Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) continued to receive significant exploration results during the December 2021 quarter from its drill program at the +900 square kilometres Sandstone Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company completed 14 reverse circulation (RC) holes for 1,906 metres of drilling during the quarter, with a total of about 60,000 metres drilled for the 2021 calendar year, including a maiden 3,424 metres of diamond drilling.
Drilling comprised a mix of resource growth, resource definition, extensional and brownfield and greenfield exploration.
Highlight results include thick high-grade intercepts at Lords Nelson and Lord Henry, the new Juno lode discovered ~400 metres south of the Lord Nelson pit and multiple high-grade intercepts and a potential new gold horizon discovered at Vanguard.
Aerial view illustrative schematic of the Lords Corridor looking south-south-east.
Alto managing director Matthew Bowles said: The December quarter was highlighted by a number of outstanding exploration results that continue to demonstrate the huge exploration upside at Sandstone; including thick high-grade gold from Lord Nelson, the discovery of the new Juno lode and what appears to be a new gold horizon at Vanguard.
“Importantly, all these results pave the way for the release of our mineral resource update in the March quarter.
“It was great to see the support from the market for the raise completed during the period, which has set us up well to continue our aggressive exploration plans in 2022, with our geophysical programs already underway and the first rig arriving in the next few weeks.
“It is an exciting time for us as a company and for our shareholders, as we continue to build on the significant progress we have made over the last twelve months, with an updated mineral resource coming this quarter, a number of assays results pending and rigs about to start drilling again.
“We look forward to providing more updates on both the exploration and resource front in the coming weeks and months ahead.”
Planned activities for March 2022 quarter
Geophysical surveys - 3D-IP and gravity
An induced polarisation (IP) survey over an initial 3 kilometres of the Vanguard trend commenced in mid-January with Moombarriga Geoscience Pty Ltd.
The IP survey is expected to be completed during February and shall then be processed by Terra Resources Pty Ltd to produce a three-dimensional (3D) inversion model.
The survey will test the chargeability and resistivity response of the mineralisation that is observed in the RC and diamond drilling at Vanguard and identify additional anomalies along strike and at depth that may represent extensions to the known mineralisation or new discoveries.
A gravity survey over the Lords Corridor is planned to commence by the end of January.
Plan view of showing area of planned gravity survey over the Lords Corridor (shown in orange, with detailed gravity shown as dashed lines) and area of planned IP survey over Vanguard (shown in red).
Assays and 2022 drill program
About 60,000 metres of drilling was completed during the 2021 calendar year, including 325 RC holes for 55,597 metres and 17 diamond holes for 3,424 metres.
Assays remain pending for over 50 RC holes, mainly from Lord Henry, Vanguard, Indomitable and Havilah.
The company has experienced prolonged delays in assay turn-around times and is working with the laboratory’s to reduce these delays for future assays delivered once the 2022 drill program commences.
Upcoming results expected to be received in the coming weeks:
- RC results from Lord Henry – infill and extensional;
- RC results from Vanguard, Indomitable, Havilah – extensional
The 2022 drill program is planned to commence in mid-February, initially targeting depth and strike extensions of known mineralisation along the contact at the Lords granodiorite, including the recently discovered Juno Lode.
Once the results from the gravity and IP surveys have been received, they will be used for the targeting of deeper drilling planned of the Lords Corridor and targets identified at Vanguard.
Follow up drilling for Vanguard and Indomitable will be finalised once all results have been received.
Updated mineral resource
An updated mineral resource estimate for the Sandstone Gold Project remains on track to be released in the March quarter 2022, subject to the timing of final assays and the resource modelling work by the independent consultant.
Alto remains in a strong cash position with $6.1 million at the end of the quarter and no debt.