Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) has upgraded the gold resource at its Sandstone Gold Project in Western Australia to include maiden estimates of its Havilah and Ladybird deposits, totalling 5.4 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t gold for 290,000 ounces.
The total maiden inferred resource estimate for the two deposits is 500,000 tonnes at 1.8 g/t for 29,000 ounces, with 20,300 ounces inferred at Havilah and remaining 8,400 ounces at Ladybird.
Alto is well-funded to keep up the pace of exploration, recently securing $2 million and further commitment of $600,000 to fund drilling and exploration.
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Alto chairman Terry Wheeler said the company was pleased to report the maiden independent gold resource estimate for Havilah and Ladybird.
He said: “We view this as an interim resource upgrade, with scope to delineate significantly more gold ounces at the Sandstone Gold Project, both near-surface and at depth.
Wheeler added: “We now have a greater geological understanding of the structural controls and further exploration drilling shall be targeting resource expansion.
“With the 10,000-metre RC drilling program underway, we anticipate strong news flow over the next few months and a further upgrade to the resource estimate later in the year.”
Sandstone is in the highly-prospective East Murchison region of WA
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All known deposits within the project remain open along strike and at depth and have potential to extend mineralisation down-plunge and to discover repeat lodes.
A 10,000-metre reverse circulation drilling program is underway to test strike and depth extensions at the Vanguard Camp, Indomitable Camp, Lord Nelson and Havilah deposits.
Preliminary metallurgical test work by Alto on Havilah and Ladybird, along with historic metallurgical data, suggest high gold recoveries more than 90% would be expected.
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Alto acquired the project in June 2016, compiling and reviewing a large legacy database before it began a series of focused exploration drilling campaigns in November of that year.
Using a systematic mineral system approach, Alto has defined numerous drill-ready targets and a JORC mineral resource of 290,000 ounces.
The company’s goal is the delineation of a 1-plus million ounce JORC mineral resource, which could become the basis for re-establishing standalone oxide and primary gold mining and milling operations.