Alderan Resources Limited (ASX: AL8) has commenced its planned 20 hole (~2,000m) reverse circulation drilling programme at Mizpah oxide gold deposit at its Detroit project in the Drum Mountains region of western Utah, USA.
The programme’s initial focus will be confirming high-grade near-surface oxide gold mineralisation.
Mizpah is located only two km north of the historical Drum oxide gold mine which Alderan successfully drilled in H1, 2022 with all verification holes intersecting gold including 6.6m @ 2.5g/t Au within 17.8m @ 1.7g/t Au in hole 9DD22-003.
Mizpah, which was drilled in the 1980s, sits in the same rocks as Drum but unlike the historical mine, it was never developed into a mining operation hence gold mineralisation remains from surface.
Historical drilling results include 40 holes which have a final assay grading more than 0.5g/t Au and 20 of these holes have last assays grading more than 1.0g/t Au.
The highest final assay down a historical hole is 9.1g/t Au in hole MZ-87-52.2 Alderan’s historical drill hole constrained modelling of the Mizpah’s deposit indicates exploration potential for approximately 40-100Koz of gold grading at approximately 0.4-0.8g/t Au, however the deposit is open down dip to the southwest and along strike to the north and south.
Alderan drillholes DD-MZ-20-006 and 3DDMZ-001 which intersected 83m @ 0.41g/t Au and 69.5m @ 0.18g/t Au respectively are located 190m and 350m to the west-northwest of the deposit and indicate that Mizpah’s mineralising system is significantly larger than historically outlined.
A selection of high-grade, near-surface historical drill hole intersections at Mizpah include:
• 7.6m @ 2.4g/t Au from 19.8m downhole (MZ-104)
• 10.7m @ 2.2g/t Au within 15.2m @ 1.6g/t Au from surface (MZ-049)
• 9.2m @ 2.1g/t Au within 22.9m @ 1.0g/t Au from 3.0m downhole (MZ-87-32)
• 10.7m @ 2.0g/t Au within 16.8m @ 1.4g/t Au from 3.1m downhole (MZ-87-048)
• 13.7m @ 1.7g/t Au within 29.0m @ 0.9g/t Au from 15.2m downhole with last assay 9.1g/t Au (MZ-87-52)
• 10.7m @ 1.7g/t Au within 18.3m @ 1.2 g/t Au from surface (MZ-17)
• 12.2m @ 1.7g/t Au from surface (MZ-093).
“Mizpah is an undeveloped oxide gold deposit with mineralisation open from surface and dipping gently at approximately 20 degrees to the southwest,” Managing Director, Scott Caithness, said.
“It sits in the same rock units as the historical Drum gold mine which lies only 2km to the south and produced 125,000 oz of gold in the 1980s. Historical Mizpah holes end in grades up to 9.1g/t gold, primary gold potential has never been tested and Alderan’s drilling suggests that the mineralised system is much larger.
“Securing the reverse circulation rig for the Mizpah drilling programme is a great result as it will enable Alderan to rapidly and cost effectively delineate the gold mineralisation. Drilling aims to intersect near-surface, high-grade oxide mineralisation before testing for deeper down dip extensions.
”Following the lessons learned from our recent drilling at Drum, Alderan also plans to drill a number of angled holes aimed at testing structures which have potential to host high gold grades.
“Samples will be submitted for analysis throughout the programme with initial gold assays expected in early Q4, 2022.”
Next Steps
Alderan’s Mizpah drilling programme is expected to be completed in September with all holes logged and samples submitted to the laboratory for gold analysis. Results are expected early in Q4, 2022.
In addition to the drilling, Alderan has planned early ‘sighter’ metallurgical test work to obtain an indication of gold metallurgical recoveries and infill soil sampling at Detroit to better define the gold in soil anomalies identified from the broadly spaced 200m x 40m sampling programme completed in 2021.4 This sampling will be carried out following the completion of the Mizpah drilling. For further information please visit: https://alderanresources.com.au/
