TIDMSOLG
RNS Number : 9364I
SolGold PLC
23 June 2017
23 June 2017
SolGold plc
("SolGold" or the "Company")
Cascabel Exploration Update
Assay Results for Holes 24 and 25
The Board of SolGold (AIM code: SOLG) is pleased to provide an
update on the assay results from Holes 24 and 25 at Cascabel, the
Company's copper-gold porphyry project in Ecuador. Hole 23R assay
results are delayed in the laboratory.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Ø Hole 23R (Rig 1 Alpala Central) assay results - delayed in
laboratory.
Ø Hole 24 (Rig 3 Alpala Southeast) assay results:
- 586.0m @ 0.43% copper equivalent (0.27% Cu, 0.25 g/t Au) from 636m;
- 160m @ 1.04% copper equivalent (0.63% Cu, 0.65 g/t Au) from 738m.
Ø Hole 24 intersection represents robust mineralising porphyry
system at depth.
Ø Hole 24 extends Alpala Deposit known mineralised corridor to
approximately 1300m.
Ø Hole 25 (Rig 2 Hematite Hill) assay results:
- 776.0m @ 0.77% copper equivalent (0.58% Cu, 0.30 g/t Au) from 754m;
- 238m @ 1.76% copper equivalent (1.31% Cu, 0.70 g/t Au) from 772m;
- 100m @ 3.59% copper equivalent (2.64% Cu, 1.51 g/t Au) from 772m.
Ø Hole 25 intersection includes high-grade panel of intense
bornite mineralisation representing upper portion of previously
unknown porphyry apophysis at Alpala East.
References to figures and tables relate to the version of this
release on the Company's website (www.solgold.com.au) or visible in
PDF format by clicking the link below:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9364I_-2017-6-22.pdf
FURTHER INFORMATION:
SolGold's Alpala deposit continues to grow with each new drill
hole. Over 39,000m of drilling has been completed to date along the
greater Alpala trend. Current drilling focuses on defining the
geometry of the growing porphyry copper-gold deposit at Alpala,
which is open in virtually all directions (Figure 1).
Hole 23R (Rig 1 Alpala Central) assay results are delayed in the
laboratory and will be released when available. Visual evidence
from the drill hole has previously been reported and suggests that
the deposit is open to the east.
Selected examples of mineralisation encountered in Hole 23R are
shown in Figure 2.
Hole 24 (Rig 3 Alpala Southeast) assay results returned 586.0m
grading 0.43% copper equivalent (0.27% copper and 0.25 g/t gold)
from 636.0m depth, including 160m grading 1.04% copper equivalent
(0.63% copper and 0.65 g/t gold) from 738.0m depth. This
intersection in Hole 24 represents strongly phyllic altered, well
mineralised diorite country rock above a robust mineralising
porphyry system at depth.
Hole 24 extends the Alpala Deposit by 350m to the southeast of
Hole 25 and expands the known mineralised corridor along the
greater Alpala corridor (or the 'Trivinio - Alpala Southeast'
trend) to approximately 1300m.
Selected examples of mineralisation encountered in Hole 24 are
shown in Figure 3.
Hole 25 Assay results return 776.0m grading 0.77% copper
equivalent (0.58% copper and 0.30 g/t gold) from 754m depth. This
intersection includes a high-grade panel of intense bornite
mineralisation representing the cupola of a previously unknown
high-grade quartz diorite apophysis that lies immediately east of
the Alpala deposit (Figure 4).
The high-grade zone in Hole 25 returned 238m grading 1.76%
copper equivalent (1.31% copper and 0.70 g/t gold) from 772m depth,
including 100m grading 3.59% copper equivalent (2.64% copper and
1.51 g/t gold).
Selected examples of mineralisation encountered in Hole 25 are
shown in Figure 5.
With subsequent drilling SolGold expects to significantly grow
the size of the copper-gold deposit at Alpala. Drilling is being
expedited by use of Devico Directional Core Drilling Technology,
which allows for steerable drill hole paths, increased drilling
accuracy and faster acquisition of results through drilling
multiple holes from each parent hole, achieving more drill metres
within the orebody.
Hole 23R-D1 (Rig 1) started on 1st June 2017, is at a current
depth of 804.6m, following deviation from the parent hole (Hole
23R) at 710m depth. Hole 23R-D1 is 23R-D1 is a "daughter" hole
planned to drill at a steep angle to the east, testing for
extensions to the high grade early quartz diorite intrusion
intersected in Hole 23R.
Hole 24-D1 started on 21st May 2017, and is at a current depth
of 774.2m. Hole 24-D1 is a "daughter" hole leaving the "parent"
(Hole 24) at 780m depth testing for deeper extensions to the
mineralisation discovered in Hole 24.
