(TheNewswire)
Tonopah, Nevada / TheNewswire / May 22, 2024 - Allegiant Gold Ltd.(“Allegiant” or the “Company”) (AUAU: TSX-V) (AUXXF: OTCQX) is pleased to announce drilling results at theCastle Project (“ Castle ”) within the Eastside District inNevada.
Highlights from the drilling program include:
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High-grade gold values up to 5.04 g/t Au from drillhole ES-315 and 204.0 g/t Ag in drill hole ES-312
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Broad zones of low-grade gold silver mineralization inthe Boss and Castle deposits including 24 meters at 0.51 g/t Au and1.33 g/t Ag as well as 29.6 meters of 0.39 g/t Au and 2.85 g/t Ag fromdrill hole ES-315
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Quartz veins occur within intensely altered andoxidized host volcanic rocks
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Boss mine dumps containing gold and silver values up to0.44 g/t Au 10.4 g/t Ag
Peter Gianulis, CEO of AllegiantGold , commented: “We arepleased with the results obtained from the recent diamond coredrilling program at The Castle Project within Eastside. Furtherdrilling continues to demonstrate the potential for additionalresource expansion at Castle in addition to the shallow depths thatare very amenable to open-pit, heap-leach mining. Furthermore, wecontinue to be optimistic about the possibility of re-processing thewaste dumps and, potentially, the existing heap leach pad as a meansfor generating cash flow and reaching production in the short term. Further work is required but we remain very encouraged by theinitial results. Our current strategy is to continue to expand theresources at the Eastside District beyond the approximately 1.4 million gold ounces and8.7 million silver ounces within the two mainzones (McIntosh and Castle). We will be providing our investors witha corporate update over the coming month outlining our near-termstrategy.”
Allegiant has completed a six-hole, 1,200-meter, coredrilling program at its Castle Project including the Boss Mine on theEastside Property (see table 1 and figure 1 below). Three core holeswere completed at the Boss Mine deposit and three holes at thenorthern end of the Castle deposit. Assay results have confirmed thatthere is significant additional resource potential at the northern endof the Castle deposit. The published resource estimate (43-101Technical Report dated July 30, 2021) showed an area in the north ofCastle where the planned open-pit mine splits into two separate pits;the drilling completed at the end of March 2024 confirms that oxidizedgold-silver mineralization occurs between the two pits (see figure 2below). The combining of the two smaller pits into one larger pitcould significantly increase the overall resource at the CastleProject.
Additionally, core drilling has confirmed the presenceof high-grade gold mineralization, relative to the average grade atCastle of 0.49 g/t gold per the inferred resource in the technicalreport. Assay results show gold values up to 5.04 g/t Au, part of amineralized interval of fully oxidized tertiary volcanic rockscontaining epithermal quartz veins that returned at average grade of0.51 g/t gold and 1.33 g/t silver over 79ft (24m) at a depth of 311ft(94m). Further drilling of this northern portion of the Castle depositwill be required to enable Allegiant to add the mineralization to theresource, as well as potentially upgrading the resource from aninferred to indicated resource category.
* The updatedresource estimate (“Updated Resource Estimate and NI 43-101Technical Report, Eastside and Castle Gold-Silver Project TechnicalReport, Esmeralda County, Nevada”) conducted by Mine DevelopmentAssociates (“ MDA ”) of Reno, Nevada, with an effective date of July 30,2021, contained a pit- constrained InferredResources (cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t Au) of 61,730,000 tonnes grading 0.55 g/tAu and 4.4 g/t Ag at the Original Pit Zone (1,090,000ounces gold and 8,700,000 ounces silver) and 19,986,000 tonnes grading 0.49 g/tAu at the Castle Area (314,000 ounces gold). Acopy of the Eastside Technical Report can be found on SEDAR atwww.sedar.com.
Table 1. Castle Project Drill HoleDetails
Drill Hole # | Drill Site # | UTM E (NAD 83) | UTM N (NAD 83) | Elev. m | Azimuth degrees | Inclination degrees | Total depth (m) |
ES-311 | BB-ay | 443214 | 4214709 | 1509 | 124.4 | -44 | 199 |
ES-312 | BB-az | 443198 | 4214663 | 1502 | 123.3 | -43.7 | 163 |
ES-313 | BB-i | 443414 | 4214446 | 1492 | 306.2 | -46.4 | 157 |
ES-314 | BRC-r | 445300 | 4215957 | 1451 | 305.6 | -45.9 | 258 |
ES-315 | BRC-ag2 | 445249 | 4215313 | 1462 | 301 | -45.6 | 216 |
ES-316 | BRC-ed | 445401 | 4215504 | 1484 | 303 | -44 | 207 |
Figure 1: Castle Project Drill HoleLocation
https://allegiantgold.com/site/assets/files/3144/alg-eastside-bosscastle-drilling-240521.jpg
Figure 2: Castle Project DrillingCross Section
https://allegiantgold.com/site/assets/files/3144/bosscastle-xsec4215300n-240521.jpg
The core drilling has provided the Company with a muchbetter understanding of the character of mineralization at the CastleProject as a whole. Analysis of the core has shown that potentiallyeconomic gold-silver mineralization occurs in two principal forms:
1) Massive gray quartz veins andveinlets in a sub-vertical orientation hosted by intensely propyliticaltered and silicified, fully oxidized tertiary volcanic rocksincluding rhyolite, dacite and andesite. Gold values typically return>0.5 g/t Au.
