Alba reports better-than-expected waste tip gold findings

15th May 2024 13:05

(Sharecast News) - Alba Mineral Resources announced the successful extraction of high-grade gold from samples obtained during the trenching programme at the historic waste tip within its wholly-owned Clogau-St David's Gold Mine in North Wales on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said it excavated nearly 33 tonnes of more-than-20mm fines from the tip, slated for primary processing at Alba's onsite gravity processing plant, followed by refinement at an offsite gold refinery.

In a preliminary evaluation of gold content within the excavated trenches, composite samples from each trench were processed, yielding four concentrates.

Noteworthy gold production figures include 1.1 grams of gold recovered from 66.04 kilograms of sample in trench one, indicating a back-calculated head grade of six grams or 0.19 troy ounces per tonne.

From the trench three composite sample, 2.9 grams of gold were recovered from 60.63 kilograms of sample, indicating a back-calculated head grade of 17.22 grams or 0.55 troy ounces per tonne, while from the trench four composite sample, 1.1 grams of gold were recovered from 74.26 kilograms of sample, making for a back-calculated head grade of 5.33 grams or 0.17 troy ounces per tonne.

Alba said the findings exceeded prior expectations, revealing a significantly higher gold content than previously indicated by laboratory assay results, enhancing the economic feasibility of mining the waste tip comprehensively.

"This refinery gold production, which has returned grades of up to 17 grams per tonne, has vindicated our decision to undertake another round of trenching over the waste tip and our instinct that the previous laboratory results had underrepresented the gold content of the tip," said executive chairman George Frangeskides.

"Once we have completed the processing of this batch of 33 tonnes of fines from the waste tip within our onsite processing plant, we intend to send the gold concentrates produced for refining in the same way."

At 1148 BST, shares in Alba Mineral Resources were down 0.74% at 0.07p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.