13th Oct 2014 10:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Armadale Capital PLC Monday said it has increased its mineral resource at its Mpokoto Gold Project in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, following the completion of stage one of an infill drilling programme carried out in July.
The resource is in line with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee guidelines.
The overall mineral resources increased by 34% to 678,100 ounces of gold, from 506,700 ounces of gold, with 75% of the overall mineral resource estimate now in the indicated category, representing a 65% increase.
"This significant 34 per cent increase in the mineral resource estimate to 678,100 ounces of gold considerably enhances the economics of the entire asset. Mpokoto offers highly attractive returns and near term production potential, with robust economics even at low gold prices, and we are focused on rapidly advancing this project into production in the second half of 2015," said Director Justin Lewis.
Armadale also reported an increase of 25% in the oxide portion of the mineral resource to 159,000 ounces of gold from 119,000 ounces of gold, and the recognition of higher grade zones in excess of 2 grammes per tonne lying just below the base of the already designed oxide pits, it said in a statement.
The oxide portion is the shallow depth of rock where the original mineralogy of the rock is extensively broken down by the action of external agencies such as water percolation and chemical leaching.
The shallower oxide portion of the orebody has been the focus of the current scoping study given it is nearest to surface, very weathered - requiring a lower treatment cost - and has the highest recovery, up to 90%, making it the lowest cost to produce.
Its indicated mineral resources within the oxide zone increased to 3.6 million tonnes, containing 144,400 ounces of gold from 1.3 million tonnes.
Armadale's development strategy to rapidly advance the project through to low capital expenditure, low operating expenditure gold production in the second half of 2015 ? a new pit optimisation process is underway in addition to an expanded and updated scoping study due to be published shortly, it said in a statement.
"The scope and scale of the Mpokoto Gold Project continues to grow and fuel our confidence that we will be able to deliver a low capex, low opex commercial gold mining project in the near future. It is also very gratifying to note the expansion in the shallow oxide resource, the initial focus of the group?s development plan," said Lewis.
The mineral resource estimate is based on the results obtained from 210 drill holes, totalling 20,449 metres, consisting of 103 reverse circulation holes, totalling 5,892 metres, and 107 diamond drill holes totalling 14,557 metres.
Armadale shares were down 2% to 0.0784 pence per share Monday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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