GoldStone upbeat on latest drilling at Homease South

Gold exploration and development company GoldStone Resources released the results of its recent infill reverse circulation drilling programme at the Homease South Pit on the Akrokeri-Homease Gold Project in Ghana on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said the objective of the drilling programme and metallurgical work was to seek to increase the quantum and confidence in the mineable resource at depth in the pit.

In addition, it said it completed further metallurgical test work on samples from the drilling, in a bid to demonstrate the similarity between the mineable resources in the Homase South Pit and those set out in the feasibility study completed by Ashanti Goldfields (AGC) in 2001 on the Homase Main Pit, which was subsequently mined by AGC in 2002 and 2003.

“The GoldStone board is confident, based on its extensive experience and the substantial increase in the mineable resource determined by the programme, that the Homase South Pit can be significantly extended at depth and mined economically,” the directors said in their statement.

“Accordingly, the Company will seek to update the definitive economic plan, announced 27 June 2019, to reflect the increased mineable resource.”

GoldStone said the work increased the mineable resource by 86,900 ounces of gold at depth, representing a 257% increase on the previous estimate of 33,800 ounces of gold, within the existing JORC resource.

It said the AGC feasibility study assessed both the oxide or weathered zone and the underlying largely sulphidic mineral zone, and concluded that both were predominantly non-refractory.

The work confirmed the potential to expand the Homase South Pit at depth, exploiting both the oxide ore and the underlying fresh ore, and further demonstrated geological and grade continuity within the Homase trend, including parallel zones within the fresh ore, the board explained.

As per the definitive economic plan, the open pit would be free dig, though below the 30 metre-deep weathered zone, different mining methods could be required.

The metallurgical test work corroborated the test work completed by AGC in 2001 before developing the Homase Main Pit, the directors explained, in that the fresh ore was non-refractory and was amenable to rapid leach recovery.

GoldStone said it was in continued dialogue with the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the issue of the environmental permit, and with the Minerals Commission on the operational permits for the Homase South Pit, despite delays arising due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company said it would, on receipt of the permits, be able to immediately start operations, with an estimated timeline for the first gold pour being within two months of such a grant.

It said it had also submitted an application for the expansion of the mining lease area within the existing exploration licence areas.

“We are very pleased with the results from the drilling programme at the Homase South Pit, which has increased the mineable resource by over 250% and gives us the potential to expand the pit to a depth of 80 metres,” said chief executive officer Emma Priestley.

“The results from these drill holes exceeded our expectations of the extent of the near-surface mineralisation and confirmed our expectations of the grade increasing at depth, which is in line with the results for Ashanti Goldfields' 2001 feasibility report for the Homase Main Pit.

“As previously confirmed, we are ready to commence mining operations once the permits have been issued, as we seek to bring GoldStone into production.”

Atr 1215 GMT, shares in GoldStone Resources were broadly flat, being down 0.001% at 7.9p.