Hole 26 (Rig 4) started on 24th May 2017, testing the strike and
depth extensions of Alpala towards the north and northeast. Hole 26
continues at a current depth of 451.1m, within mineralised diorite
intrusive, towards a planned depth of at least 1800m.
Hole 27 (Rig 2) started on 24th May 2017, from the same location
as Hole 25, and is at a current depth of 895.5m, within mineralised
diorite intrusive, testing approximately 250m southeast of
intersections achieved in Holes 16, 19 and 22.
Qualified Person:
Information in this report relating to the exploration results
is based on data reviewed by Mr Nicholas Mather (B.Sc. Hons Geol.),
the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr Mather is a Fellow
of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy who has in
excess of 25 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a
Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Mather consents to the
inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it
appears.
By order of the Board
Karl Schlobohm
Company Secretary
CONTACTS
Mr Nicholas Mather Tel: +61 (0) 7 3303 0665
SolGold Plc (Executive Director) +61 (0) 417 880 448
nmather@SolGold.com.au
Mr Karl Schlobohm Tel: +61 (0) 7 3303 0661
SolGold Plc (Company Secretary)
kschlobohm@SolGold.com.au
Mr Ewan Leggat / Mr Richard Morrison Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470
0470
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (NOMAD and Broker)
ewan.leggat@spangel.co.uk
Follow us on twitter @SolGold_plc
NOTES TO EDITORS
SolGold is a Brisbane, Australia based, AIM--listed (SOLG)
copper gold exploration and future development company with assets
in Ecuador, Solomon Islands and Australia. SolGold's primary
objective is to discover and define world--class copper--gold
deposits. The Board and Management Team have substantial vested
interests in the success of the Company as shareholders as well as
strong track records in the areas of exploration, mine appraisal
and development, investment, finance and law. SolGold's experience
is augmented by state of the art geophysical and modelling
techniques and the guidance of porphyry copper and gold expert Dr
Steve Garwin.
SolGold was shortlisted as a nominee for the Mining Journal
Explorer Achievement Award for 2016. The Company announced USD54m
in capital raisings in September 2016 involving Maxit Capital LP,
Newcrest International Ltd and DGR Global Ltd, and a USD41.2m
raising in June of 2017 largely from Newcrest International with
USD1.2m raised from Ecuadorean investors. All of these raisings
were undertaken at substantial premiums to previous raisings, and
SolGold has circa USD70 million in available cash to continue the
exploration and development of its flagship Cascabel Project.
Mr Craig Jones joined the SolGold Board on 3 March 2017,
nominated to the Board of SolGold by Newcrest Mining, now a 14.54%
shareholder in SolGold. Mr Jones is a Mechanical Engineer and is
currently the Executive General Manager Wafi-Golpu
(Newcrest-Harmony MMJV). He has held various senior management and
executive roles within the Newcrest Group, including General
Manager Projects, General Manager Cadia Valley Operations,
Executive General Manager Projects and Asset Management, Executive
General Manager Australian and Indonesian Operations, Executive
General Manager Australian Operations and Projects, and Executive
General Manager Cadia and Morobe Mining Joint Venture. Prior to
joining Newcrest, Mr Jones worked for Rio Tinto.
Cascabel, SolGold's 85% owned "World Class" flagship
copper--gold porphyry project, is located in northern Ecuador on
the under--explored northern section of the richly endowed Andean
Copper Belt. SolGold owns 85% of Exploraciones Novomining S.A.
("ENSA") and approximately 11% of TSX--V--listed Cornerstone
Capital Resources ("Cornerstone"), which holds the remaining 15% of
ENSA, the Ecuadorian registered company which holds 100% of the
Cascabel concession.
The investments by Newcrest for 14.54% of SolGold, and the
investments into SolGold by Guyana Goldfields, Maxit Capital and
its clients, endorses Ecuador as an exploration and mining
destination, the management team at SolGold, the dimension, size
and scale of the growing Alpala, and the prospectivity of Cascabel
and its multiple targets. The gold endowment, location,
infrastructure, logistics are important competitive advantages
offered by the project.
To date SolGold has completed geological mapping, soil sampling,
rock saw channel sampling, geochemical and spectral alteration
mapping over 25km(2) , along with an additional 9km(2) of Induced
Polarisation and 14km(2) Magnetotelluric "Orion" surveys over the
Alpala cluster and Aguinaga targets.
SolGold has completed over 39,000m of drilling and expended over
USD45.6M on the program, which includes corporate costs and
investments into Cornerstone. This has been accomplished with a
workforce of up to 176 Ecuadorean workers and geoscientists, and 6
expatriate Australian geoscientists. The results of 26 holes
drilled (including re-drilled holes) and assayed to date have
produced some of the greatest drill hole intercepts in porphyry
copper-gold exploration history, as indicated by Hole 12
(CSD-16-012) returning 1560m grading 0.59% copper and 0.54 g/t gold
including, 1044m grading 0.74% copper and 0.54 g/t gold. The
average grade of all metres drilled to date on the project
currently stands at 0.32% copper and 0.27 g/t gold. Intensive
diamond drilling is planned for the next 12 months with 10 drill
rigs expected to be operational by early 2018, targeting over
90,000m of drilling per annum.
