Alice Queen to resume drilling at Horn Island, assays pending from previous program

Alice Queen (ASX: AQX) is poised to begin infill drilling at Horn Island later this month, while assays from the previous resource extension program are imminent.

The reverse circulation infill drilling program at Horn Island is scheduled to begin mid-month, with 33 holes for 4,100m planned.

Alice said the program had delayed due to unscheduled maintenance on the vessel transporting the rig.

The previous resource extension campaign comprised six holes for 1,440m was completed in September and Alice anticipates assays will be in this week.

Remaining assays are also expected shortly from the maiden drilling program at Boda East, which is part of the Northern Molong copper-gold project in New South Wales.

Horn Island

Horn Island is located in the Torres Strait in Queensland’s north.

The project has been divided into ground that Alice wholly-owns and tenements St Barbara (ASX: SBM) is exploring as part of a staged earn-in.

For the 2021 financial year, St Barbara committed to spending $2 million on two high priority targets near the Alice’s wholly-owned existing 500,000 ounce gold resource at the project.

A program of 14 holes for 4,500m is underway with five holes completed to-date.

St Barbara is focusing on the Tatooine and Naboo targets where previous sampling and geophysical surveys identified anomalies.

Meanwhile, Alice’s 500,000oz resource is part of the excluded zone and the company is advancing this area through its abovementioned drilling and test work.

These programs aim to test extensions and upgrade the resource.

Northern Molong projects

Over at its Northern Molong projects in NSW, Alice is ramping its exploration activities due to the recent success Alkane Resources (ASX: ALK) has had at Boda.

Assays are due for the maiden drilling program at Alice’s Boda East target which comprised three diamond holes for 2,100.

In August, Alice noted visual observations in the first hole confirmed that the host rocks identified at Alkane’s Boda discovery extended into Alice’s ground.

Due to the encouraging observations, Alice secured approvals to increase the program to 14 holes.

The program is targeting a 13km north-to-south trend across four main areas at Boda East.

Meanwhile, Alice has been advancing targets at Yarindury and Mendooran tenements where numerous high priority targets have been defined.

Well-funded to explore new opportunities

During August, Alice successfully raised $7 million through a “strongly supported” capital raising.

As a result, the company has about $8 million in cash and claims it is “well positioned” to continue its planned drilling programs and take advantage of any new opportunity that is deemed “advantageous”.