Alicanto Minerals Ltd (ASX:AQI) chair Ray Shorrocks has recapped what he described as “another busy year” for the Scandinavia-focused explorer as it moves into FY22.
The ASX-lister is on the hunt for precious and base metals across its exploration portfolio, which includes the Greater Falun copper-gold-polymetallic skarn project and the silver-lead-zinc-rich Sala asset in Sweden’s Bergslagen region.
Over FY21, Alicanto doubled down on exploration across the two tenements, executing a 4,000-metre drilling campaign at Greater Falun ahead of a much broader 20,000-metre program over both assets, which should kick off in this financial year.
The company ended FY21 with $4.5 million in the bank to support its future operations.
Location of Alicanto’s Greater Falun and Sala assets.
Asset shake-up
Perhaps AQI’s biggest achievement over FY21 was whittling down its exploration portfolio to focus on its Scandinavian assets.
To get here, the explorer had to sell its South American interests and reposition its Swedish projects for further investigation.
In June, Alicanto agreed to hand over its Arakaka Gold Project in Guyana to private Canadian company Virgin Gold Corporation for up to C$4.75 million.
It comes just months after the explorer established its maiden, 500,000-ounce gold resource at the South American asset.
Ultimately, the sale is poised to provide further financial and human resources for the ASX-lister to embark on its 20,000-metre drilling expedition over Greater Falun and Sala.
Commenting on the move, chair Ray Shorrocks said: “It has been another busy year for the board and management team at Alicanto with drilling in our two key assets and the disposal of another.
“The two Falun projects each host known mineralisation, have highly advanced prospects and immediate drilling targets, which augers well for our near-term activities.
“These prospects are all located within a 15-kilometre radius of the world-class Falun copper mine, which closed in 1992.
“Combined, these two projects allows for easy access and convenient drilling campaigns.”
A tale of two projects
Alicanto’s Scandinavian exploration portfolio combines two historically producing, multi-element tenements that have room for further discovery.
Sitting just 100 kilometres apart, the projects are linked by a major highway and a railway track, providing established infrastructure as they move through development.
The now-closed Falun copper-gold mine in Bergslagen has a long-established mining history, dating back over the best part of a millennium.
It has historically produced 28 million tonnes of high-grade ore at 4% copper, 5% zinc, 4 g/t gold, 35 g/t silver and 2.1% lead.
The Sala silver mine, which was picked up in February 2021 and is also closed, is to Falun’s southeast and was mined from the 15th century through to 1908.
Some additional mining occurred between 1945 and 1962 in the neighbouring Bronas Mine.
Both projects sit within Sweden’s Bergslagen region, an area Shorrocks regards as a tier-one jurisdiction because of its large mineralised systems and pro-mining regime.
“And while mining in the region can be traced back more than 1,000 years, no concerted exploration campaign has ever been undertaken in the Greater Falun area.
With this in mind, Alicanto set out to conduct an early-stage drilling program over Greater Falun by May 2021.
Shorrocks continued: “We have now completed our initial 4,000-metre drill campaign and will embark on a larger 20,000-metre drill campaign on the completion of drilling at Sala.
“In the meantime, we will continue to rock chip sample and conduct geochem work.”
Doubling down at “The Swedish Treasury”
Although much of the exploration in FY21 focused on the Greater Falun asset, Alicanto is currently working to unlock its sibling’s potential — an asset dubbed “the Swedish Treasury” because of its historic, high-grade silver production.
In May, the ASX-lister embarked on a multi-stage exploration campaign at the Sala asset, aiming to better understand the project’s mineralisation, which remains open along strike and at depth.
Earlier this month, that program was expanded from one drill rig to three in a bid to establish a maiden resource for Sala in the first quarter of next year.
Shorrocks noted: “After a detailed review of the historical data, Sala appears to have immediate and large exploration potential.
“In fact, the historical Bronas Mine 300 kilometres north of Sala is believed to be part of the same mineralised zone mined for high-grade silver and lead.
“Further historical drilling to our south at the Prince lode returned multiple mineralised drill hits, including 15.9 metres at 157 g/t silver and 4.2% zinc.
“Even more interestingly, another historical drill with grades of 844 g/t silver and 16.3% lead is believed to have intersected the strike extension of Sala some 200 metres from existing workings.
“While very promising, the company has much work to do as we undergo our first campaign there, our first drill assays returned excellent grades and again point to an exciting next six months.”
New joiners on AQI team
As it prepared for a more intensive exploration campaign in the new financial year, Alicanto sought to add further expertise to its charter in FY21.
Speaking to the appointments, Shorrocks said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank the team led by Erik Lundstam who was appointed as Alicanto’s chief geologist.
“Mr Lundstam has been bolstered with the further appointment of Duncan Grieve, our senior geologist, who has extensive experience, most recently at the Bellevue Gold asset.
“In addition, Peter George, who joined the board as managing director in August 2020, was previously resident general manager at the Mineral Resources Wodgina Project and, prior to that, COO at Keras Resources.
“The team is therefore well-credentialled to advance our project and prove up a sizable resource."
The chair went on to say that the company’s safety record “remained intact” over FY21.
“It is particularly pleasing to note that even with two projects and all the inherent activity we have had no environmental, health or safety issues.”
The road ahead
Moving into 2022, Alicanto is preparing for further drilling across both the Sala and Greater Falun assets.
Shorrocks concluded: “The year ahead is exciting and the team full of enthusiasm and a new approach to both the Falun and Sala projects —we are poised for great success in 2022.
“We have that enviable combination of two projects with extensive known mineralisation in a world-class geological region and in a tier-one mining location.
“With new techniques and thorough drilling campaigns, Alicanto is on the verge of delivering extensive shareholder value.
“Finally, I would like to thank our loyal shareholders who have supported the company over the past year and look forward to delivering an exciting and profitable 2022.”
More information on Alicanto’s annual report can be found here.