate from time to time.
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 Mark Austin. Mr Austin is a member
of SACNASP (Reg. No. 400235/06), Fellow of The Geological Society
and Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa. He has a
B.Sc. Honours in Geology with 38 years' experience.
Mark Austin 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. Mr Austin consents to the inclusion in the announcement of
the matters based on his information in the form and context in
which they appear.
Glossary
Geochemical: Relates to the chemical composition of the Earth
and its rocks and minerals.
Mineralisation: Economically important metals that can occur at
a variety of scales from small disseminations through to large
zones or ore bodies.
Quartz Veins: A distinct sheet-like body dominantly composed of
quartz hosted within a rock formation.
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
ETX Capital (Broker)
Thomas Smith +44 20 7392 1494
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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