Erris Resources going ahead with option deal on Scotland gold project

Mineral exploration company Erris Resources has successfully concluded its due diligence for the option agreement it signed with GreenOre Gold on 9 December, it announced on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said that as a result, it has issued the notice to GreenOre, and would proceed with the exploration work to acquire 80% of the Loch Tay gold project in Perthshire, Scotland.

It said the project area comprised 237 square kilometres of “highly prospective” ground within the Grampian Gold Belt, 43 kilometres east of the new Cononish gold mine.

The initial results received from the due diligence work at the two priority target areas showed that at Glen Almond, there were two high-grade narrow vein samples from separate veins grading 10 grams of gold per tonne or greater.

At Ardtalnaig, Erris said a sample from the historic mine dump returned 9.39 grams of gold per tonne, 8.37 grams of silver per tonne, 1.75% lead and 8.98% zinc.

It described the early success in locating new outcropping high-grade gold mineralisation at Glen Almond as “very encouraging”.

Recent mapping and prospecting had significantly expanded the footprint of the mineralisation and alteration at Ardtalnaig, the board added, with newly identified mineralisation in outcrop located in bedrock in a burn two kilometres south-southeast and along trend of the historic workings at Ardtalnaig.

Erris said it now had the option to earn 80% of the Loch Tay Project by defining a minimum inferred resource of 250,000 ounces of gold, to be defined by an independent competent person, within four years of the date of the option notice.

The ownership of the licence would then be allocated as to 80% Erris Resources and 20% GreenOre, with any subsequent funding to be on a pro-rata basis.

“We are pleased that we can report a satisfactory completion of the due diligence review and proceed with the option agreement with GreenOre to advance the highly prospective gold targets in the Loch Tay licence,” said chief executive officer Anton du Plessis.

“New results received and further fieldwork carried out when weather permitted over the past month have been very successful in expanding the gold potential of the project's key targets, Ardtalnaig and Glen Almond.

“Located in a well-mineralised district, our focus is now on advancing the project to initial drill-testing, targeting 250,000 ounces of gold, which is a similar scale to the Cononish resource where a gold mine is expected to be in production soon.”

Du Plessis said the current mapped footprint of mineralisation and alteration showed that potential.

“I would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support following the announcement of the option on the Scottish project and I look forward to updating them with further developments.”

At 1039 GMT, shares in Erris Resources were up 7.06% at 4.55p.