JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed gold explorer and developer Ortac Resources has reported positive gold assay results from the Democratic Republic of Congo- (DRC-) based Akyanga licence area, following the company’s acquisition of Casa Mining.
To date, Ortac owns 87.4% of Casa and expects to complete the acquisition shortly.
The company is currently reviewing historical drilling data at Casa, which includes over 100 holes of exploration drilling, predominantly at the Akyanga licence area, the results of which will be announced in February.
The latest assay results from the expansion and infill drilling programme currently under way at Akyanga returned intersects of 5.85 m at 2.47 g/t gold from 199.4 m below ground, as well as 7.8 m at 2.67 g/t gold from 240.7 m.
The second intersect includes 1.7 m at 10.5 g/t gold from 240.7 m.
The two holes were drilled towards the outer perimeter of the conceptualised pit in a part of the deposit where there was a lack of data and where the resource appeared to taper off.
They were drilled 200 m apart from one another and successfully confirmed the continuity of mineralisation.
"With over 3 300 m drilled in 2017, these are again a pleasing set of results, this time from the outer perimeter of our drilling programme at Akyanga. We are now evaluating the possibility of expanding certain conceptualised pits, with all the economic advantages that scale brings," chairperson Nick von Schirnding said in a statement on Tuesday.
The drilling was conducted using diamond core drilling, with samples being collected at one-metre intervals. A half core sample of between 2 kg and 4 kg was sent to SGS Laboratory Services, in Mwanza, Tanzania.
The sample was fully pulverised and analysed for gold using a 50 g lead collection fire assay and an atomic absorption spectrometry finish to 0.01 parts per million gold detection limit.
The spatial location of the samples is derived using global positioning system collar survey pickups and Reflex single-shot downhole surveys taken every 40 m downhole.
True widths have not been determined as the level of detail required to calculate accurate true widths is not yet available. As a result, downhole widths have been reported instead.
However, true widths are not expected to differ significantly from the downhole widths reported.