Alba Mineral Resources plc aims to extend drilling after it identified ten separate gold targets and several new regional targets at Clogau-St David’s gold mine in North Wales.
The junior miner has rehabilitated the mine in Dolgellau and is looking for extensions to previously worked gold veins.
The mine has never been subjected to modern mining methods, no historic exploration drilling, and no joined-up regional exploration, said executive chairman George Frangeskides in a presentation for Vox Markets.
The project consists of two sites: the original St David’s mine where Alba is trying to restart production and the newer main site at Clogau mine within the Dolgellau gold belt.
The sites are intersected by a fault which displaces the mineralisation between the two areas.
Most of the regional gold belt is under licence to Alba (90%) who will be the sole producer of Welsh gold.
Mr Frangeskides added: “We’ve done a significant amount of work but there’s still a lot of prospectivity over the gold belt.
“One of the great things about Clogau is that there is a huge amount of development already in place which would cost millions to replicate if we were to do it from scratch today.”
The mine was first worked before 1900 and is on several levels, allowing Alba to reach the targets identified for drilling short holes and to take bulk samples.
Geologists have also been been working on a 3D geological model to gain a better understanding of the gold deposit.
DRILLING AND SAMPLING
Alba has started drilling and plans to drill up to 1,400 metres as well as short holes of 50 to 60 metres as the targets are accessible closely from underground.
The company has one-drill team which will take out 25 to 30 tonnes of material to check drilling is being done in the correct place.
A second team will take bulk samples because of the irregular distribution of the gold mineralisation which is also not homogenous.
Alba said that Clogau processing was simple because the gold was not bound up with other minerals. The process will involve two crushers, concentrator, shaking table and sluice.
The company has planning permission to dig trenches at its first target to take out the top soil so exposing the bedrock up to a metre deep.
PILOT PLANT
Samples will be sent to a third party for assays and if gold is found in the hard rock, further samples will be taken with drilling planned before the end of the year.
Alba has part of the processing plant on site and but hopes to have its own pilot plant to save costs and improve efficiency.
Clogau is the largest historic gold producing mine in the UK with 80,000 oz of gold.
The gold holds a scarcity value because it is sought after by the Welsh and has royal associations dating back to Queen Victoria.
OTHER ASSETS
Alba Mineral Resources’ other exploration assets include a cluster of sites in Greenland: Amitsoq – graphite (90%), Inglefield – copper, cobalt, gold (100%), Melville Bay – iron ore (51%), TBS – ilmenite (100%); in Ireland: Limerick – zinc-lead (100%); and investments in onshore oil sites in Brockham (5%) and Horse Hill (11.765%) in Surrey.