Alice Queen (ASX:AQX) has mobilised a drill rig to its Horn Island Gold Project in Queensland to test targets outside the existing 569,000-ounce gold resource.
The dual-purpose track-mounted rig can undertake reverse circulation and diamond drilling. Alice Queen says drill pads have been prepared ahead of the multi-phase program’s imminent start.
Drilling will test mineralisation along the interpreted northwest structural trend extending from the current resource, down-dip extensions to the south, and shallow zones in the northeast. The program will also assess ‘high-grade’ continuity within the resource and potential extension areas.
Managing Director Andrew Buxton says the rig is the first to arrive at Horn Island in several years.
“It is a significant moment for Alice Queen to have a rig back on the ground at Horn Island for the first time in several years. With the rig now mobilised, we are ready to begin a program aimed at growing the Horn Island resource and investigating new areas of our project tenure,” Buxton notes.
The project has a JORC Code 2012 mineral resource estimate of 21.1 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.84 grams per tonne gold (Au) for 569,000 ounces.
Alice Queen’s exploration target outlines 34.6–52Mt @ 0.88–1.32g/t Au for 1.22–1.83 million ounces across hard-rock areas. Stockpiles, tailings, and alluvial domains carry a further exploration target of 25.1–37.6Mt @ 0.31–0.46g/t Au for 310,000–460,000 ounces.
These target areas lie outside the existing resource and, as the company cautions, the exploration target remains conceptual. Insufficient work has been completed to estimate a mineral resource, and it is uncertain whether further exploration will result in one.
Funding for the campaign is supported by Alice Queen’s recent partially underwritten entitlement offer. The company says drilling will run alongside development studies as the company works towards a Prefeasibility Study following the release of its project definition study in June.
Alice Queen is an Australian resources company focused on advancing the Horn Island Gold Project in Far North Queensland.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Alice Queen
