Alba Mineral Resources plc has restarted surface drilling to test the depth extent of the new vein system at its Clogau-St David’s gold mine project in North Wales.
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Drilling contractors are preparing the drill collar for LL005 which will have a steeper trajectory of -55° to obtain a deeper lode intersection around 20m below LL001-003 intersections which identified the new vein system.
The company has also processed a small bulk sample at a third-party processing facility and results confirmed the “production of a 20.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold concentrate”.
Executive chairman George Frangeskides said that the company was greatly encouraged by the good recoveries of gold to concentrate.
Alba’s pilot processing plant is expected to be operational on 11 January and throughout the first quarter of 2021.
The plant will process a 36-tonne bulk sample, collected in the phase I surface drilling during September and October 2020.
The programme involved drilling hole LL004 to 62.4m, with the end of the hole called before intersecting the expected quartz zone due to difficult ground conditions.
Alba’s portfolio also includes zinc and lead in Ireland; ilmenite, iron ore, graphite, copper-cobalt-gold in Greenland; and onshore oil and gas investments in Surrey.