The South Russel prospect of Asante Gold Corporation has yielded a high-grade gold discovery in preliminary drilling. The discovery is 3.8 km from the Process Plant on the Company’s Bibiani mining lease.
Discovery Hole on ground Resistivity color image, sun shading from the north-west. Image Credit: Asante Gold Corporation.
MGRCD21-047, the discovery hole, returned 16 m @ 5.75 g/t Au and was discovered to test anomalous geophysical responses highlighted in the ongoing property-wide surveys. There has been no previous drilling in the area, so the gold mineralized system is open in all directions:
- MGRCD21-047—16 m @ 5.75 g/t Au from 194 m including 7 m @ 9.18 g/t Au from 197 m
- MGRCD22-048—2 m @ 2.53 g/t Au from 101 m
- MGRCD22-048—4 m @ 4.00 g/t Au from 111 m
- MGRCD22-048—8 m @ 1.80 g/t Au from 121 m
- MGRCD22-048—2 m @ 1.39 g/t Au from 140 m
Drill holes to the north and south of the discovery hole are planned as follow-ups. This target is among the eight high-priority geophysical targets identified so far on the major Bibiani shear corridor, all of which will be subjected to additional drill testing.
The assay results announced today at South Russel, as well as the recent resource extension drilling at Walsh, highlight the effectiveness of the 2021 exploration program, including use of IP surveys as a targeting tool in prioritizing drill targets along the Bibiani shear corridor.
Dave Anthony, President and CEO, Asante Gold Corporation
Dave Anthony adds, “We are very pleased with the results coming out of our exploration program to date and we look forward to continued success in 2022. We commend our exploration team for their hard work and diligence.”
The Process Plant is being renovated on time and within budget. With over 1,200 contractors and employees on-site, all work activities are advancing as planned.
The plant is being upgraded to provide better performance than the original design, including the purchase and installation of a modern Knelson 6G concentrator and Gekko ILR (intensive leach reactor), as well as the construction of a sulfide flotation/regrind facility, which is expected to be completed by Q4 2022 and increase gold recovery to 92%.
The Bibiani Mine expects its first gold pour in Q3 2022 and to produce around 175,000 oz of gold in its first year of operation. Following that, plans call for annual production of 220,000 to 270,000 ounces for a minimum of seven years.
In Q3 2022, Asante plans to begin developing an underground mine design at the PEA level of study, with the goal of developing an underground mine operation in 2026. This will result in a bit of an overlap with open-pit mining operations, which are currently planned to continue until 2029.