Crater Gold Mining commences HGZ adit evaluation
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Crater Gold Mining (ASX: CGN) has begun a detailed evaluation of the High Grade Zone (HGZ) at the company’s Crater Mountain project in Papua New Guinea.
The company has completed a total of 55 metres of adit driving completed and is about to commence an underground drilling program to evaluate the extent of the HGZ.
Crater Gold indicated it has already encountered several zones of crosscutting gold with gold grades of up to 70 grams per tonne gold being returned in channel samples while instances of coarse visible free gold have been recorded during mapping of the underground development.
High Grade Zone portal entrance. Source: Company announcement
“By developing and exploring underground we can rapidly and cost-effectively evaluate the HGZ,” Crater Gold Mining exploration director Peter Macnab said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“Being able to directly map the fresh exposures in the adit and crosscuts will provide us with a better understanding of the controls to mineralisation.
“The opportunity to drill from underground has enormous advantages compared to costly and difficult drilling from surface.”
Crater Gold Mining said the detailed geological mapping and sampling of the adit, cross‐cuts and drill core will allow it to develop a comprehensive understanding of the mineralisation than is possible from mapping and drilling from the surface.
The company has obtained a variation of the terms of its EL 1115 Exploration Licence work program to drive an adit with crosscuts and underground drilling in order to target potential gold deposit beneath the surface gougings and shallow underground workings left by local village miners.
When it has completed the current development and drilling at the HGZ, Crater Gold Mining anticipates it will have produced enough data to meet the requirements for the grant of a mining lease – which includes being able to demonstrate it is an economic resource.
At this stage the company said it will apply for a Mining Lease under the PNG Mining Act.
Crater Gold Mining explained the adit and associated crosscuts, currently being developed to initially identify future production zones, will also be used in the mining phase.
This, it expect, will result in the transition from the current development phase to the mining phase with the least additional cost and in the shortest time frame.