Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) has revealed a maiden inferred resource of 124,000 ounces of gold for its Indomitable and Vanguard Camp deposits at the Sandstone Gold Project in Western Australia.
The resources consist of six individual deposits which have undergone extensive work and interpretation by Alto’s geologists and resource consultant Dr Spero Carras of Carras Mining Pty Ltd.
Inferred resource estimated by Carras Mining
Alto managing director Dermot Ryan said: “These shallow gold deposits in the Vanguard and Indomitable Camps all have a gold rich lateritic cap overlying the oxide gold mineralisation, most are “blind” in that they are buried under alluvium, and most importantly, the gold grades increase with depth into the transition and fresh rock zones.
“Now that we understand the structural controls on these deposits, the next stage is to RC drill test them (and their associated bodies) along strike and down plunge, where extra ounces of gold can be rapidly added.
“When Alto purchased the project in 2016, there were no JORC 2012 mineral resources. With carefully targeted drilling and adequate funding, there is potential to double the current JORC 2012 mineral resource base to +500,000 ounces over the next 12 months.”
The deposits in the Vanguard and Indomitable Camps share a number of attributes:
• All have a gold rich lateritic cap overlying the oxide (saprolite hosted) gold mineralisation;
• Most are “blind” in that there is 5-10 metres of alluvium overlying the laterite zones;
• The base of complete oxidation is deeper around the gold mineralised structures (between 40-100 metres deep);
• Most importantly, the gold grades increase with depth into the transition and fresh rock zones, and these plunging mineralised structures are open at depth.
Forward plan
The next stage at Sandstone is to RC drill test the mineralised bodies down plunge, where extra ounces of gold can be rapidly added.
With carefully targeted RC drilling there is potential to double the existing mineral resource base to 500,00 ounces.
At the same time, Alto will commence aircore drill testing of a number of other laterite/soil gold anomalies which were identified in Alto’s 2018 soil sampling program.