Gold explorer Alt Resources (ASX: ARS) has firmed up the potential of its Mt Ida and Bottle Creek project in Western Australia by boosting its contained gold and silver resources even further.
This is the fifth resource upgrade to the project which adds an extra 52,300 ounces of gold and 600,000oz silver to the project’s total.
Global resources for the project now stand at 11.55 million tonnes at 1.54 grams per tonne gold for 571,000oz of contained gold and 6.66Mt at 20.5g/t silver for 4.38Moz silver.
Of that, 64% of the resource is classified as measured and indicated, which shores up confidence in the asset.
The resource comprises updates to the Emu, Southwark, VB and Boags deposits within the wider Mt Ida and Bottle Creek Gold Project.
It builds on the previous update from February which totalled 10.5Mt at 1.54g/t gold for 519,000oz and 5.6Mt at 21.1g/t silver for 3.78Moz of silver.
Maiden reserve and pre-feasibility study
Today’s news is another stepping-stone for the company to deliver to the maiden ore reserve statement and pre-feasibility study, which are anticipated to be revealed before the end of this month.
Alt reported earlier this week it had finished its 3,700m reverse drilling program at the project on 15 March.
Initial assays from the 48-hole program have returned 6m at 11.06g/t gold from 36m, including 1m at 39.9g/t gold; 26m at 4.63g/t gold from 28m, including 3m at 9.11g/t gold; and 6m at 4.5g/t gold from 22m, including 1m at 13.4g/t gold.
These results were delivered from the Quinns mining area and announced in March 2020
Transitioning to miner
Alt’s strategy is to fast-track development of the Tim’s Find deposit within the project to generate early cash flow.
As part of this, the pit design and mine plan for Tim’s Find have been finalised and Alt will lodge the mining proposal with the government in the coming weeks.
To enable a fast mining start, Alt has inked a funding and mining services agreement with Blue Cap Mining.
Subject to COVID-19 impacts, Alt hopes to begin mining at Tim’s Find later this quarter.
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