Involving drilling of ten holes on four drill platforms, the 3,031m program was designed to provide infill drill data in support of a revised resource estimate at Salave, which is anticipated to be announced in future.
The company had drilled two holes to twin holes drilled by previous operators in an effort to assess the quality and reliability of older data in support of their inclusion in the pending resource update.
The holes were successfully confirmed the presence of a significant high grade zone within the main resource area at Salave.
Highlights from all drilled holes include 5.21g/t gold over 25.08m and 17.43 g/t gold over 6.29m in hole SA-3, and 7.4 g/t gold over 12.92m in hole SA-6.
Astur Gold president and CEO Cary Pinkowski said the infill drilling has helped improve the company’s confidence in the continuity of several mineralized lenses.
”Initial step-out drilling has additionally shown that mineralization continues to the west and southwest, and further follow-up drilling is warranted," Pinkowski added.
Additional holes were drilled to explore for extensions to the known mineralized zones both down dip and along strike at Salave.
A feasibility study is currently being carried out by the company on Salave based upon underground-only mining via open stope mining methods, bulk backfill with development rock and paste fill, and processing via conventional flotation, to create a gold-rich concentrate for delivery to an independent smelter.
A new independent underground resource estimate comprising the results of the recent drill program, is anticipated shortly and will form the basis of the ongoing study.
