Alderan Resources ready to drill historic Drum gold mine after encouraging assays
Alderan Resources estimates the Drum gold mine has potential for up to 67,000oz in remnant gold mineralisation plus down dip and along strike extensions.
Rock chip samples from Alderan Resources’ (ASX: AL8) old Drum mine, within its Detroit project in Utah have assayed up to 10.7 grams per tonne gold.
The company has now begun drill site permitting at the project which has seen no modern exploration since 1989 when the mine closed.
The project lies within the larger Detroit mining district in the Drum Mountains region of the state and is located about 175km southwest of Salt Lake City.
The district is the site of numerous historical copper, gold and manganese mines.
Alderan says Drum will be incorporated within its over drill program at its Detroit project, which begins next month.
Of the composite grab rock chips from Drum, 36 assayed above 0.5g/t and 22 returned more than 1g/t.
Confirms potential for remnant mineralisation, extensions
The highest gold assay was 10.7g/t over a 2.8m sampling interval.
Additional high-grade sample intervals included 1.7m at 7g/t and 2.8m at 5.9g/t.
The company says sampling has confirmed the potential for remnant mineralisation and high-grade gold in structural zones.
“Drum sampling provides confidence in historical drill data, indicating potential for mineralised extensions,” it added.
Alderan managing director Scott Caithness said the sampling confirmed the company’s previous review of historical drilling in terms of remnant gold mineralisation.
“Importantly, it has also confirmed that high-grade gold occurs in structural zones which will be a focus of future exploration.”
Mr Caithness said the next steps at Drum will be to complete detailed in-pit structural and geological mapping and magnetic geophysical surveying.
Key was consolidating ground
Alderan has said previously that its projects have seen little modern exploration due to previous fragmented ownership, and the company considers they have been underexplored for gold.
Copper and gold exploration has been undertaken in the district by majors such as Anaconda Copper, Rio Tinto Kennecott, Newmont Mining, BHP (ASX:BHP) and Freeport McMoRan but no one company was able to build a significant contiguous land position sufficient to enable district-wide exploration
Freeport McMoRan had tried to consolidate what is now the Detroit project, but those efforts were rebuffed. Records show that about 120,000oz of gold were produced there in the 1870s.
However, Alderan has managed to put together a 24.7sq km ground position through a series of option agreements with tenement owners.