SolGold Publishes Maiden Resource Estimate for Alpala Deposit

SolGold plc (TSX:SOLG,LSE:SOLG) announced the results of a maiden resource estimate for the Alpala deposit at its 85-percent-owned Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador.
Highlights are as follows:

• Alpala Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate across both Indicated and Inferred classifications totals a current 1.08 Bt @ 0.68% CuEq (7.4 Mt CuEq) at 0.3% CuEq cut off, some 40% of which is in the Indicated category (by tonnage).
• Contained metal content totals a current 5.2 Mt Cu and 12.3 Moz Au, some 45% of which is within the Indicated category (by contained metal).
• Higher grade core has a current 120 Mt @ 1.8% CuEq (2.0 Mt CuEq) at a 1.1% CuEq cut off, some 60% of which is in the Indicated category (by tonnage);
• A further 100 Mt @ 1.0% CuEq (1.0 Mt CuEq) is added to the high grade core if a 0.9% CuEq cut off is used, some 50% of which is in the Indicated category (by tonnage).
• Estimate completed from 53,616m of drilling, approximately 84% of 63,500m metres drilled to date.
• Assay results still pending for a further 9,844m of drill core (16%) of the total to 21 December 2017.
• Strong potential for further growth in the deposit from pending assay results from recent drilling, conversion of current inferred to indicated mineral resources, and discovery of additional mineralisation in unclosed areas such as Alpala East, up dip Alpala Central, and Alpala North West and South East.
• 11 diamond drill rigs currently active at Cascabel, with a total of 12 to be active in January 2018. Over 120,000 metres planned in 2018.

Nick Mather, CEO and managing director at SolGold, commented:

This maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is a tremendous start and in our view by no means represents a final size or grade because the deposit is still growing. That the maiden MRE is so big, achieved with so few drill holes and that such a large percentage is in the indicated category is testimony to the size of the system at Alpala. SolGold plans to announce updated MRE statements throughout 2018. We plan to immediately follow this maiden MRE up with initiation of a PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) of the deposit at Alpala, towards commencement of the PFS (pre-Feasibility Study) later in 2018.

Click here to read the full SolGold plc (TSX:SOLG,LSE:SOLG) press release.