Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) is making preparations to kick off the next phase of regional exploration following its discovery of multiple targets at the Sandstone Gold Project.
The company will focus on near-term growth and new discoveries during the ‘high impact’ campaign, with drilling at the Bull Oak, Vanguard and Indomitable prospects.
The prospects
Bull Oak stands out as a single-pit resource with scale potential for additional open-pittable gold.
Results from a recent 80-metre step-out drill program intersected multiple stacked lodes including 55 metres at 1.5 g/t gold and 23 metres at 1.1 g/t, with extended mineralisation over 400 metres that remained open.
The company hopes to extend mineralisation both up and down dip, as well as along strike and at depth.
Over at Vanguard the company plans to explore high-grade extensional targets outside the current resources, including 2 metres at 20.8 g/t gold, 1 metre at 23.7 g/t and 1 metre at 22.0 g/t, which remain open along the more than two-kilometre-long northwest/southeast corridor.
Of particular note is a 500-metre-long gold-in lag-anomaly identified along trend from the high-grade Vanguard North deposit.
At Indomitable, Alto is keen to test extensional targets along the main northwest trend and a parallel trend where historical drilling outside the current resource includes 15 metres at 2.3 g/t gold from 35 metres and 10 metres at 3.0 g/t from 50 metres.
And there are more extensional targets at Cessna, where previous results included 16 metres at 7.2 g/t gold from 65 metres.
Regional exploration
On a regional scale, a gravity survey is planned over the Hacks West area, which is immediately west of the mined Hacks reef, which boasts more than 200,000 ounces at 24 g/t gold.
This area hosts numerous old workings and historical shafts, considered prospective for ‘repeat’ high-grade gold reefs.
First-pass aircore drilling at Sandstone North has successfully defined anomalous shallow low-level gold mineralisation over a 500-metre trend, in keeping with the main north-south trending interpreted structure.
Drill rigs being mobilised shortly to start testing priority growth targets in the Alpha Domain, as regional field and exploration work continues to advance regional targets to be ready for first-pass drilling.
Alto managing director and CEO Matthew Bowles said: “The potential for extensions below the historic Bull Oak open pit mine to host significant continuation of mineralisation represents an opportunity to considerably increase the scale of the deposit.
High-grade gold
“The exploration team were highly encouraged by the results of the 80-metre step-out drilling, which extended mineralisation over 400 metres and remains open, and look forward to following this up shortly.
“It is also exciting to see the extensional targets identified at Vanguard and Indomitable that have the potential to drive further near-term growth.
“The look-a-like target along the same NW tend that hosts the high-grade Vanguard North deposit is an exciting target and the extensional targets at Indomitable continue to highlight the camp-scale potential.
“Our ongoing regional exploration and targeting work, outside of the Alpha Domain, is continuing to advance prospects through our project pipeline, with the systematic work over the Hacks West area progressing well as we look for a potential ‘repeat’ high-grade gold reefs.
“With a growing, open-pit gold resource of 832,000 ounces gold at 1.5g/t, constrained within A$2,500/oz pit shells at our Sandstone Gold Project, the company remains focused on adding further ounces with extensional drilling and plans to mobilise rigs to drive further resource growth and also test a number of our high-priority regional targets.”