Noricum Gold PLC (LON:NMG) CEO Greg Kuenzel said, “We are rapidly making progress at our two core target areas. These have been prioritised due to already having drill defined resources that are well advanced following a significant amount of historical exploration work, and the existence of high grade mineralisation at surface. As these results show, Noricum has real short term, low cost opportunities to generate significant cash flow through production. Our 12 month strategy will primarily be focused on these ‘Starter Pits’ due to their close proximity to existing mining operations owned by our joint venture partner which have spare capacity, and also the presence of an existing mining licence covering these targets, minimising the potential start up time to production.
“We are aiming to deliver an initial JORC resource of 200,000 tonnes of copper and 1.5 million ounces of gold via desktop work, re-assaying of existing core and pulps, and a limited amount of confirmation drilling, which can be conducted at low cost. Once this milestone has been met, we will look to build on this further at both targets before moving on to confirm the resources at the numerous other targets that have already been identified, in tandem with delineating new areas of mineralisation, which exist across the 861 sq km tenure. With this in mind we expect to deliver regular news flow and look forward to rapidly adding value to this exciting development project.”
Noricum Gold Limited, the European focused base and precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to provide a positive update on resource development work currently underway at the 861 km(2) Bolnisi Project (‘Bolnisi’ or the ‘Project’) which is located in the Republic of Georgia.
Highlights
— The presence of significant gold mineralisation at Bolnisi re-emphasised through high grade historic results returned from the Kvemo Bolnisi target from trenching and short hole diamond drilling:
o EKBDDH003 – 5.5m @ 5.80g/t Au from 0m
o EKBDDH005 – 4m @ 6.26g/t Au from 0m
o KBTR25 12m @ 7.79g/t Au from 0m
o KBTR_010-1 12.11m @ 3.46g/t Au from 0m
— Builds on the positive results returned through similar initiatives undertaken at the Tsitel Sopeli target, announced on 29 September 2015
— Both drilling campaigns have focused on outcropping mineralisation, which have the potential to be mined in the next 12-18 months as ‘Starter Pits’
— Near term production potential is strengthened significantly through the presence of a 30 year mining licence , the current excess capacity at the Joint Venture partner’s mine processing operation and the excellent existing infrastructure in the area
— The two priority targets are part of a larger project area that has a combined non-JORC C1, C2 & P1 Soviet Resources of 980,000 tonnes of contained copper; 6.6 million ounces of gold; and 22 million ounces of silver
— Data compilation is continuing at Tsitel Sopeli and Kvemo Bolnisi to convert historic approved Soviet Resources (‘GKZ’) to JORC compliance
Kvemo Bolnisi
Kvemo Bolnisi is located less than 7km from the currently operating Madneuli mine and processing plant, owned by the Company’s local partner. Circa 47,000 metres of diamond drilling was completed during the 70s and 80s to test gold and polymetallic sulphide mineralisation. A further 13,032 metres of drilling was completed in the last few years to test secondary quartzite gold – copper mineralisation at or near surface.
Image 1: Kvemo Bolnisi East & West Cross Section
The polymetallic sulphide mineralisation drilled at depth is located on the same regional linear structure that hosts both the Madneuli mine and Tsitel Sopeli. More recently, work has focused on the outcropping secondary quartzite gold – copper mineralisation, which has the potential to be developed into a Starter Pit. Drill holes, existing exploration trenches and some shallow exploratory adits in that area have now been surveyed. Available diamond drill core will be sampled in the coming weeks once a similar resampling campaign for Tsitel Sopeli has been completed.
The Kvemo Bolnisi mineralisation is poorly defined between the east and west mineralised expressions that make up the bulk of the known resource. This area forms the lower parts of a valley system and any future geophysical exploration will focus here. It is anticipated that deeper penetrating IP surveys are going to better refine mineralised envelopes and their extensions, plus potentially provide a clearer understanding of ore formation.
The outcropping secondary quartzite mineralisation has been successfully tested with both shallow diamond drilling and trenching, some recent results can be seen below. This high grade gold mineralisation is not fully closed off to the north east and this will also be an area of focus in the coming months.
