Alba Mineral Resources plc has expanded exploration with additional licences within and adjacent to the Dolgellau gold field in North Wales.
LICENCE
Alba’s wholly owned subsidiary Dragonfire Mining Ltd has been granted a new option agreement by The Crown to extend its existing exclusive exploration rights.
The company said that the new six-year option agreement covered an area known to host gold mineralisation including former mine workings.
The licence covers all areas of Clogau shale exposure north of the Barmouth Estuary, adding an additional 64 km2 of ground and bringing the total area under licence to Alba to 188 km2.
Alba added it would focus exploration on a series of prospective structures of more than 10km in length through the new ground.
HISTORICAL DATA
“The Clogau shales and immediately adjacent stratigraphic packages are known to be critical controls on the development of vein-hosted gold mineralisation.
“Of particular interest to Alba is the large tract of land added to the northwest.
“Historical data sets, including the mineral reconnaissance programme (MRP) completed by the British Geological Survey in the 1980s which analysed a suite of panned drainage samples for gold, indicate that the area hosts gold mineralisation.”
MINERALISATION
Alba said that the source of the gold was currently poorly understood, but the company was well-positioned to explore for the bedrock sources of anomalies.
“The area hosts some recorded mine workings, which were working sulphide-bearing quartz veins.
“Whether mining here was developed in search of gold or base metals is unknown, but the structures highlighted by these workings show that mineralisation conforms to northeast to southwest striking structures, in some cases more than 10km in length, similar to what is seen elsewhere in the DGF.”
The company’s geologists have identified a suite of these prospective structures to investigate further, especially where these structures interact with the Clogau shales.