The company has completed a total of 48 diamond drill holes. Two holes are in progress testing feeder zones for the high-grade sulphide mineralisation intersected at Targets B and C. These current holes are expected to cumulatively total about 1,000m. Twenty-eight drill holes totalling approximately 750m were drilled to assess the oxide resource, determine depth to the transition boundary and to collect sufficient sample material for metallurgical testing.
Sufficient material has been collected from both sulphide and oxide mineralisation to support metallurgical testing. The bulk samples are currently undergoing metallurgical testing at Bureau Veritas Minerals - Metallurgical Division in Richmond B.C.
The studies commenced with mineral deportment and QEMSCAN analysis in late February and early March. No metallurgical studies incorporating the higher-grade sulphide mineralisation have been completed in the past. These early results are encouraging and will be used to inform and design the second stage of metallurgical tests, which are expected to get underway shortly.
Joe Hamilton, chairman and CEO of Unigold said: "The results to date have exceeded our expectations, with 85 per cent of the holes completed to date intersecting what we categorise as significant mineralisation. Our stated objectives when we commenced this programme were to upgrade a portion of the inferred mineral resource to the indicated category and we believe we have achieved that goal. We also wanted to collect representative bulk samples for metallurgical testing of the near-surface oxide and the higher-grade sulphide mineralisation identified in 2016. Finally, we also wanted to evaluate the exploration potential of the Candelones Extension deposit at depth to determine if there were opportunities to increase the current mineral resource. Our initial step-out drill results targeting the higher grade mineralisation at depth has been very successful and results suggest that both the grade and thickness of the mineralisation are increasing at depth."
