West Australian gold explorer Focus Minerals (ASX: FML) is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource for the Main Zone of the Alicia deposit, part of the Coolgardie Gold Project.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Alicia’s Main Zone Mineral Resource updated for potential supply of supplemental shallow, open pittable mineralisation
- Includes higher-grade core defined by 20m x 10m drill spacing with Indicated Mineral Resource of 258Kt @ 1.96g/t for 16Koz (1g/t cut-off)
- Metallurgical test work indicates high gravity and leach recoveries
- Geotech assessment advanced ahead of pit design
Coolgardie covers 175km2 of highly prospective tenements on the outskirts of the Coolgardie township in the Goldfields region. An updated Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) last year delivered a NPV7.5% of $183 million (see ASX announcement dated 22 September 2020). As Focus reported in April (see ASX announcement dated 26 April 2021), the Company completed extension and confirmation RC drilling at Alicia to progress a Mineral Resource update.
Geotechnical logging has now also been completed to provide wall angles for follow-up pit optimisations using the September 2020 Coolgardie PFS refresh parameters and new metallurgical results. Alicia’s Main Zone open pit Mineral Resource is reported on a dry-tonnage basis using a 0.8g/t cut-off to 260mRL.
The reported area has been restricted to the Main Zone because other mineralised areas require additional drilling. The coordinates of the reported model have a south-west corner at 625,460mE / 6,570,085mN and north-east corner at 625,505mE / 6,570,310mN (MGA94 Zone51).
The updated Mineral Resource for Alicia Main Zone is significantly more accurate and reliable – and therefore more relevant – than the previous JORC 2004 estimate. Drilling to the south-west of Alicia has confirmed a change in mineralisation orientation that now requires optimally oriented infill drilling. This mineralisation has therefore been excluded from this Mineral Resource update.
Commenting on the updated Alicia Mineral Resource, Focus Minerals’ CEO, Mr Zhaoya Wang, said:
“Our technical team has efficiently tested and rebuilt this resource in order for it to be confidently assessed as part of our overall Coolgardie project redevelopment plans. This resource update of the Main Zone was completed in conjunction with geotechnical and metallurgical assessment, which are well advanced.
“The Alicia resource update is the latest produced by our team, which in the past two months has also completed the Big Blow and Happy Jack resource updates (see ASX announcement dated 21 May 2021) that resulted in an 18% increase in the reported Big Blow Mineral Resource.
“The recognition by the Focus team that the original modelling of mineralisation south-west of Alicia has the incorrect orientation is significant. This area will be followed up in due course and in line with other priority deposits and prospects at Coolgardie before being included in a follow-up Alicia Mineral Resource update.”
