TIDMALBA
RNS Number : 5272M
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
22 September 2021
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Alba Mineral Resources plc
("Alba" or the "Company")
Clogau-St David's Gold Mine Update
Progress of Development Plans
Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to provide an
update in relation to the progress of the Company's development
plans at the Clogau-St David's Gold Mine.
Key Points
-- Mine plan under development for the extension of underground
workings to key production targets - Llechfraith Payshoot and Jack
Williams, New Branch, 7-10 and Grandfathers Lodes.
-- Modelling of the Phase 2 Surface and Underground drilling
results has resulted in a reassessment of the extension of the Main
Lode system, including the identification of a historically
overlooked Lode termed the New Branch Lode.
-- Further digitisation of historical mine plans has identified
workings above the Tyn y Cornel Level that can give direct access
onto the New Branch Lode and the 7-10 Lode high within the critical
Clogau Shales package.
-- In respect of the Company's dewatering application for the
Llechfraith Shaft, Natural Resources Wales ("NRW") are in the
process of undertaking a Habitat Regulations Assessment ("HRA").
The completion of an HRA will facilitate Alba's mine development
plans going forward.
Alba's COO and Senior Geologist, Mark Austin, commented:
"We are pushing forward with our development plans at Clogau. An
up-to-date mine plan is coming together, pulling together the key
development zones we have identified in our drilling and other work
activities. For instance, the Phase 2 surface drilling completed in
July has enabled us to determine that a new branch of the quartz
vein system exists between the Jack Williams and 7-10 Lodes,
forming a key part of the Main Lode System Extension.
The fact that this New Branch Lode structure is only 22 m
horizontally to the north from the 7-10 Lode on the Llechfraith
level, with the Jack Williams Lode only a further 23 m away, means
that with less than 50 m of development - which is tiny when
compared to the already several kilometres of existing underground
development - we will be able to access never previously mined
zones with these two Lode structures, which have contributed a
significant amount of the past gold production at Clogau.
One of the keys for old mines like Clogau is to establish
efficient ways to access the new development zones we discover
through our drilling and other exploratory work. The New Branch
Lode gives us exactly that opportunity, not least as it has also
helped to open up a further new development zone on the Cornel-2
level. Subject to completing some relatively straightforward safety
works, our team will be able to access the Cornel-2 level and gain
in situ exposure to the New Branch Lode (involving about 35 m of
workings) and the Jack Williams Lode. It also means we can access
the 7-10 Lode high within the critical Clogau Shales package."
Alba's Executive Chairman, George Frangeskides, commented:
"We wanted to provide a fuller update than usual in this
release, as we know that shareholders are keen to learn in detail
of the progress of works at Clogau. As Mark has highlighted above,
we believe we are now in a strong position to move this project
into the development phase, with no less than three significant new
target zones identified within the existing envelope of the mine
and, no less importantly, being target zones which should be
accessible by putting in a relatively modest amount of new
development.
It is because of the success of the unprecedented drilling
campaigns we have designed and executed at Clogau over the past two
years, which have unearthed several genuine development targets
within the mine, together with the dedication and skill of our
technical team in making sense of what is a highly complex
structural setting, that we can now seriously begin to plan the
work which is needed to access these new target development zones
.
At the same time, none of us should shy away from the fact that
there will always be challenges along the way as one seeks to build
the technical and economic case for reopening a historic mine. It
will not always be plain sailing! It is true, for instance, that
the processing of our application for the permits to dewater the
Llechfraith Shaft, one of the three development zones highlighted
in this release, has taken considerably longer than we ever
envisaged. It is understandable that the regulator should exercise
all due care and caution when considering any application for the
discharge of water into the watercourse.
However, in respect of the specifics of our dewatering proposal,
as shareholders can read for themselves in this release, the
thoroughness of the technical work completed by our highly
experienced consultants, the robustness of the dewatering scheme
they have devised and the extensive supporting data we have
compiled over the past 18 months give us a great deal of confidence
in the merits of our application. We therefore look forward to it
proceeding to a determination soon."
