Commencement of Drill Program at Sandstone
Perth, Nov 22, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Alto Metals Limited (
ASX:AME) ("Alto" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of a maiden +3,500m RC drilling program at its 100% owned Sandstone Gold Project that will test for extensions to shallow oxide mineralisation at the Indomitable and nearby prospects and for high-grade primary mineralisation associated with the Lord Henry and Lord Nelson open pits.
Maiden Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program has commenced at Sandstone to test for:
- strike and depth extensions of oxide gold mineralisation at the Indomitable prospect and other nearby oxide gold prospects, and
- strike and depth extensions of high grade primary sulphide mineralisation associated with Lord Nelson and Lord Henry open pits.
- Drilling to be completed by Christmas break with results due end-January
Commenting on the commencement of drilling, Managing Director, Dermot Ryan, said: "Alto's current +3,500m RC drilling program is the first in a series of drill programs that will focus on building shallow oxide and deeper high-grade primary gold Mineral Resources within the extensive 723km2 Sandstone Project where since its acquisition in June 2016 we have been busily collating and interpreting a vast body of historical and recently acquired geological and geophysical data".
Lady Hamilton Area
The oxide gold prospects gathered within the Lady Hamilton area include Indomitable (North and South), Tigermoth, Piper and Musketeer. Refer Figure 1 in link below for geology and location of prospects.
These oxide gold prospects were initially identified by Troy Resources NL's ("Troy") grid based rotary airblast (RAB) drilling program and then followed up by RC drilling. They are broadly aligned along a major north-north-east striking shear corridor which appears to terminate magnetic units (interpreted to be either banded iron formations [Bif] or mafic volcanic units) which are prominent in detailed magnetic imagery. (Refer Figure 2 in link below)
The Indomitable prospect is located within an area of alluvium covering mafic and ultramafic rocks. At Indomitable East, there are a series of old gold workings striking east-south-east which have limited historical production. Weathering is generally very deep with one Troy diamond drill hole at Indomitable still in weathered material at its final depth of 191.9m [down hole].
The Piper and Tigermoth prospects occur within a large area of alluvium. Magnetic data suggests considerable structural complexity where north-west and north-south trends merge. It has been partially tested by broad spaced drilling (generally 200m x 100m spacing) but needs to be tested in more detail.
Airborne Magnetic Survey
Due to transported overburden, deep weathering and lack of outcrop in the Sandstone region, collection and interpretation of high quality airborne magnetic data is considered essential to define stratigraphy and favourable structures for emplacement of gold mineralisation.
On 23 October the Company completed a detailed airborne magnetic/radiometric survey with 50m line spacing and 30m sensor height over portions of the Company's landholdings not previously surveyed in detail. The survey comprised 10,358line km of mag/rad surveying covering an area of ~460 km2.
Lady Hamilton Induced Polarisation Survey
The recently completed 20 line km Lady Hamilton off-set pole-dipole IP survey was designed to be integrated with detailed magnetic data and former Troy gravity data, in order to map out stratigraphic boundaries, zones of deeper oxidation, and possible deeper sulphide accumulations.
The detailed aeromagnetic and IP survey data is currently being processed by a specialist geophysical consultant.
The Sandstone Greenstone Belt has produced over 1.3 million ounces of gold from numerous underground and open pit mining operations since the discovery of gold at the end of the 19th Century. The lack of outcrop and the presence of deep weathering and alluvial cover has hampered exploration and discovery of large gold resources since that time. Between 1994 and 2010, approximately 612,000 ounces were produced by Herald Resources Ltd and Troy Resources NL, largely from shallow oxide pits to feed the Nungarra Mill, and since 2010 there has no exploration on the ground now held by Alto.
Orogenic gold geological environments such as Sandstone generally have a history of having their resources and reserves replenished through cyclical discovery of new resources and progressive conversion of these to reserves, thereby extending the life of an established goldfield well beyond that predicted from its initial known gold endowment.
Alto has two immediate objectives at Sandstone:
1. the discovery of relatively shallow (free dig) oxide gold mineralisation that can be economically mined and trucked to one of several gold treatment facilities in the region, and
2. the discovery of further high-grade shear hosted primary (sulphide) gold mineralisation at depth in the immediate vicinity of mined oxide deposits such as Lord Nelson, Lord Henry and Bulchina, through a combination of IP surveys and RC and diamond core drilling. This includes the re-modeling and re-estimation of remnant Indicated & Inferred Mineral Resources (JORC 2004 compliant) previously estimated by Snowdens on behalf of Troy Resources NL.
A longer-term objective is the discovery of new, large high-grade oxide and primary gold deposits, which will be assisted through a better understanding of the lithological and structural controls on gold mineralisation within the Sandstone Greenstone Belt.
To achieve both the immediate and longer term objectives, Alto has undertaken various exploration initiatives including:
- the capture and compilation of historic drilling and assay data from WA Department of Mines and Petroleum Mines Open File reports,
- a review of the geology and drill hole data for all known prospects in the region,
- the purchase and processing of existing high-resolution airborne magnetic data,
- the flying of a new detailed airborne magnetic survey,
- the commissioning of a JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource estimate for the Lord Nelson and Lord Henry deposits,
- the completion of a 3-Dimensional Induced Polarisation (3DIP) survey over the Lady Hamilton oxide gold area,
- the establishment of an External Research Advisory Committee chaired by Emeritus Professor David Groves, a leader in Archaean geology and orogenic gold mineralisation, to guide research in the hunt for the million ounce deposit, and
- the planning of a 3,500 - 5,000m RC drilling program for November-December 2016 to test strike and depth extensions of known oxide and primary gold mineralised systems.
More extensive geophysical and drilling programs will be implemented in 2017, following the completion of the compilation and review of Alto's Sandstone database.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/GPEVNKI2
About Alto Metals Ltd
Alto Metals Limited (ASX:AME) is a Western Australian based company and is focused on gold and uranium exploration in Australia. The Company's primary objective is to create shareholder wealth through discovery and development of a plus 1 million ounce gold deposit and ISR style uranium deposits.
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