WHITE Cliff Minerals has completed 12 reverse circulation holes for 1400 metres at its Aucu Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic. Four-metre composite samples from the drilling have been submitted to a laboratory near Bishkek and in early October the company was awaiting results.
The drilling was carried out at the Quartz Zone and Eastern Gold Zone with the program continuing at Lower Gold Zone. Once results have been received, the company will plan further drilling at these zones. The company mobilised a second drill rig to the site in mid-August.
In April 2017, the company reported an updated JORC 2012 compliant inferred resource for the Aucu gold deposit. Aucu contains extensive porphyry related gold and copper mineralisation, and hosts a resource of 1.8 million tonnes @ 5.2 g/t gold for 302,000 ounces above a cut-off grade of 1 g/t gold.
The new resource represents a 93% increase in contained gold ounces and a 23% increase in average grade over the previous gold resource using the same cut-off grade reported in April 2015. The resource contains a new very high grade zone (Quartz Zone) of 244,000 tonnes @ 9.5 g/t gold containing 75,000 ounces, which starts at surface.
The latest estimate also identified a new inferred copper resource above a cut-off grade of 0.25% copper, of 608,000 tonnes @ 0.64% copper, containing 3870 tonnes of copper.
In August White Cliff announced that it had discovered a new gold zone adjacent to the three zones identified at the Eastern Gold Zone in 2016. The new zone, which was identified in a bulldozer cut while clearing a drill pad, consists of quartz veining within a halo of strongly altered sandstone.
Channel sampling of this zone identified 3 metres @ 24.8 g/t gold and 4 metres @ 6.5 g/t on the two road cuttings. In addition, a rock chip sample of the same structure taken at the top of the hill had a grade of 23 g/t.
The company recently raised $1.8 million in a non-renounceable rights issue. More than $900,000 was raised from valid applications, with an additional $940,000 from the underwriter.