Highland Gold upbeat on latest exploration results at Unkurtash project |
AIM quoted mining company Highland Gold Mining (LON:HGM) has announced positive results from its ongoing exploration programme at Unkurtash in Kyrgyzstan. Highland – whose largest shareholders include industry giant Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) and an investment vehicle controlled by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich – said the latest results underlined its vision for developing a large open-pit mineable gold resource at Unkurtash.
Highland has earmarked US$20 million of an overall US$30 million 2011 exploration budget to “substantially increase” the initial 42.9 tonnes (1.38 million oz) of gold reserves (C1+C2 category) at Unkurtash, which were recently approved by regulatory authorities.
The project includes three distinct prospects: the Unkurtash, Sarytube and Karatube, which lie on Highland’s exploration licenses. At the Unkurtash prospect the new drilling results corroborate the recently established reserve estimate, which was based on results from the 2009 drilling campaign. The current results are expected to significantly improve key parameters of the resource model and respective resource categories. Deep drilling from the surface to a maximum depth of 450 metres at the Unkurtash ridge is now underway. This aims to test the continuity of gold mineralisation through to the underground exploration development which is intended to delineate gold mineralisation over a strike length of 800 metres by means of a main drift and a systematic grid of crosscuts spaced at 80 metre intervals.
At the adjacent and geologically similar Sarytube prospect, Highland said initial results within a 900 by 500 metres wide drill zone had corroborated the geological potential and continuity of gold mineralisation extending through from Unkurtash underlining the potential for Sarytube to host mineral resources comparable to that of the Unkurtash prospect. At the Karatube skarn prospect, (located north east of Sarytube) final results from the 2010 drilling programme (received in 2011) are in line with previously reported results.
Highland’s ongoing 2011 drilling programme allocates over 50,000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond core drilling as well as advancing 3,000 metres of underground exploration development in order to test the continuity of the mineralisation across the three prospects. By the end of June 2011 more than 27,000 metres had been drilled at the Unkurtash and Sarytube prospects and more than 1,000 metres of new underground development completed.
Highland said plans to audit its Unkurtash reserves in compliance with JORC standards was expected to be completed during the second half of 2011. Further metallurgical test work has also been earmarked for the second half of 2011 and negotiations with regulatory authorities for conversion of the current exploration license into a mining license have been initiated.
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