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Further Upgrade of JORC Resource at Mpokoto Gold Project
Armadale, an AIM quoted investment company focused on natural resources projects in Africa, has announced a further significant resource increase and an upgrade in the JORC Code compliant Mineral Resource estimate classification for the Mpokoto Gold Project in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This follows the completion of stage one of an infill drilling programme carried out in July 2014. Armadale owns an 80% interest in Mpokoto.
Highlights:
– Overall Mineral Resources increased by 34% to 678,100 oz gold from 506,700 oz Au in total, with 75% of the overall MRE now in Indicated category (up from 65%)
– An overall increase of 25% in oxide portion of the Mineral Resource to 159,000 oz Au from 119,000 oz Au, and the recognition of higher grade zones in excess of 2g/tonne lying just below (<20m) the base of the already designed oxide pits
– The shallower oxide portion of the orebody has been the focus of the current scoping study given it is nearest to surface (low strip ratio), very weathered (low treatment cost) and having the highest recovery (90%) and therefore the lowest cost to produce
– 30% overall increase in transition portion of the resource to 125,000 oz Au from 96,200 oz Au
– 32% overall increase in the fresh, unweathered portion of the resource to 394,000 oz Au from 299,000 oz Au
– Indicated Mineral Resources within the oxide zone increased by 138% to 3,600,000 tonnes containing 144,400 oz Au from 1,270,000 tonnes (60,600 oz Au).
– Improvement in overall grade to 1.45g/t Au from 1.42g/t Au
Significant further upside potential:
– The deposit remains open along strike and at depth with further room to define resources between the proposed pits
– CSA Global Pty Ltd (‘CSA’) have defined a further exploration target of 1.4Mt to 2.0Mt at 1.2g/t to 1.5g/t Au, for the top 60m below surface in the immediate surrounding location of the current resource areas, which will be subject to the second stage of the infill drilling programme1
– Defined development strategy to rapidly advance the Project through to low capex, low opex gold production in H2 2015 – a new pit optimisation process is underway in addition to an expanded and updated scoping study due to be published shortly
Justin Lewis, Director of Armadale, said, “The scope and scale of the Mpokoto Gold Project continues to grow and fuel our confidence that we will be able to deliver a low capex, low opex commercial gold mining project in the near future. It is also very gratifying to note the expansion in the shallow oxide resource, the initial focus of the group’s development plan, which has now grown by more than 672 per cent since we acquired the Project.
“This significant 34 per cent increase in the Mineral Resource estimate to 678,100 oz Au considerably enhances the economics of the entire asset. Mpokoto offers highly attractive returns and near term production potential, with robust economics even at low gold prices, and we are focused on rapidly advancing this Project into production in H2 2015. The continued unlocking of the Project’s resource potential represents a major step within this development, and we now remain focused on completing further value enhancing milestones. This includes the granting of a mining licence, which is in the final stages, the expansion of our current scoping study and metallurgical testwork to improve recovery rates.
“With these initiatives in mind, I expect the remainder of the year to be highly active in terms of news flow.”
