VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and ASX-listed miner Alacer Gold has calculated an initial resource estimate for the Çakmaktepe satellite deposits of the company’s flagship Çöpler mine, located in the Çöpler district of eastern Turkey.

Toronto-headquartered Alacer said on a 100%-basis, the Çakmaktepe and Bayramdere deposits have an indicated oxide resource of 2.42-million tonnes grading 1.8 g/t gold and 11.53 g/t silver for 140 000 oz of gold. Alacer also reported an inferred resource of 381 000 t grading 1.89 g/t gold and 1.35 g/t silver, for a further 24 000 oz of gold.

“The mineral resource remains open, and with our geological knowledge of the mineralised system at Çakmaktepe continuing to evolve, we believe significant potential exists in this area. The latest 2016 drilling produced some truly exciting results in Çakmaktepe Central near surface and will likely improve the maiden mineral resource.

“Based on the positive 2016 results, we are in the process of defining the exploration programme for 2017 with the objective of rapidly developing these areas to have oxide ore ready to supplement the Çöpler mine in 2018,” stated president and CEO Rod Antal.

The company, which owns varying amounts ranging from 50% to 80% of the deposits, said its attributable indicated portion is 72 460 oz of gold and 1 730 oz in the inferred category.

Alacer noted that the maiden resource does not include most recent drilling and the resource remains open. The Çakmaktepe potential continues to grow with the discovery of Çakmaktepe Central deposit. The latest drilling results at Çakmaktepe Central are delivering encouraging near-surface (<50 m) results and are not included in the maiden resource estimate.

The company plans to continue drilling the deposits in 2017, with the objective of extending and further defining the Çakmaktepe discovery as well as further defining a newly discovered gold mineralised porphyry.

Alacer had in May approved the $744-million Cöpler sulphide project, which will see the introduction of a whole-ore pressure oxidation (POX) circuit that will extend the mine life and boost current resources and reserves. The POX facility is expected to process sulphide ore at a rate of 5 000 t/d and will result in a 20-year mine life for the project. Gold recovery for the sulphide plant is expected to average 96% over the life of the mine.

Twin horizontal enclaves will enable incremental improvements to increase the throughput rate by 2.2-million tonnes a year by 2021.