White Cliff Minerals Ltd (ASX:WCN) has identified three new mineralised zones while bulldozing roads at the Aucu gold project in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Visible gold was panned from a 1 kilogram sample taken from the widest zone measuring 17 metres.
White Cliff has an upper end exploration target for the eastern upper gold zone (UGZE) of 2 million tonnes at 30 g/t for 1.2 million ounces of gold.
The diamond drill rig has arrived on site and will commence drilling within 7 days.
It will be initially targeting an area where the average grade intersected was 45 g/t gold in the 2015 drill program.
257 samples have been collected from the newly exposed mineralised zones and submitted for lab analysis.
Additional mineralised zones are expected as the bulldozer continues to cut access tracks along an 800 metre section of the mineralised system.
Aucu gold deposit
The 89% owned Aucu gold deposit is located in the Kyrgyz Republic, which is a democratic republic bordering Kazakhstan and China.
The company announced a maiden inferred resource for the Aucu gold deposit above a cut-off grade of 1 g/t gold of 1.15 million tonnes grading 4.2 g/t gold for 156,000 ounces of contained gold.
Aucu is situated in a mountainous area and is split into four major mineralised zones, designated by height, camp gold zone (lowest), south gold zone, lower gold zone and upper gold zone (highest).
In 2015, drilling identified exceptional gold mineralisation east of this resource in the UGZE over a strike length of at least 500 metres.
Results included 8 metres at 55.2 g/t gold and 4 metres at 59.9 g/t gold and the average grade of the gold intersections across the UGZE was 45 g/t gold.
Mineralisation at the UGZE outcrops at surface and remains open in both directions and at depth.
Overall metallurgical recovery of all mineralised zones discovered at Aucu is 99% with gravity recoverable gold averages of 88.6%.
Recent placement
During April, White Cliff raised $2.64 million in a placement of 440 million new shares at $0.006 per share to professional and sophisticated investors through Hartleys.
Capital raised in the oversubscribed placement is being used primarily to fund the exploration and further drilling of the Aucu gold prospect and for general working capital.
2016 exploration program
The 2016 exploration program is focussed on drilling out the UGZE along 800 metres of
strike to 200 metres vertical depth.
The exploration target for the UGZE in 2016 is 1-2 million tonnes at 15-30 g/t for 500,000 to 1.2 million ounces of gold.
The Kyrgyz State Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources has formally approved the 2016-2020 Aucu gold project exploration programs.
Bulldozing of access roads continues with diamond drilling to commence within 7 days.
Analysis
The identification of new gold zones from bulldozing roads shows just how exposed and wide the Aucu gold mineralisation is.
With the 2016 exploration program formally approved and drilling expected to continue throughout the year, constant news flow is expected.
The continued evidence of high grade zones of mineralisation at the Aucu gold deposit suggest that White Cliff is well positioned to scale this resource to over one million ounces of gold.
Metallurgical test work has revealed an average overall gold recovery of 99% and the deposit is hosted in sandstone which will make for low energy and capital milling.
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