Alto spins drill bit to extend Sandstone gold prospects

Alto Metals has launched a 3500m reverse-circulation (RC) drilling program at its Sandstone gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region to test extensional targets beyond the limits of three of its current mineral resources – and a new prospect.

Detailing the latest campaign today, the company says its Vanguard, Ladybird and Bull Oak deposits will feel the bite of the drill bit in a bid to extend its current resources, with the rods already spinning at Vanguard. It has also designed a first-pass program for its new Lightning target.

It follows a review of previous gold-in-lag and drill-collar soil geochemical results that defined solid gold concentrations and significant lower-grade haloes over the Vanguard and Vanguard North deposits, which contain a combined mineral resource totalling 150,000 ounces of gold.

A third slightly ovoid, strike-conforming gold anomaly about 500m in diameter, which was highlighted by lag sampling and a couple of decent drill-collar soil gold results, sits at the northern end of the north-west-trending Vanguard mineralised corridor.

While appearing to be more subdued than the original anomalism within the two Vanguard deposits, management believes the geochemistry of the third anomaly remains a compelling and coherent signature – and perhaps even a bit stronger in lag geochemistry than at Vanguard North.

The lower overall tenor of the anomaly could be attributable to deeper surface cover in the area and/or the mostly shallower historic drilling. However, considering its structural location, along-strike proximity to two nearby gold resources, its “bulls-eye” aspect and only thin previous follow-up work, the northern anomaly is screaming out to be at least scout-drilled by RC to realistic depths.

We are pleased to have a rig back on site and drilling underway at our Sandstone gold project. This program is designed to test extensional targets outside the current resources at our Vanguard, Ladybird and Bull Oak gold deposits and also includes first-pass drilling at the new Lightning prospect.

At Bull Oak, the company recently announced an exploration target ranging between 4.6 and 8.8 million tonnes grading between 1 gram per tonne and 1.3g/t gold. The target does not include any component of the company’s mineral resource estimate revealed in April last year of 1.9 million tonnes at 1.1g/t gold.

Alto plans to test several deeper domains it had modelled to develop its exploration target and which lie below the floor of the pit design that encloses the mineral resource estimate.

The company recently secured the nearby Lightning gold prospect through an option and tenement sale agreement with a private vendor for a $20,000 option fee for the right to acquire 100 per cent of the ground at any time within two years by paying a further $100,000. The Lightning prospect sits within its own mining lease and abuts one of its exploration licences, about 3km west of the Vanguard camp.

Geologically, the Lightning ground is complex and encloses several banded-iron formations (BIF) and abundant shallow, artisanal alluvial workings by various third parties throughout its history. Although the source of the gold remains to be defined with any measure of confidence, it is thought to be associated with quartz veining within the BIF sequences.

Only limited historic rotary air-blast (RAB) drilling has been undertaken at Lightning, intersecting a handful of high grades including one hole that jagged 12m at 13.5g/t gold with 1m at 147g/t from 25m and 1m at 7.9g/t from 36m. Two other RAB holes reported intercepts of 6m going 1.2g/t gold from 26m including 1m at 4.5g/t from 26m and 5m running 1.2g/t from 42m featuring 1m at 3.5g/t from 46m.

Additionally, Alto says a 1km-long, open-ended and untested gold-in-soil anomaly with a peak value of 242 parts per billion gold sits on a favourable structural setting in the northern part of the Lightning mining lease and extends into its exploration licence.

The company has been compiling and validating historical data relating to the Lightning lease and expects the information to inform future targeting as it ramps up its exploration of the new area.

Management has already wound up initial extensional and infill soil sampling of the anomaly, hoping to define targets for an imminent RC drilling program. The campaign involved about 200 samples being taken from across a nominal 50m grid and attained a top response of 927ppb gold from low-level analysis.

Alto says it has validated, further defined and extended the anomaly about 700m into its exploration licence and it plans to drill it with the RC rig once it has completed its work in the nearby Vanguard ground.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au