Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to provide an update on the Company’s Clogau-St David’s Gold Mine (“Mine”).
Key Points
• Surface drilling has recommenced
• Processing of small bulk sample at a third-party processing facility has validated the Company’s process flowsheet and confirmed the production of a 20.7 grams per tonne gold concentrate
• The Company’s dedicated pilot processing plant is expected to be operational in the week commencing 11 January 2021 and to continue throughout Q1 2021
George Frangeskides, Alba’s Executive Chairman, commented: “We are very pleased to report that the independent bench-scale testing has validated our process flow-sheet for Clogau ore, as well as confirming the production of a gold concentrate with good recoveries of gold to concentrate. This gives us great encouragement as we near the commencement of operation of our own dedicated pilot processing plant.”
“Surface drilling has restarted after the Christmas break. While drill hole LL004 encountered difficult ground, this is part and parcel of exploration drilling. As announced on 21 December 2020, we now move onto the planned deeper holes, LL005 and LL006, to test the depth extent of the new vein system which we believe we have identified in holes LL001-003, each of which intersected significant quartz veins some 30 metres below the deepest previously worked zone at the Llechfraith mine area.”

Surface Drilling
The Company’s Phase 1 Surface Drilling campaign at the Mine has recommenced. Drill hole LL004 was drilled to 62.4 metres, but due to difficult ground conditions encountered, the end of the hole was called before the hole had intersected the expected quartz zone. The Company’s drilling contractors are currently preparing the drill collar for LL005 (see Figures 1 and 2 below). The trajectory of LL005 will be steeper (-55°) to obtain a deeper lode intersection around 20 metres below the intersections obtained in LL001-003.

Pilot Processing Plant
Final minor adjustments and tests are being carried out in respect of the Company’s pilot gold processing plant, and the Company accordingly expects to be able to commence processing the ~36 tonne bulk sample collected in September-October 2020 in the week commencing 11 January 2021.
A small amount of bulk sample material was sent by the Company to an independent laboratory for bench-scale testing, in order to validate the process flowsheet which has been designed by the Company for ore having the particular characteristics of Clogau ore. The Company is pleased to report that the bench-scale testing was successful. In particular:
• good gold recoveries were achieved, with 78.06% of the total gold content being captured in the Gravity concentrate plus Concentrate 1 of the Gravity tailings fractions; and
• a gold concentrate was produced, grading 20.7 grams per tonne.

The Company is pleased to confirm, therefore, that the independent bench-scale testwork undertaken has confirmed that a gold concentrate can be produced from the bulk sample with good recoveries of gold to concentrate.
Processing of the bulk sample at the Company’s pilot processing plant is expected to be ongoing throughout much of Q1 2021. The Company does not expect to be in a position to release results until all processing has been completed and the results have been verified.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, etc. etc..

Competent Person Declaration
The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been reviewed by Mr Mark Austin. Mr Austin is a member of SACNASP (Reg. No. 400235/06), Fellow of The Geological Society and Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa. He has a B.Sc. Honours in Geology with 38 years’ experience.
Mark Austin has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’, also known as the JORC Code. The JORC code is a national reporting organisation that is aligned with CRIRSCO. Mr Austin consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

Glossary
Lode: a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills a fissure.
Quartz Veins: a distinct sheet-like body dominantly composed of quartz hosted within a rock formation.
For further information, please contact:
Alba Mineral Resources plc

see & read morte pictures on
http://www.albamineralresources.com/ul/20210107.3%20Clogau%20Update%20FINAL%20FOR%20RELEASE%20(IMAGES).pdf