Development of Mine Plan
Alba's technical team, under the direction of Alba's COO &
Senior Geologist Mark Austin and the Company's consulting mining
engineers, have been progressing the detailed design and costing of
a series of potential development options at Clogau-St David's in
order to gain access to the lodes identified during the drilling
programmes which have been completed to date. This involves both
the Llechfraith Payshoot and the Main Lode System Extension,
incorporating the Jack Williams Extension and the New Branch (see
below), 7-10 and Grandfathers Lodes, and will enable the Company to
directly access the resource potential of these zones. Figure 1 (in
the PDF version of this RNS) shows the key development zones
identified through Alba's extensive drilling campaigns.
New Branch Lode Discovery
Since the completion of Phase 2 Surface Drilling, the geological
model of the Clogau-St David's Mine has evolved to highlight
additional structural features that had historically been
overlooked. Once Phase 2 collars had been accurately surveyed, this
data was inputted into the model and it became apparent that the
Lode structure intercepted in the Phase 2 surface holes was not in
fact the same vein as was mined in the Jack Williams Stope.
It has therefore been determined that a new branch of the vein
system exists between the Jack Williams and 7-10 Lodes and forms a
key part of the Main Lode System Extension (see the red plane in
Figure 2 of the PDF version of this RNS). This new branch has been
called the New Branch Lode. This is an exciting development as it
adds further new development potential to the zones already
identified in the Company's drilling campaigns.
Further, the New Branch Lode structure is only 22 m horizontally
to the north from the 7-10 Lode on the Llechfraith level. The Jack
Williams Lode is projected to be a further 23 m away to the north,
meaning that with less than 50 m of development Alba will be able
to access virgin ground on these two Lode structures (see Figure 3
in the PDF version of this RNS). Developing from the Llechfraith
Level would also enable a thicker portion of the New Branch Lode
identified by the surface holes GMOW_JW002, JW008 and JW009 to be
targeted.
New Development Zone on Cornel-2 Level
Further work has been completed to digitise historical mine
plans, including a plan of the Cornel-2 Level, which sits 12 m
above the Tyn y Cornel ("TYC") Level and the Jack Williams Stope.
Historical plans show that previous operators of the mine believed
they had encountered the 7-10 Lode on this level, around 32 m to
the south of the Jack Williams Lode. However, Alba's 3D model shows
that the 7-10 Lode was never reached, and that this development was
actually on the New Branch Lode (see Figure 4 in the PDF version of
this RNS).
This has two implications:
(1) Establishing safe access into this level will give the Alba
team insitu exposure of the New Branch Lode (35 m of workings) as
well as additional insight into the Jack Williams Lode.
(2) Historical mining never reached the target of the 7-10 Lode,
stopping 30 m short. This gives Alba the opportunity to access the
7-10 Lode high within the critical Clogau Shales package with a
relatively short amount of development.
Dewatering Permits
In January 2021 Alba submitted an application to Natural
Resources Wales ("NRW") for a permit to dewater the flooded
Llechfraith Shaft and discharge the treated water into the
neighbouring stream. Alba's ecological and environmental team has
been led by Alba's ecological consultants ENVSYS and Alba's
consulting geochemical engineer Dr Matthew Dey CEng MIMMM of
Geochemical Engineering Solutions Ltd, UK, with support from Mr
Alistair Black, Principal Hydrogeologist & Director,
Groundwater Science Ltd.
Originally, Alba was informed that only a Discharge Permit was
required. Then, in late May 2021 NRW informed Alba that a Transfer
(or Abstraction) Licence would also be required. In June 2021 NRW
indicated to Alba that a decision would be made within a few weeks.
However, on 1 July 2021 NRW issued a formal notification (known as
a Schedule 5 notification) seeking further information in relation
to the proposed scheme. Alba provided the requested information on
8 July.
More recently, however, NRW has informed Alba for the first time
that it intended to undertake a Habitat Regulations Assessment
("HRA") and requested that Alba submit a detailed report to assist
it in that assessment. This was discussed in a meeting in August
between NRW and Alba.
