DIDCOT, UK / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2020 / Altus Strategies Plc (AIM:ALS) (TSX-V:ALTS), the Africa focused project and royalty generator, announces that it has appointed independent consulting firm Mining Plus UK Ltd ("Mining Plus") to update the historic resource and complete a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for an open pit oxide gold mine at the Company's Diba project ("Diba" or the "Project"). Diba is strategically located 13km south of the multi-million ounce Sadiola gold mine, in the world renowned "Kenieba Window' gold belt in the west of the Republic of Mali ("Mali").
Highlights:
- Mining Plus appointed to undertake PEA at Diba gold project in western Mali
- PEA to examine economic parameters for an open pit oxide gold mine
- Historic resource to be updated into a current NI 43-101 resource estimate
- Drill results after the historic resource include 5.36 g/t Au over 13m and 9.60 g/t Au over 8m
- Diba hosts a historical near surface gold resource:
- 6,348,000 tonnes at 1.35 g/t Au for 275,200 ounces in the Indicated category
- 720,000 tonnes at 1.40 g/t Au for 32,500 ounces in the Inferred category
- Based on a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade
- See "Diba Project: Historic resource" and "Cautionary note regarding historic data"
- At least six further priority prospects have yet to be drill tested at Diba
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:
"The Diba gold project hosts a near surface and shallow dipping historic resource in western Mali, approximately 13km south of the multi-million ounce Sadiola gold mine and 5km west of the Company's Lakanfla gold project, which is the subject of a joint venture with Glomin Services.
"Mining Plus will update the historic resource into a current resource and incorporate drill results that post-date the original resource estimate, including 5.36 g/t over 13m and 9.60 g/t over 8m. They will then undertake a Preliminary Economic Assessment to outline the potential for a standalone open pit oxide gold mine. The Diba licence has substantial exploration upside with at least six additional prospective targets yet to be drill tested. However, the historic resource alone may already represent a very significant opportunity for Altus to create substantial near-term value.
"In addition to the studies being undertaken on Diba and in light of the importance of maintaining robust health and safety procedures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our management and technical teams are active on several remote sensing and historical data compilation campaigns. These programmes aim to define exploration targets on existing projects as well as identify potential new projects in countries where we do not currently have a presence. This work is integral to how Altus replenishes its pipeline of projects and ultimately generates new royalties. It also allows our team and contractors to work remotely, which is important at this current time.
"After the recent private placement and subsequent strategic investment by La Mancha, Altus has a strong cash treasury of approximately £8.2M / C$14.3M and is well placed to assess potential opportunities. I look forward to updating shareholders on the results from all these studies."
Resource Update and Preliminary Economic Assessment
Mining Plus of Bristol, United Kingdom (www.mining-plus.com) have been contracted to update the historic resource on Diba into a current NI 43-101 resource and to complete a PEA for a potential open pit oxide gold mine. To upgrade the historic resource to a current resource, Mining Plus will update the resource block model, including re-interpreting the mineralisation from drilling that occurred subsequent to the historic resource and re-estimating the grades. The results of the resource update and PEA are anticipated to be available in the second quarter of 2020.
The following figures have been prepared and relate to the disclosures in this announcement and are visible in the version of this announcement on the Company's website (www.altus-strategies.com) or in PDF format by following this link: http://altus-strategies.com/site/assets/files/4832/altus_nr_-_diba_16_apr_2020.pdf
- Location of the Diba project in western Mali is shown in Figure 1.
- Aerial view illustrating Diba's proximity to Sadiola is shown in Figure 2.
- Schematic cross section of Diba (looking northeast) is shown in Figure 3.
- Location of additional prospects at the Diba project is shown in Figure 4.
- A selection of Diba photos is shown in Figure 5.
Diba Project: Location
The 81km2 Diba (Korali Sud licence) project is located in the Kayes region of western Mali, approximately 450km northwest of the capital city of Bamako. The project sits 5km west of the Company's Lakanfla gold project, approximately 13km south of the multi-million ounce Sadiola gold mine and 35km south of the multi-million ounce Yatela former gold mine. Diba is bounded by the Sadiola permit on its northern and eastern boundaries. The majority owners of the Sadiola mine, Anglogold Ashanti (JSE: ANG, NYSE: AU and ASX: AGG) and IAMGOLD Corporation (TSX: IMG and NYSE: IAG), have announced they have entered into an agreement to sell their collective interests in the mine to Allied Gold Corp. of Australia.
