Chaarat Gold upbeat on latest work at Tulkubash

Kyrgyz Republic and Armenia-focussed gold mining company Chaarat Gold Holdings announced the first tranche of results from its 2019 exploration and drilling programme at its Tulkubash oxide gold deposit in the Kyrgyz Republic on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded firm said more than 3,800 metres of drilling had been completed, with a minimum of 20,000 metres scheduled to be completed during the year.

Assays had been received from 16 drill holes, with the board reporting that drilling in the year to date had identified new shallow mineralisation within and adjacent to current pit outlines.

Roadcut and outcrop mapping and sampling confirmed extensions of gold mineralisation northeast along strike, confirming that Tulkubash hosted a “significant” gold system.

Based on the increasing evidence that Tulkubash was an emerging gold district, district-scale exploration was being accelerated, Chaarat added.

It said its 2019 objectives included to exceed two million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated JORC resource categories, up from a current 1.6 million ounces, thus increasing reserve and extending mine life.

The company was also seeking to improve the project’s economics within currently defined pits by adding ore within existing pit shells, reducing the strip ratio, and optimising its metallurgical recovery model.

It also wanted to increase its understanding of district prospectivity.

To date, 26 holes had been completed, totalling 3,860 metres of a total 20,000 metre drilling programme scheduled for 2019.

Of the planned 20,000 metres of drilling, Chaarat said the large majority of around 16,000 metres would comprise exploration and step-out drilling from the current resource boundary.

Much of that would test priority targets northeast along strike from the currently-defined resource boundary and in previously-undrilled zones adjacent to current satellite pit shells.

Evidence to date suggested that both gold grade and oxidation state - which was indicative of metallurgical recovery - were improving along strike to the northeast.

An extensive soil geochemical anomaly in the area, as well as favourable alteration, indicated that the Tulkubash trend continued - and indeed strengthened - in that direction.

Approximately 2,000 metres of drilling had been allocated to an infill drilling programme within currently-designed pit boundaries, Chaarat explained, with the objective of converting waste to ore and improving project economics.

A final 2,000 metres was allocated to initial reconnaissance drilling of high-grade targets up to five kilometres along strike from the current resource boundary, with the objective of validating the potential for more distal targets as part of the district-scale exploration

“We are very excited to have begun the exploration and drilling season at Tulkubash,” said Chaarat Gold’s senior vice-president of exploration, Dusty Nicol.

“Last year's programme discovered 650,000 ounces of gold in measured and indicated resource categories at a discovery cost of $11.40 per ounce.

“We have every reason to expect similar or greater rates of success with this year's programme.”

Nicol noted that already, drill results received to date had extended hanging wall mineralisation in the Tulkubash Main Pit area, and had discovered new mineralisation in the ‘satellite pits’ area northeast of the main pit.

Of particular significance there was the 19.5 metres of 2.2 grams per tonne of gold in hole DH19T478, he explained.

“Now that the drill road and pad construction have extended northeast of the current resource boundary, we will be able to drill what we consider to be a highly prospective zone of geochemical anomalies, crackle breccia, and hydrothermal alteration identified by last year's mapping.

“Furthermore, we are very pleased to have been able to accelerate district-scale exploration this season.

“Field work is being integrated with satellite imagery and geochemical, geophysical, structural, and mineralogical alteration halos around Tulkubash gold mineralisation.

“Our objective is to continue developing a database of these geological data that will allow application of advanced data handling techniques - including artificial intelligence [and] machine learning - to optimise ongoing exploration and discovery.”