Since then, Alba's environmental and ecological team has been
compiling a detailed report to inform the NRW's HRA, the overall
objective of which is to assist NRW in its assessment of any
potential impacts of the dewatering exercise on the integrity of
the Special Areas of Conservation ("SACs") situated closest to the
mine. Those SACs are the Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau SAC, which
commences 1.14km to the south of the Llechfraith adit, and the
Meirionnydd Oakwood and Bat Sites SAC, which commences 1.4km to the
east of the mine. As part of this exercise, Alba's report reviews
the locations of these sites and their qualifying features in
relation to the mine, identifies any apparent effect pathways and
then gives consideration to the likely significance of any
potential effects identified on both SACs.
While Alba's report has been largely completed, its final
sign-off has been delayed by NRW's request that further sediment
samples are taken at a location in the estuary approximately 1 km
downstream of the mine, which has necessitated obtaining the
relevant landowner's (and indeed NRW's) formal consent. NRW issued
its consent yesterday, 21 September, and Alba's geologists were
therefore able to collect the sediment samples from the estuary
yesterday. As a result, it is expected that Alba's report will be
submitted to NRW in the next week or so, with a supplemental
appendix being submitted once the estuary samples have been assayed
at the ALS Laboratories (which normally involves a turn-around time
of a few weeks). Given the time this process has taken to date, NRW
has indicated to Alba that it will carry out its HRA as quickly as
possible in order to proceed swiftly to a determination of Alba's
application.
Although Alba understands NRW's concern as regards the potential
impact of the discharge of water from any former mine into a
watercourse, Alba has taken great care, and taken the best
available advice, to devise a robust dewatering scheme and to
ensure that any water discharged into the watercourse
post-treatment in the manner proposed will not have a detrimental
effect on the environment. Indeed, Alba's and NRW's concerns are
completely aligned in that regard. It should also be noted
that:
(1) The flooded lower workings are estimated to hold 800m(3) of
water, or about 1/3 of the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool.
With the water to be pumped at a flow rate of up to 4.2m(3)/hr
(100m(3)/day), it is estimated that the lower workings would be
dewatered within just eight days.
(2) Discharge from the drainage adit is not currently treated
and has never been treated since mine abandonment in 1998. By
contrast, Alba's dewatering scheme involves:
-- Water pumped out of the lower workings being first passed
through two Siltbuster HB10 settlement tanks, operating in parallel
and each with a capacity of 10m3/hr, with no settling reagents to
be used.
-- The electrical conductivity (EC) of the water being manually
monitored on a daily basis (in Phase 1) and on a monthly basis (in
Phase 2).
-- Collected settled solids being assayed to determine if any
gold or deleterious elements are present.
(3) A substantial amount of data has been compiled by Alba to
date to support its application, including the following:
-- 12 rounds of water sampling have been undertaken over the
course of the best part of a year. Samples were taken from five
sampling points, upstream of the mine, downstream of the mine and
from the current discharge itself.
-- The flooded Llechfraith Shaft has also been sampled and
profiled. The water column in the shaft was profiled by lowering a
Van Essen CTD diver, that was set to record water depth,
temperature, and electro-conductivity every second. In addition, a
profile was made of water temperature, electrical conductivity
(EC), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and redox potential (ORP - which
measures whether the water is reducing or aerobic), using an
in-situ Aqua Troll 600.
-- A v-notched weir was installed 10m into the drainage adit.
The CTD diver was then deployed at this site to record the water
quality and changes in depth of the water passing over the weir.
From this, the discharge flow from the Llechfraith drainage adit
was determined.
-- The Afon Cwm Llechen responds quickly to rainfall and
exhibits significant changes in level. A second Van Essen diver was
therefore used at one of the sampling points to record variation in
river depth.
-- All samples were assayed at the ALS specialist laboratories
in Coventry, for water quality, namely elemental composition and
electrical conductivity.
