Gold Anomaly kicks off testwork at Crater Mountain

/in /by

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Gold Anomaly (ASX: GOA) has commenced testwork aimed at the early development of the High Grade Zone (HGZ) at the company’s Crater Mountain gold project in Papua New Guinea with a view to starting a small scale operation by the end of 2014.

The HGZ is an area close to the Top Camp at Crater Mountain’s Nevera prospect where previous drilling intersected gold including 46 metres at 5.9 grams per tonne gold, including 2 metres at 98.2 grasm per tonne gold.

According to Gold Anomaly the HGZ has been a popular spot for local miners, who have historically mined the area.

Around 15,000 ounces of gold are estimated to have been mined from shallow underground workings in a steep spur between 2005 and 2012, applying very simple mining and gravity processing methods.

Gold Anomoly pointed out little drilling has undertaken on the HGZ to date as the company’s focus has been on the Mixing Zone and its perceived deep porphyry-related lead-zinc-gold and copper-gold potential.

“The beauty of owning an asset such as Crater Mountain is that the project has both the potential for near term, low cost production as well as large scale, bulk tonnage, long term development,” Gold Anomaly executive chairman Greg Starr said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“With markets still displaying volatility for the junior end, the company can focus on generating near term cash flows and capitalising on buoyant gold prices.”

Gold Anomaly also announced the appointment of Richard Johnson as general manager PNG Operations, which it said was in keeping with its strategy to target shallow, near term gold production at Crater Mountain.

Mr Johnson is a mining engineer with experience running small and large scale projects such as DRDGold’s high-grade underground Tolukuma gold mine in PNG’s Central Province.

Aside from his time at DRDGold Johnson has been a senior executive and director of a number of listed companies that operate in the PNG and Pacific region, including Allied Gold.

“We are pleased that we have been able to attract someone of the calibre and experience of Richard Johnson,” Starr said.

“With the improvement in company finances, refocus of strategy and appointment of an experienced manager, we look forward to the return of Gold Anomaly’s Crater Mountain project as one of the most exciting and fastest growing gold projects in PNG in the near term.”