Diba Project: Historic resource
The Diba project hosts a historic gold resource (based on a 0.5 g/t cut off) comprised of 275,000 oz (6.34Mt at 1.35 g/t) in the Indicated category and 32,500 oz (0.72Mt at 1.40 g/t) in the Inferred category. An additional 97 AC and RC drill holes were completed at Diba by a previous operator in 2014 subsequent to the 2013 mineral resource estimate. Results from the 2014 drill programme include 5.36 g/t over 13m, 9.60 g/t over 8m and 2.00 g/t over 21m. The historic resource was prepared by AMEC Americas Limited in a report entitled Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Diba Badiazila Gold Property Mali, West Africa, dated June 30, 2013 and filed on SEDAR on 20 September 2013 by Legend Gold Corp which was subject to a plan of arrangement with Altus in 2018. The key assumptions, parameters and methods used to prepare this historical estimate were:
- Data from 157 diamond and reverse circulation drill holes, totalling 16,011m and a database containing Au assay values for 13,882 samples
- A block model was constructed using ordinary kriging ("OK') and inverse of the distance to the third power ("ID3')
- Data analysis was performed on the assays within 10 modelled grade shells
- Grade capping was applied for restriction of the outlier grades at different thresholds, according to the individual mineralized lenses (grade shells)
- Blocks located inside the 0.3 g/t Au grade shell were interpolated using OK with three passes using incremental radii search ellipsoids
- Blocks located outside the grade shell were estimated by ID3 using the same ellipsoids used in the OK runs
- Block sizes of 5m x 5m x 2m with each block storing the percentage of volumes inside and outside the grade shells
- Blocks were classified in two categories, Indicated and Inferred as follows:
- Indicated blocks were estimated during passes 1 and 2 and within 50 m of a composite
- All blocks estimated in pass 3, or not classified as Indicated, were then grouped as Inferred category
- Using Indicated and Inferred blocks, a conceptual pit shell, using Whittle™ software, to constrain the blocks to be reported as mineral resources
- Mineral resources are reported within a Lerchs-Grossmann pit shell and reported to a base-case grade cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au
The Company believes the historical estimate remains relevant and reliable but a Qualified Person has not undertaken sufficient work to classify the estimate as current mineral resources. Accordingly, the Company has commissioned Mining Plus as an independent Qualified Person to upgrade the historical estimate into a current mineral resource estimate, incorporating the exploration results received after 30 June 2013. The Company is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource.
The historical resource occurs in an area of elevated topography and comprises a series of stacked lenses that dip approximately 35-40 degrees to the south east. The Company considers that the morphology of Diba is favourable, with the potential for a low mining strip ratio, relatively limited overburden and a high proportion of the orebody being in the oxide zone. Deeper drilling at Diba targeting the sulphide zone intersected 1.32 g/t over 45m (from 93m), and the historic resource remains open at depth.
Diba Project: Exploration history
Diba was originally discovered as part of a regional geochemical sampling programme conducted between 1987 and 1989. This programme reportedly also discovered the Sadiola gold mine and the former Yatela gold mine. A subsequent regional soil sampling programme at Diba completed by previous owners on a 500m x 250m (and in places 250m x 100m) grid identified a number of targets. This programme was completed between 2005 and 2007 and along with subsequent auger programmes, defined a 2.5km x 0.5km anomaly at Diba. A number of geophysical programmes have also been completed at Diba, including ground based induced polarisation, high resolution resistivity and magnetic surveys, as well as airborne VTEM.
Historic drill results from Diba are presented in Table 1. The oxide gold mineralisation at Diba is predominantly found in saprolite within 50m of surface and across a compact 800m x 600m area which has been drilled to date. The deposit is considered to be controlled by a number of northwest and northeast orientated structures, with gold occurring as fine-grained disseminations in localised high-grade calcite-quartz veinlets. Alteration at Diba is typically albite-hematite+/-pyrite, although pyrite content is generally very low (<1%).
Table 1: Selected Diba drilling intercepts from historic drilling (2006 - 2014)
Intersections are calculated based on a greater than 0.5g/t Au cut-off grade, a 40g/t top-cap of grades above that grade and where there is ≤ 3m of consecutive internal waste.
Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Intersection (m) | Grade (g/t Au) |
MIDH06-001 | 19.2 | 71.0 | 51.8 | 1.85 |
Including | 34.0 | 38.0 | 4.0 | 12.65 |
Including (uncapped) | 35.0 | 36.0 | 1.0 | 900.48 |
MIDH06-002 | 24.0 | 44.0 | 20.0 | 5.02 |
Including | 26.0 | 31.0 | 5.0 | 7.35 |
Including | 39.0 | 44.0 | 5.0 | 10.92 |
Including (uncapped) | 42.0 | 43.0 | 1.0 | 49.48 |
MIDH06-004 | 36.0 | 74.0 | 38.0 | 2.08 |
Including | 44.0 | 55.0 | 11.0 | 5.28 |
MIDH07-035 | 16.0 | 48.0 | 32.0 | 2.06 |
Including | 20.0 | 24.0 | 4.0 | 7.70 |
MIDH07-057 | 32.0 | 62.0 | 30.0 | 2.15 |
Including | 45.0 | 62.0 | 17.0 | 3.08 |
MIDH07-064 | 62.0 | 87.0 | 25.0 | 2.43 |
Including | 78.0 | 79.0 | 1.0 | 36.70 |
DBRC-009 | 93.0 | 138.0 | 45.0 | 1.32 |
DBRC-023 | 47.0 | 55.0 | 8.0 | 9.60 |
Including | 47.0 | 51.0 | 4.0 | 18.68 |
DBRC-055 | 11.0 | 32.0 | 21.0 | 2.00 |
Including | 27.0 | 31.0 | 4.0 | 4.91 |
Cautionary note regarding historic data
Readers are cautioned that the data on Diba as referred to in this written disclosure is historic exploration data that has not been verified by a Qualified Person. Not all historic samples are available and Altus does not have complete information on the quality assurance or quality control measures taken in connection with the historical exploration results, or other exploration or testing details regarding these results. The potential tonnages and grades described in this release are conceptual in nature and are based on previous drill results that defined the approximate length, thickness, depth and grade of the portion of the historic resource estimate. There has been insufficient exploration to define a current resource and the Company cautions that there is a risk further exploration will not result in the delineation of a current mineral resource. The historic data should therefore not be relied upon until the Company can confirm it.
Qualified Person
The technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement has been read and approved by Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus. He has not verified the historical data disclosed in this regulatory announcement but has no reason to question its accuracy. A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology (Hons), Steven Poulton also holds a Master's degree from the Camborne School of Mines (Exeter University) in Mining Geology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM rules and National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
Further Information
For further information you are invited to visit the Company's website www.altus-strategies.com or contact:
Altus Strategies Plc
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 511 767
E: info@altus-strategies.com
SP Angel (Nominated Adviser)
Richard Morrison / Soltan Tagiev
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
SP Angel (Broker)
Abigail Wayne / Richard Parlons
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0471
Blytheweigh (Financial PR)
Tim Blythe / Camilla Horsfall
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7138 3204
About Altus Strategies Plc
Altus is a London (AIM: ALS) and Toronto (TSX-V: ALTS) listed project and royalty generator in the mining sector with a focus on Africa. Our team creates value by making mineral discoveries across multiple licences. We enter joint ventures with respected groups and our partners earn interest in these discoveries by advancing them toward production. Project milestone payments we receive are reinvested to extend our portfolio, accelerating our growth. The portfolio model reduces risk as our interests are diversified by commodity and by country. The royalties generated from our portfolio of projects are designed to yield sustainable long-term income. We engage constructively with all our stakeholders, working diligently to minimise our environmental impact and to promote positive economic and social outcomes in the communities where we operate.
Market Abuse Regulation Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ("MAR") until the release of this announcement.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include without limitation the completion of planned expenditures, the ability to complete exploration programmes on schedule and the success of exploration programmes. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this news release.
TSX Venture Exchange Disclaimer
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Glossary of Terms
The following is a glossary of technical terms:
"AC" means Air Core drilling
"Au" means gold
"g/t" means grams per tonne
"Grade(s)" means the quantity of ore or metal in a specified quantity of rock
"m" means metres
"M" means millions
"Mt" means million tonnes
"NI 43-101 means National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects issued by the Canadian Securities Administrators
"RAB" means Rotary Air Blast drilling
"RC" means Reverse Circulation drilling
"VTEM" means Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic geophysical survey
SOURCE: Altus Strategies PLC
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