Chaarat completes drilling programme at Kyzyltash

Armenia-focussed mining company Chaarat Gold announced the completion of the Kyzyltash 2021 drilling programme on Tuesday, which intersected significant high-grade gold intercepts within the current JORC-compliant measured, indicated and inferred ("M,I&I") sulphide resource of 5.4 million ounces at 3.8 grams per tonne.

The AIM-traded firm said the drill core would be used to determine the appropriate processing route for the sulphide ore.

Once funded, designed, and constructed, the asset would target about 300,000 ounces of annual production.

Chaarat said all necessary drill core for metallurgical testwork was obtained as part of the programme, which saw the completion of 3,508 metres of drilling.

Twinned holes confirmed mineralisation in the Contact Zone (CZ) and Main Zone (MZ) of the Kyzyltash deposit, while all 16 drill holes successfully intersected expected mineralisation, returning similar results as the original drill holes.

The company said the confirmation drill holes include 44 metres at 5.75 grams of gold per tonne in the Contact Zone, followed by 32.6 metres at 6.01 grams per tonne, including 4.6 metres at 19.50 grams per tonne, compared to 31.5 metres at 4.36 grams per tonne in the original hole.

At the Main Zone, it reported 24.5 metres at 5.70 grams of gold per tonne, including 5.3 metres at 10.12 grams per tonne, compared to 34.5 metres at 5.04 grams per tonne in the original hole.

Looking ahead, the company said the process of selecting two representative composite samples was currently underway, with shipment to SGS Lakefield planned for November.

Results from the SGS Lakefield testwork were expected in the first half of 2022, with that information to be used to determine the preferred flowsheet and engineering solution during the feasibility study update for the Kyzyltash project.

“The development and exploration of Tulkubash and Kyzyltash projects is continuing on multiple fronts,” said Chaarat’s senior vice-president of geology, Dimitar Dimitrov.

“Completion of the Kyzyltash metallurgical drilling has provided solid confirmation regarding the previously defined JORC-compliant resource.”

Dimitrov said the core collected would enable the firm to determine the appropriate processing option to unlock the significant value of the project.

“I am very glad to see the recent confirmation of the high-grade nature of the most significant ore bodies at Contact and Main zones of the Kyzyltash gold deposit.”

At 0830 BST, shares in Chaarat Gold Holdings were flat at 24p.