Lion One Metals hits bonanza grades in latest drilling at Fiji gold project
Fiji continues to live up to its reputation as one of the mineral stars located on the famed “Ring of Fire” that traverses the Pacific Ocean with Lion One Metals (ASX: LLO) reporting grades up to 261.93 grams per tonne gold from its current drilling program at the Tuvatu alkaline gold project.
The Vancouver-based Lion One, which is jointly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York over-the-counter market, reported at the end of June that construction at Tuvatu was 75% complete and first gold could be expected in the December quarter this year.
These latest results come from ongoing infill and grade-control drilling at Zone 5 of Tuvatu, which is expected to be the first area to be mined.
Contained resource passes 650,000oz
The grade-control drilling is being conducted to help with initial mining, while the infill program is focused on the parts of Zone 5 to be mined later.
The highlights include 6.6m at 80.78g/t gold (including 0.6m at 793.24g/t), 1.8m at 261.93g/t (including 0.3m at 1,839g/t) and 0.9m at 93.05g/t (including 0.3m at 300.47g/t).
Infill drilling is being conducted from surface, while the grade-control program is happening underground.
The most recent mineral resource estimate for Tuvatu totals 658,600oz.
The indicated resource stands at 1.007 million tonnes at 8.5g/t for 274,000oz while the inferred resource totals 1.32Mt at 9.0g/t for 384,000oz.
Gold a major export for Fiji
Tuvatu is located on Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, 35 km southeast of the famed Vatukoula gold mine, one of the oldest and most prolific gold mines in the South Pacific.
It has produced more than seven million ounces of gold over the past 87 years, much of that time operated by the equally famous but now former Emperor Gold Mines. It is now operated by a Shenzhen Stock Exchange listed Chinese mining company.
Tuvatu is just 30km from Nadi international airport and, in the other direction, from the port at Lautoka.
Gold is one of Fiji’s main exports, and gold mining on Viti Levu began in the early 1930s.