Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) has defined persistent gold-in-laterite mineralisation in aircore drilling at the Indomitable North prospect within its wider Sandstone Gold Project.
Results from the shallow 44-hole drilling program, as well as reverse circulation (RC) assays from previous explorers, have extended the strike of the shallow flat-lying gold mineralisation to more than 180 metres.
Deeper drilling is now required to discover the extent of oxide and primary gold mineralisation below and around the laterite mineralisation.
Highlighted assay results include: 4 metres at 2.8 g/t gold from 6 metres; 4 metres at 2.5 g/t from 6 metres; 4 metres at 2.5 g/t from 6 metres; 3 metres at 2.5 g/t from 6 metres; and 2 metres at 2.7 g/t from 7 metres.
Alto managing director Dermot Ryan said: “Alto’s earlier aeromagnetic survey and litho-structural interpretation highlighted the north-northwest trending Indomitable Structural Corridor as being highly prospective for major gold deposits.
“The drilling of gold mineralised laterite horizons within this structural corridor increases the potential to discover numerous oxide and primary gold deposits.
“The major past gold producers at Sandstone, such as Hacks (206,000 ounces), Oroya (223,000 ounces), Bulchina (250,000 ounces) and Lord Nelson (207,000 ounces) were all defined at or near surface by either gold-in-laterite or gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies.”
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Relatively shallow aircore and RC drilling at Indomitable North has identified a number of laterite and oxide gold occurrences which occur in highly oxidised, high-magnesium basalts and differentiated basaltic units.
The gold mineralisation is structurally controlled within plunging shoots or stockworks of quartz veins.
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Alto holds about 800 square kilometres of prospective ground in the Archaean Sandstone Goldfield in the East Murchison Mineral Field of WA.
Since acquiring the project in 2016, the company has compiled and reviewed a large legacy database ahead of a series of focused exploration and drilling campaigns.
Alto’s goal is the delineation of a plus-1 million-ounce JORC mineral resource that could become the basis for the re-establishment of standalone oxide and primary gold mining and milling operations.