Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Ardea Resources (ARL) has received final results from reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the Aphrodite North target area within the Bardoc Tectonic Zone
- The best latest result includes two metres at 2.4g/t gold from 140 metres which builds on previously reported results grading up to 4.94g/t gold
- Ardea will compile recent and historical data to conduct follow-up drilling at Aphrodite from early next month
- Additionally, mapping and sampling at the Bulong Nickel Project has identified 36 exploration targets
- At market close, company shares are trading 12.3 per cent lower for 50 cents
Ardea Resources (ARL) has received final results from its first reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the Aphrodite North target area within the Bardoc Tectonic Zone (BTZ).
Pleasingly, the drilling intersected gold mineralisation in the final hole. Results from AANR0007 were in line with expectations. They include two metres at 0.87g/t gold from 76 metres and two metres at 2.4g/t gold from 140 metres.
These results build on previously reported results including six metres at 3.60g/t gold from 44 metres, eight metres at 4.94g/t gold from 172 metres to end of hole and 10 metres at 1.52g/t gold from 76 metres.
Ardea is also pleased with the distribution of the gold mineralisation. The identification of primary orogenic gold mineralisation in all four widely-spaced (around 320 metre spacing) lines drilled over the Aphrodite North area has provided a strike extent of more than 1420 metres.
The company will now conduct follow-up drilling on refining lode orientations and extents and focus on the shallower mineralised zones that would support an open pit mining operation.
The rig is expected to begin the next phase of drilling early next month.
Bulong Nickel
Additionally, Ardea has identified a total of 36 exploration targets at the Bulong Nickel Project.
The Bulong-Taurus tenements contain 6 per cent of Ardea’s nickel-cobalt resources with a total of 54.1 million tonnes at 0.88 per cent nickel and 0.05 per cent cobalt for 476,100 tonnes of nickel and 28,800 tonnes of cobalt.
Field exploration identified extension lode gold assay as high as 52.4g/t gold from quartz veining.
The company collected 54 rock chip samples during its mapping program and 22 of these (40 per cent) returned assays of 1g/t or more. The average grade for all 54 samples was 4.86g/t gold.
Ardea will use this information to complement historical data and 3D models to define drill targets.
At market close, company shares are trading 12.3 per cent lower for 50 cents each on August 20.
