Mineral exploration firm Alba Mineral Resources (LON: ALBA) share price is rallying on Wednesday after the company released the first set of assay results on bulk sample concentrates produced at the Clogau-St David's Gold Mine.
The AIM-listed company said concentrates produced from Jack Williams Lode, and floor material from the Tyn-Y-Cornel area returned notable grades of 20.4 to 165.5 g/t.
Alba said the results are a “significant advance on the initial processing of a small bulk sample at a third-party processing facility.”
However, concentrates produced from two other bulk sample locations produced lower grade results. Alba stated that grade variability is expected due to bulk sample locations, which have been taken from previously worked areas of the mine.
It is also because of the “inherent nature of Clogau vein system”. There is an irregular distribution due to the function of the high nuggety-effect of the Clogau vein system.
More bulk samples will be taken during the year, but they will be from new, unworked veins.
The company's pilot processing plant is performing well, with its ability to extract and concentrate coarse gold while tailings values returned negligible gold grades, indicating that the plant is operating with high efficiency.
Meanwhile, both the underground and surface drilling programmes at the Clogau-St David's mine are progressing well. JW003, the third hole in the current phase of surface drilling, has reached a depth of 115m. The first hole of underground drilling, UG001, has been drilled to 50.5m.
Alba's Executive Chairman, George Frangeskides, commented: “These are really pleasing test results and demonstrate how well our pilot plant is working now in producing gold concentrates with high recoveries.
“This bodes well for when we move onto bulk sampling new and previously unmined areas, in particular those new zones which we are defining in the course of our ongoing surface and underground drilling, where we believe the prospects for high-grade mineralisation are much greater.”
Alba Mineral Resources share price is currently trading at 0.28p, up 9.2%.
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