Alt’s Mt Ida gold resources now exceed 500,000oz

Junior explorer Alt Resources (ASX: ARS) has confirmed the addition of another 113,000 ounces of gold to the mineral resource estimate for its Mt Ida and Bottle Creek gold project, near Leonora in Western Australia.

The upgrade is the fourth is the fourth since Alt acquired the Mt Ida tenement package in 2018 from Latitude Consolidated (ASX: LCD).

It represents a 22% increase to the global resource estimate which now stands at 10.5 million tonnes at 1.54 grams per tonne gold for 519,000oz gold, including 5.57Mt at 21.1g/t silver for 3.78Moz silver.

The upgrade follows a reverse circulation drilling program in the six months to December 2019 which comprised a total 6,768 metres at Mt Ida South and Bottle Creek and defined mineralisation extensions to the Tim’s Find, Shepherds Bush and VB North deposits.

Chief executive officer James Anderson said the latest increase supports Alt’s project development strategy.

“We have delivered more significant resource ounces for a minimal amount of drilling and a project-wide average discovery cost of $9.30/oz,” he said.

“We have now reached the 500,000oz milestone and this latest upgrade continues to support our strategy to move towards the development of a treatment plant at Mt Ida.”

Brownfields location

The wider Mt Ida brownfields project lies 80km north-east of Menzies on the northern extremity of the Mt Ida-Ularring greenstone belt, in a region which hosts some of WA’s largest gold deposits.

The project comprises 362 square kilometres of tenure with six granted mining leases contained within a number of historic mines and known gold deposits in the area, including the historic Bottle Creek mine which produced 93,000oz gold via two open pits.

The tenements have not been mined since Bottle Creek closed in 1989.

Since re-commencing exploration in March 2018, Alt has delivered more than 35,000m of reverse circulation and 2,100m of diamond drilling focused on expansion of project resources to support the development of its proposed 500,000 tonnes per annum carbon-in-pulp gold treatment plant.

According to a July scoping study, the plant will be part of a robust, low-cost, open pit gold project with a multi-year life.

Alt has now embarked on a pre-feasibility study for release this quarter, with a final feasibility study due mid-year.

A maiden ore reserve statement is also scheduled for delivery by end April.