Cascabel is characterised by fifteen (15) identified targets,
"World Class" drilling intersections over 1km in length at
potentially economic grades, and high copper and gold grades in
richer sections, as well as logistic advantages in location,
elevation, water supply, proximity to roads, port and power
services; and a progressive legislative approach to resource
development in Ecuador.
To date, SolGold has drill tested 4 of the 15 targets, being
Alpala Northwest, Alpala Central, Hematite Hill, and Alpala
Southeast. Currently drill testing of Alpala Northwest, Alpala
Central and Alpala Southeast targets is underway, with drill
testing of the Aguinaga target to commence in August 2017.
The Alpala deposit is open in multiple directions and the
mineralised corridor marked for drill testing of the greater Alpala
cluster occurs over a 2.2km strike length from Trivinio in the
northwest to Cristal in the southeast. The mineralised corridor is
known to be prospective over approximately 700m width.
High priority targets within the Alpala cluster, at Moran
approximately 700m to the north, and at Aguinaga approximately
2.3km north east, are closely modelled by 3D MVI magnetic
signatures that currently encompass over 15Bt of magnetic rock.
Based on a strong spatial and genetic relationship between copper
sulphides and magnetite, this body of magnetic rock is considered
to be highly prospective for significant copper and gold
mineralisation, and requires drill testing.
SolGold is focussing on extending the dimensions of the Alpala
deposit including Hematite Hill, Alpala South East, Cristal, Alpala
Northwest and Trivinio before completing a resource statement and
drill testing of the other key targets within the Cascabel
concession at Aguinaga, Tandayama-America, Alpala West, Carmen,
Alpala East, Moran, Parambas, and Chinambicito.
The Company is currently planning further metallurgical testing
and completion of an independent Pre-Feasibility Study at Cascabel.
SolGold is investigating both high tonnage open cut and underground
block caving operations, as well as a high grade / low tonnage
initial underground development towards the economic development of
the copper gold deposit/s at Cascabel.
Drill hole intercepts have been updated to reflect current
commodity prices, using a data aggregation method, defined by
copper equivalent cut-off grades and reported with up to 10m
internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. Copper
equivalent grades are calculated using a gold conversion factor of
0.63, determined using an updated copper price of USD3.00/pound and
an updated gold price of USD1300/ounce. True widths of down hole
intersections are estimated to be approximately 25-50%.
Following a comprehensive review of the geology and
prospectivity of Ecuador, SolGold and its subsidiaries have also
applied for additional exploration licences in Ecuador over a
number of promising porphyry copper gold targets throughout the
Country. SolGold is negotiating external funding options which will
provide the Company with the ability to have some of these projects
fully funded by a third party while focussing on Cascabel.
In Queensland, Australia the Company is evaluating the future
exploration plans for the Mt Perry, Rannes and Normanby projects,
with drill testing of the Normanby project planned for the coming
quarter. Joint venture agreements are being investigated for a
joint venture partner to commit funds and carry out exploration to
earn an interest in the tenements.
SolGold retains interests in its original theatre of operations,
Solomon Islands in the South West Pacific, where the 100% owned,
but as yet undrilled, Kuma prospect on the island of Guadalcanal
exhibits surface lithocap characteristics which are traditionally
indicative of a large metal rich copper gold intrusive porphyry
system. SolGold intends in the future to apply intellectual
property and experience developed in Ecuador to target additional
"World Class" copper gold porphyries at Kuma and other targets in
Ecuador and Argentina.
SolGold is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Company
listed on London's AIM Market in 2006, under the AIM code 'SOLG'
and currently has a total of 1,511,195,685 ordinary shares issued,
together with 33,975,884 options exercisable at 28p and 11,975,884
options exercisable at 14p.
CAUTIONARY NOTICE
News releases, presentations and public commentary made by
SolGold plc (the "Company") and its Officers may contain certain
statements and expressions of belief, expectation or opinion which
are forward looking statements, and which relate, inter alia, to
interpretations of exploration results to date and the Company's
proposed strategy, plans and objectives or to the expectations or
intentions of the Company's Directors. Such forward-looking and
interpretative statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other important factors beyond the control of the
Company that could cause the actual performance or achievements of
the Company to be materially different from such interpretations
and forward-looking statements. Accordingly, the reader should not
rely on any interpretations or forward-looking statements; and save
as required by the exchange rules of TSX and LSE-AIM and LSE for
companies or by applicable laws, the Company does not accept any
obligation to disseminate any updates or revisions to such
interpretations or forward-looking statements. The Company may
reinterpret results to date as the status of its assets and
projects changes with time expenditure, metals prices and other
affecting circumstances.
