Alto Metals kicks off major drilling campaign at Sandstone gold project

Alto Metals (ASX: AME) has announced a major drilling campaign is underway at its Sandstone gold project in Western Australia, with reverse circulation (RC) drilling kicking off in the northern part of Lords Corridor.

The program will comprise an initial 18,000 metres of RC drilling, of which 33 holes for 6,300m is planned at Lord Nelson and the new Juno Lude targeting extensions of known gold mineralisation.

Further resource and extensional drilling is planned at both the Indomitable and Vanguard Camps, following up on the high-grade gold intersections reported in late 2021 and last month.

The program is expected to continue throughout 2022 with at least one RC rig secured for the majority of the year and plans to add to this to accelerate drilling activities.

Alto managing director Matthew Bowles called last year a “step-change” in the company’s approach to exploration as it included more than 60,000m of drilling.

“This year we are looking to build on the exploration success of last year to drive further resource growth and new discoveries.”

Mr Bowles said Alto is only just “scratching the surface” of a small portion of the historic Sandstone goldfield, which has had limited drilling below 100m depth.

“Our systematic approach to exploration is continuing to deliver and we are excited about what the year ahead holds for Alto shareholders,” he added.

Drilling to move to Indomitable and Vanguard next

Once the first phase of Lords drilling is completed, the rig will move to the Indomitable and Vanguard prospects for approximately 12,000m of resource and extensional drilling.

An induced polarisation (IP) survey on 3km of the Vanguard trend and a gravity survey on 3km of Lords Corridor have both been completed with results anticipated from April onwards.

Resource update on track for quarter end

In today’s update, Alto said an updated independent resource estimate remains on track for release before the end of the current March quarter.

The Sandstone gold project’s JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate currently stands at 6.2 million tonnes at 1.7 grams per tonne gold for 331,000 ounces of gold. The resources are shallow, defined to a depth of less than 200m and remain open.