SSR hits 40.7m @ 7.48 g/t gold at Ardich deposit, Turkey

SSR Mining Inc. (ASX: SSR) has announced that it has intersected gold mineralisation including 40.7m @ 7.48 g/t Au from a step-out and infill drill program at its 80%-owned Ardich deposit in Turkey.

Key results include:

• Hole AR274: 40.7m @ 7.48 g/t Au from 155m, including
  • 5m @ 29.99 g/t Au from 187m
• Hole AR280: 24.5m @ 4.18 g/t Au from 246m, including
  • 1m @ 35.1 g/t Au from 264m
• Hole AR356: 62.7m @ 2.98 g/t Au from 163m, including
  • 3.4m @ 13.43 g/t Au from 205m
• Hole AR407: 54m @ 3.68 g/t Au from 145m, including
  • 2m @ 15.43 g/t Au from 157m
• Hole AR417: 49.8m @ 2.20 g/t Au from surface

Results from the 194 hole program, which was carried out from March 2020 to May 2021, were reported subsequent to the cut-off date for the company’s preliminary economic analysis which was released in November 2020.

This provides upside for the mineral resource, of which Ardich accounted for 1.23 million ounces of gold (measured and indicated) + 0.35 million ounces (inferred).

The company has drilled a total of 427 diamond core holes for 86,898m at Ardich between August 2017 and June 2021, with seven diamond drill rigs currently active on site.

Potential at Ardich deposit

Discovered in 2017, Ardich is situated 1.5km north of the Çakmaktepe mine, and 6km from the Çöpler operations, allowing SSR to leverage existing oxide and sulphide processing infrastructure.

Drilling and technical study activities are in progress, with the company aiming for a maiden mineral reserve declaration in Q1 2022, followed by production in 2023 subject to approvals.

“We continue to view Ardich as a key driver of organic growth in our global exploration portfolio, with first production expected in 2023.”

Management comments

SSR Mining President and CEO Rod Antal said: “These are great results and we are eager to build them into our models as we aim to both improve on the Ardich PEA case presented in the current Technical Report and deliver an initial Mineral Reserve statement for the project. Permitting and other works required to bring Ardich into production continue in parallel with the exploration and resource definition drilling. We continue to view Ardich as a key driver of organic growth in our global exploration portfolio, with first production expected in 2023.”

Images: SSR Mining Inc.