The Company and its officers do not endorse, or reject or
otherwise comment on the conclusions, interpretations or views
expressed in press articles or third-party analysis, and where
possible aims to circulate all available material on its
website.
The Company recognises that the term "World Class" is subjective
and for the purpose of the Company's projects the Company considers
the drilling results at the growing Alpala Porphyry Copper Gold
Deposit at its Cascabel Project to represent intersections of a
"World Class" deposit on the basis of comparisons with other
drilling intersections from "World Class" deposits tabulated in
Table 1, some of which have become, or are becoming, producing
mines and on the basis of available independent opinions which may
be referenced to define the term "World Class" (or "Tier 1").
The Company considers that "World Class" deposits are rare, very
large, long life, low cost, and are responsible for approximately
half of total global metals production. "World Class" deposits are
generally accepted as deposits of a size and quality that create
multiple expansion opportunities, and have or are likely to
demonstrate robust economics that ensure development irrespective
of position within the global commodity cycles, or whether or not
the deposit has been fully drilled out, or a feasibility study
completed.
Standards drawn from industry experts (1Singer and Menzie, 2010;
2Schodde, 2006; 3Schodde and Hronsky, 2006; 4Singer, 1995;
5Laznicka, 2010) have characterised "World Class" deposits at
prevailing commodity prices. The relevant criteria for "World
Class" deposits, adjusted to current long run commodity prices, are
considered to be those holding or likely to hold more than 5
million tonnes of copper and/or more than 6 million ounces of gold
with a modelled net present value of greater than USD 1
Billion.
The Company cautions that the Cascabel Project remains an early
exploration stage project at this time. Despite the relatively high
copper and gold grades over long intersections and broad areas, and
widespread surface mineralization discovered at the Cascabel
Project to date, much of which has still not yet been drill tested,
the Company has yet to prepare an initial mineral resource estimate
at the Cascabel Project and any development or mining potential for
the project remains speculative. There is inherent uncertainty
relating to any project at an exploration stage, prior to the
determination of a mineral resource estimate, preliminary economic
assessment, pre-feasibility study and/or feasibility study. There
is no certainty that future results will yield the results seen to
date or that the project will continue to be considered to contain
a "World Class" deposit. Accordingly, past exploration results may
not be predictive of future exploration results.
From the drilling results at the growing Alpala Porphyry Copper
Gold Deposit (only) within the Cascabel Project, the Company
considers the deposit to have significant resource potential and
the data gathered has provided the basis for the estimation of an
exploration target over the area drilled to date. Initial 3D
modelling and grade shell interpolants have outlined an approximate
exploration target at Alpala that ranges from 620Mt at 1.05% copper
equivalent using a cut-off grade of 0.4% copper equivalent, to
830Mt at 0.85% copper equivalent, using a cut-off of 0.3% copper
equivalent. These estimates equate to an endowment of between
6.5-7.1Mt of contained copper equivalent (Figure A).
Copper equivalent grades used are calculated using a gold
conversion factor of 0.63, determined using a copper price of USD
3.00/pound and a gold price of USD 1300/ounce. Drill hole
intercepts are calculated using a data aggregation method, defined
by copper equivalent cut-off grades and reported with up to 10m
internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. True
widths of down hole intersections are estimated to be approximately
25-50%.
The Company cautions that the potential quantity and grade
ranges (exploration target) disclosed above for the Alpala Porphyry
Copper Gold Deposit within the Cascabel Project is conceptual in
nature, and there has been insufficient exploration to define a
mineral resource, and the Company is uncertain if further
exploration will result in the exploration target being delineated
within a mineral resource estimate.
On this basis, the reference to the Cascabel Project as "World
Class" (or "Tier 1") is considered to be appropriate. Examples of
global copper and gold discoveries since 2006 that are generally
considered to be "World Class" are summarised in Table 2.
References cited in the text:
1. Singer, D.A. and Menzie, W.D., 2010. Quantitative Mineral
Resource Assessments: An Integrated Approach. Oxford University
Press Inc.
2. Schodde, R., 2006. What do we mean by a world class deposit?
And why are they special. Presentation. AMEC Conference, Perth.
3. Schodde, R and Hronsky, J.M.A, 2006. The Role of World-Class
Mines in Wealth Creation. Special Publications of the Society of
Economic Geologists Volume 12.
4. Singer, D.A., 1995, World-class base and precious metal
deposits-a quantitative analysis: Economic Geology, v. 90, no.1, p.
88-104.
5. Laznicka, P., 2010. Giant Metallic Deposits: Future Sources
of Industrial Metal, Second Edition. Springer-Verlag
Heidelberg.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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