Galantas Gold preparing to drill at Omagh mine

Galantas Gold announced the imminent start of an initial first phase surface and underground exploration programme, comprising 4,000 metres of diamond drilling, at the Omagh gold mine in Northern Ireland on Monday.

The AIM-traded firm said the drilling would focus on the Kearney and Joshua veins - two of many high-priority targets on the company's land package.

Underground drilling on the Kearney vein would test deeper extensions of mineralised dilation zones, targeting higher widths of mineralisation within the vein.

Drilling would also target continuity and grade of additional mineralised zones running parallel to the main orebody.

Galantas said the drill results would support the mine plan, as it moved into a new phase of underground mining and accelerated development.

The company had already completed 2,000 metres of underground development at Kearney, with development currently within 240 metres of accessing the Joshua vein.

Development had recently restarted on the Joshua decline.

The surface drilling programme would target the Joshua vein, with the firm planning to follow up on its best intersection to date of 21.6 metres at 9.9 grams of gold per tonne at a vertical depth of 117.2 metres on hole OML-DD-15- 155, which was identified towards the end of the last drilling programme in 2015.

Drilling would also target a central area of the vein 70 metres from where the underground development was first planned to intersect the Joshua vein.

Earlier drilling of central Joshua included hole OM-DD-11-103 resulting in 26.6 metres at 8.4 grams of gold per tonne, announced in June 2012.

“We are excited to kick-off drilling to unlock the significant exploration upside at Omagh, on the heels of our oversubscribed private placement,” said chief executive officer Mario Stifano.

“This exploration program represents a critical opportunity for Galantas to extend the mine life and expand high-grade gold production.”

At 0834 BST, shares in Galantas Gold Corporation were up 3.66% at 36.8p.