Alicanto Minerals Ltd (ASX:AQI) has a maiden JORC 2012-compliant inferred resource of 500,000 ounces at 1.8 g/t gold for its 100%-owned Arakaka Gold Project in Guyana, South America.
The maiden resource estimate stems from a review of data at Arakaka collected by Alicanto in conjunction with that provided by Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) in 2018, and NordGold, in 2020, and was calculated by Perth-based Cube Consulting.
Shares have been as much as 14% higher in early trade to 16 cents.
The estimate was taken from two separate domains - Purple Heart and Gomes deposits - and includes a maiden resource for the Purple Heart area of 338,000 ounces at 2.4 g/t.
"Just the start"
Alicanto managing director Peter George said the strong maiden resource was just the start of what he believed would be a rapidly growing inventory at Arakaka.
He said: “This resource is shallow, the mineralisation remains open in all directions and we already have numerous intersections outside the resource which will form part of the next estimate.
“We also have multiple walk-up targets with multi-million-ounce bulk tonnage potential that remain to be drilled.”
All resources are reported at a 0.8 g/t gold lower cut-off which the company deemed acceptable based on industry costings associated with the likely mining method (open pit, bulk-tonnage).
Scope for growth
The resource runs from surface to a maximum vertical depth of 150 metres with mineralisation open along strike and at depth.
There is also scope for rapid resource growth with numerous mineralised intersections outside of the resource at Gomes and Purple Heart.
Purple Heart Prospect showing current geological and structural interpretation
Purple Heart potential
At Purple Heart, mineralisation remains open down dip on the high-grade shoots defined by 100 metres x 100 metres spaced drilling.
These shoots plunge at less than 30 degrees to the NW and there is potential remaining at less than 200 metres vertical depth to rapidly add high-grade mineralisation to existing resources.
Additionally, multiple, sub-parallel thrust structures are observed in drilling to date within the area which have not been subjected to systematic drilling, including a 19.05-metre at 7.43 g/t intersection on a sub-parallel lode in the footwall of the Purple Heart Structure.
Alicanto believes there is further strike potential will notable intercepts from drilling including:
- 18 metres at 1.63 g/t from 3 metres including 9.35 metres at 2.71 g/t gold;
- 9.72 metres at 1.44 g/t from 159 metres; and
- 5.1 metres at 3.97 g/t from 71 metres.
Gomes Prospect
Drilling at Gomes has returned results of:
- 16.4 metres at 3.2 g/t from 25.6 metres;
- 19 metres at 2.76 g/t from 59.6 metres;
- 11 metres at 3.43 g/t from 62 metres; and
- 2 metres at 11.8 g/t from 85.15 metres.
In addition, recent trenching more than 1.2 kilometres to the southeast of the Gomes Hill drill area has been completed, and two trenches have intersected gold mineralisation including:
- 6 metres at 2 g/t within 33 metres at 0.5 g/t and 6 metres at 1.2 g/t; and
- 15 metres at 0.5 g/t and 13 metres at 2.17 g/t.
The results of both trenches are limited by a layer of colluvium shedding off the large hill to the SW that obscures surface geochemical responses and the company believes that any further bodes of significant mineralisation are likely to be obscured by thin cover in the area.
The Gomes Hill Prospect is considered a priority target with significant resource potential within the Gomes Trend to be included in future delineation drilling work.
The Arakaka (NordGold JV Project) and Ianna gold project (100% Alicanto) are located in the Northwest Mining District of Guyana.
Under-explored targets
Additionally, there are multiple under-explored regional targets with substantial potential within a 300 square kilometre area, including:
- Eyelash Area: Channel samples of 2 metres at 33 g/t, 0.6 metres at 86.4 g/t and 10 metres at 2.6 g/t within 5 kilometres, >100 parts per billion gold-in-soil anomaly (undrilled);
- Xenopsaris Area: 5 trenches over 4 kilometres, >100 parts per billion gold-in-soil anomaly with results of up to 22 metres at 2 g/t, 6 metres at 8.3 g/t and 3 metres at 16.4 g/t (largely undrilled); and
- 14-Mile Area: Diamond drill results to 4 metres at 21.1 g/t and 9 metres at 1.9 g/t .
Looking forwards
To date, all project resources have been classified as inferred based on current drill spacing and the historical drill results which will require further supporting verification drilling and QAQC insertion.
The company anticipates that infill drilling and verification drilling will support an increase in resource classification.
In the near-term, the company is also progressing activities on its other gold assets including:
- Negotiations to extend or renegotiate the option agreement for its Ianna Project in Guyana, which lapsed on November 7, 2020; and
- Progressing the drill program on core project targets within the Greater Falun Project in Sweden.