Caerus Mineral Resources PLC announced positive results from auger drilling and pitting on the Mala project in Cyprus.
Hand auger drilling and pitting at the historic Mala pyrite waste dump returned consistently anomalous gold assay results, including peak grades of 9.9 grammes a tonne (g/t) gold, 1.9g/t, 1.3g/t and 1.2g/t, said the London-listed company. Overall, a total of 55 auger holes and pits returned gold grades ranging from 0.1g/t to 9.9g/t.
"Our previous announcement in March of this year of the discovery of consistent gold grades in the Mala pyrite dump has been verified by these highly promising auger drill and pit results,” said chief executive Martyn Churchouse.
“We would expect the gold to be distributed throughout the dump and, it remains to be seen whether the residual grades in the older material towards the base of the dump are higher owing to historic inefficiencies at the time of plant start-up.”
A combination of pitting and hand auger drilling, which were used due to the density of the pyrite-rich dump material, can only penetrate to a depth of about 2 to 3 metres.
The company plans to use a percussion drill rig to undertake closer spaced vertical drilling to the base of the dump to provide sufficient sample density and assays for an initial mineral resource estimate.
In addition to the gold-bearing pyrite dump, the Mala licence includes the historic Mala pyrite mine reported to have produced 200,000 tonnes of ore comprising 80,000 tonnes at 0.55% copper.
“We know that there is a near-surface copper-gold mineralised sulphide body that has been partially drilled-out in the former Mala open pit and we anticipate the discovery of further sulphide bodies as exploration steps out around the former mine,” said Churchouse.
“The potential gold resource in the pyrite dumps combined with the known sulphide body is an excellent start and provides the confidence we need to commit to further detailed resource development.
“The exploration team has set an initial target of 16-20,000oz Au [ounces of gold] for the pyrite - gold dump to which we would expect to add copper-gold tonnage from sulphide bodies found within the licence," he added.