2) An envelope or halo ofanomalous to low-grade (<0.5 g/t Au) mineralization hosted byiron-oxide filled fractures in oxidized and altered volcanic rockswith little evidence of visible quartz veins.
Silver values returned from the analysis of the corehave shown that the volcanic and underlying Paleozoic sedimentaryrocks are anomalous in Silver. It has been interpreted that the silvervalues are related to hydrothermal fluids that have pervasivelyaltered both the volcanic and sedimentary rocks and indicate themineralization at Castle is related to a very large hydrothermalsystem. The 2024 drill program confirms in drill core many of theinterpretations concluded from the early 2023 reverse-circulationdrill program but provided a much better understanding of the overallgeology and character of mineralization.
One of the core drill holes was set-up on top of themine dumps from the formerly operating Boss Mine; it was believed thatthe rocks within the waste rock piles may contain low grade goldvalues, an interpretation from comparison with rocks sampled fromdumps that returned gold values up to 22.2 g/ tgold. Assays returned values up to 0.44 g/t gold and 10.4 g/t Silverwithin an interval of 72ft (21.9m) averaging 0.14 g/t Au and 2.0 g/tAg. Further testing of the dumps will be needed as well asmetallurgical testing of the dump material to establish its economicviability. Initial estimates of the size of the dumps indicate thatthere may be as much as 1.6 million tonnes of processable materialwith an additional 765,000 tonnes of material from the leachpad.
Allegiant also announces that it has grantedcompensation securities consisting of 1,850,000 incentive stockoptions ("Options”) and 1,000,000 restricted share units(“RSUs”) to certain directors and officers of the Company toacquire an aggregate of 2,850,000 common shares in the capital of theCompany, in accordance with the Company's 10% rolling OmnibusCompensation Plan. The Options are exercisable at $0.15, vest overtwelve months and will expire five years from the date of grant. TheRSUs will vest over a three-year period and will expire on December31, 2027.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Alan Roberts is a Certified Professional Geologist(CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and isthe Qualified Person under NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure forMineral Projects, who has reviewed and approved the scientific andtechnical content of this press release.
ABOUT ALLEGIANT
Allegiant owns five highly prospective gold projects inthe United States all of which are in the mining-friendly jurisdictionof Nevada. Allegiant’s flagship, district-scale Eastside projecthosts a large and expanding gold resource and is in an area ofexcellent infrastructure. Preliminary metallurgical testing indicatesthat both oxide and sulphide gold mineralization at Eastside isamenable to heap leaching.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Peter Gianulis
CEO
For more information contact:
Investor Relations
ir@allegiantgold.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor itsRegulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies ofthe TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy oraccuracy of this release.
Certain statements and informationcontained in this press release constitute "forward-lookingstatements" within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities lawsand “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicableCanadian securities laws, which are referred to collectively as"forward-looking statements". The United States PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor”for certain forward-looking statements. Allegiant Gold Ltd.’s (“Allegiant”)exploration plans for its gold exploration properties, the drillprogram at Allegiant’s Eastside project, the preparation andpublication of an updated resource estimate in respect of the OriginalZone at the Eastside project, Allegiant’s future exploration anddevelopment plans, including anticipated costs and timing thereof;Allegiant’s plans for growth through exploration activities,acquisitions or otherwise; and expectations regarding futuremaintenance and capital expenditures, and working capitalrequirements. Forward-looking statements are statements andinformation regarding possible events, conditions or results ofoperations that are based upon assumptions about future economicconditions and courses of action. All statements and information otherthan statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements.In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the useof words such as “seek”, “expect”, “anticipate”,“budget”, “plan”, “estimate”, “continue”,“forecast”, “intend”, “believe”, “predict”,“potential”, “target”, “may”, “could”, “would”,“might”, “will” and similar words or phrases (includingnegative variations) suggesting future outcomes or statementsregarding an outlook. Such forward-looking statements are based on anumber of material factors and assumptions and involve known andunknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actualresults, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differmaterially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-lookingstatements contained in this press release. Some of the known risksand other factors which could cause actual results to differmaterially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements aredescribed in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” in Allegiant’sListing Application, dated January 24, 2018, as filed with the TSXVenture Exchange and available on SEDAR under Allegiant’s profile atwww.sedar.com. Actual results and future events could differmaterially from those anticipated in such statements. Allegiantundertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-lookingstatements included in this press release if these beliefs, estimatesand opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwiserequired by applicable law.
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