Significant gold mineralisation noted in recent Kvemo Bolnisi diamond drilling:
-- EKBDDH002 - 4m @ 3.51 g/t Au from 0m -- EKBDDH003 - 5.5m @ 5.80g/t Au from 0m -- EKBDDH005 - 4m @ 6.26g/t Au from 0m
Also located in this area are numerous trenches with high grade gold mineralisation. This mineralisation appears to be open to the north east.
-- KBTR24 6m @ 3.79g/t Au from 20m
-- KBTR25 12m @ 7.79g/t Au from 0m
-- KBTR22 11m @ 2.02g/t Au from 3m
-- KBTR_003 4m @ 7.25g/t Au from 1.78m
-- KBTR_008-3 6.89m @ 5.508g/t Au from 0m
-- KBTR_008-3 6.96m @ 3.32g/t Au from 17.76m
-- KBTR_010-1 12.11m @ 3.46g/t Au from 0m
-- KBTR_012 10m @ 3.55g/t Au from 23.39m
Average Grade Metal Content
-------------- ---------------
Gold ("Au") 1.02 532,700 oz
Silver ("Ag") 12.09 6,068,400 oz
(1)
Copper ("Cu") 1.41% 160,158 tonnes
A P1 resource also exists at Kvemo Bolnisi of 4.5 million tonnes @ 1.3 g/t Au and a quartzite resource of 5 million tonnes @ 1.5 g/t Au and 15g/t Ag.
(1) A silver resource of 17.8 Moz was previously reported at Kvemo Bolnisi. Further detailed analysis of the resource reports has now resulted in 11.8 Moz Ag being moved to different targets surrounding the main Kvemo Bolnisi deposit. The overall C1/C2/P1 resource has not changed.
Tsitel Sopeli
Tsitel Sopeli is located approximately 10km from the Madneuli mine, and represents a hybrid Cu-Au (Zn-Ag) deposit with mineralisation hosted by highly altered dacite tuffs and secondary quartzites. Mineralisation comprises gold – copper – zinc massive sulphide ores, chalcopyrite – gold – sphalerite – pyrite quartz vein-type and oxide copper – gold mineralisation near to surface in secondary quartzites. Mineralisation is closely associated with a local caldera system and coincident regional faulting.
Image 2: Tsitel Sopeli Cross Section
In recent weeks field staff have surveyed drill holes and other exploration infrastructure which has now been loaded into the company GIS database. Missing data is currently being sourced and this will be integrated along with the results from a phase of resampling being completed now.
Core from several diamond drill holes has now been recut and samples taken that are drying in the onsite laboratory. Crushing and pulverizing of these samples will occur in the next few days before samples are sent to ALS Ireland for analysis. Inclusive in these assay jobs will be standards, blanks, duplicates and other laboratory pulps from Bolnisi.
An historical 159,000 metres of drilling undertaken historically at Tsitel Sopeli generating a GKZ C1/C2 gold, copper and silver resource of:
Average Grade Metal Content
-------------- ---------------
Gold ("Au") 0.51 368,535 oz
Silver ("Ag") 2.79 2,010,252 oz
Copper ("Cu") 1.27% 283,920 tonnes
A P1 resource is also in place of 22 million tonnes Cu @ 1.30% and 0.70 g/t Au as well as a secondary quartzite P1 resource of 42 million tonnes @ 1.35 g/t Au. (Please see the glossary below for resource/ reserve classification definitions)
Glossary
Resource/Reserve Classification
The former Soviet system for classification of reserves and resources was developed in the 1960’s and is still used today in Russia. It divides mineral concentrations into 7 categories:
1. Fully explored reserves or resources - A, B and C1 2. Evaluated reserves or resources - C2 3. Prognostic resources - P1, P2 and P3
In a similar fashion to the more commonly used international standards (JORC or 43-101), the Soviet system assigns reserves and resources to classes based on the degree of reliability based on the various stages of exploration. A, B, C1, C2 and P1 reserves and resources can be matched to the JORC and 43-101 categories.
A broad equivalence between the classifications may be presented as:
Russian International Reporting Code, JORC, 43-101 etc
-------- -------------------------------------------------
A,B Proved reserve / Measured resource
C1 Proved or Probable reserve / Indicated resource
C2 Probable reserve / Indicated Resource / Inferred
Resource
P1 Inferred Resource
Source: “The Russian Reserves & Resource Reporting System” Resources Computing International Ltd (21 August 2004)