(4) In total, since its original application in January 2021
Alba has submitted a further 10 rounds of responses to enquiries
received from NRW, with the current report being compiled to inform
the NRW's HRA being the 11(th) such submission.
Given the robustness of its dewatering proposals, the support of
its highly experienced technical consultants and the confidence
derived from the extensive supporting data compiled over the past
18 months or so, which has confirmed the relatively benign nature
of the mine water, Alba is confident in the merits of its
application and proposed scheme and remains hopeful of a positive
outcome soon.
Looking beyond the dewatering exercise, the NRW's completion of
an HRA is regarded as a positive for the Project as it will help to
streamline the permitting process as the work at Clogau moves into
the development phase.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company
are responsible for the release of this announcement.
Glossary
7-10 Lode: The 7-10 Lode is a parallel vein structure to the
Main Lode, lying some 30-40m to the south of the Main Lode. The
whole of the Llechfraith Level is developed on the 7-10 Lode.
Borehole or
drillhole: A hole drilled into bedrock using a diamond-coated bit to return core samples.
Grandfathers: Grandfathers or Grandfathers Lode is a pay-shoot
within the 7-10 Lode.
Jack Williams: The Jack Williams Stope is the most westerly
mined portion of the Main Lode on the Ty'n-y-Cornel Level.
Intercept: A section of core in which a target lithology,
structure or significant assay result has been identified.
Main Lode: The main quartz vein structure along which the
majority of historic mining took place at Clogau-St David's. The
Main Lode was mined from the Jack Williams Stope for approximately
300m eastwards to the Bryntirion Fault, on the other side of which
it was mined over a strike of at least 150m at the St David's
Mine.
Mineralisation: Any single mineral or combination of minerals
occurring in a mass, or deposit, of economic interest. The term is
intended to cover all forms in which mineralisation might occur,
whether by class of deposit, mode of occurrence, genesis or
composition.
Quartz vein: A sheet-like body consisting predominantly of the
mineral quartz, which is known to host gold mineralisation in the
Dolgellau Gold Belt.
Stope: A mined-out area along a lode structure from which ore has been extracted.
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, market
and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the
regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation,
uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans,
uncertainties resulting from working in a new political
jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration,
uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting
rights, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of
regulatory and other third party consents and approvals,
uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's ability
to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of
unexpected events.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing,
uncertainties also exist in connection with the ongoing Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic which may result in further lockdown measures
and restrictions being imposed by Governments and other competent
regulatory bodies and agencies from time to time in response to the
pandemic, which measures and restrictions may prevent or inhibit
the Company from executing its work activities according to the
timelines set out in this announcement or indeed from executing its
work activities at all. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may
also affect the Company's ability to execute its work activities
due to personnel and contractors testing positive for COVID-19 or
otherwise being required to self-isolate from time to time.
Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided
herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and
uncertainties and other factors.
All activities and timelines in this announcement are subject to
the timely receipt of regulatory and other third-party consents and
to the timely availability of contractors, plant and equipment.
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.
For further information, please contact:
Alba Mineral Resources plc
George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman +44 20 3950 0725
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
James Caithie / Liam Murray +44 20 7213 0880
ETX Capital (Broker)
Thomas Smith +44 20 7392 1494
Alba's Project and Investment Portfolio
Project (commodity) Location Ownership
Mining Projects
Amitsoq (graphite) Greenland 1 0 0%
----------- ----------
Clogau (gold) Wales 90%
----------- ----------
Dolgellau Gold Exploration
(gold Wales 90-100%
----------- ----------
Gwynfynydd (gold) Wales 100%
----------- ----------
Inglefield (copper, cobalt,
gold) Greenland 100%
----------- ----------
Limerick (zinc-lead) Ireland 100%
----------- ----------
Melville Bay (iron ore) Greenland 100%
----------- ----------
TBS (ilmenite) Greenland 100%
----------- ----------
Oil & Gas Investments
Horse Hill (oil) England 11.765%
----------- ----------
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